Stephen Taylor can give Gene Simmons a run for his money.

That’s because the 51-year-old man from Coventry, England, has the world’s longest tongue that measures nearly four inches, the Birmingham Mail reports.

“I’ve always known since school my tongue was longer than most people’s,” Taylor said. “I used to stick it out at the teachers when they turned their backs. My mates would say, ‘Bloody hell, Steve, that’s a long tongue!’”

Taylor’s tongue, which made records in 2009, has since grown 0.2 inches and is expected to keep growing. Scientists have been unable to explain why Taylor’s tongue keeps lengthening.

“It keeps growing, probably because of all the TV shows where I’ve been sticking it out,” Taylor joked. “I can actually get it to 10cm with a push, but that’s a bit painful.”

While the average length of a tongue measured from lips is 0.78 inches – Taylor’s measures a whopping 3.8 inches long. His tongue made headlines after his girlfriend submitted a photograph of his tongue to a morning talk show in 2002 and Guinness officials saw the program.

Since then, Taylor has met a few celebrities. “Gene Simmons was quite shocked – well, it put him into the shadows a little bit really!” he said. “Brigitte Nielsen agreed to kiss me, she was quite flabbergasted at the end of it.”

Taylor isn’t the only one with tongue talents.

Annika Irmler was the previous Guinness World Record holder for the longest tongue. In 2001, the German schoolgirl had a tongue that measured 2.76 inches long.

"I'm just proud that now people everywhere can read about me and my tongue," she said.

United kingdom