Who Has The Biggest Bee-ard?

For most of us, even the sound of a buzzing bee, is frightening enough - So you can only imagine how it must feel to have thousands of them hanging out on your face, hands and wherever else they can find an empty spot.

However, these brave souls did not seem to care - In fact, they were aiming to attract as many bees as they could to win the wacky, annual Bee Beard Competition, held at the Clovermead Farm in Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, August 14th, 2010.

The event entails tying a plastic case into which a queen bee has been placed, around each competitor's neck. They are then weighed and sent inside a tent swarming with honeybees, for a whopping 20 minutes. Upon emerging, the competitors are weighed again. The one who has had gained the most bee weight is declared the winner and awarded the coveted trophy.

This year's Bee Beard champion was Tibor Szabo from Guelph, Ontario, who not only managed to attract bees on his jaw, but also, over his face, head and hands too! How he could breath without inhaling one of the buzzing creatures is a total mystery to us!

While he seems to have a lot of bees, he is not even close to the reigning champion, Mark Biancaniello, who became a walking beehive in 1998 with 350,000 bees weighing 87lbs, clinging to his body.

Bee Bearding is not a new 'sport' - First used in the 1700's by beekeepers trying to attract customers to buy their honey, it is now performed just for fun! Now that, is just bee-ierd!

Sources:metro.co.uk, clovermead.com,telegraph.co.uk