Nana Ama McBrown has expressed how hurt she is that Chef Smith duped “my sister,” the owner of Amadia Shopping Centre.

Speaking on her Onua Showtime TV programme, she noted: “I’m really pained at this point,” adding: “Amadia Shopping Mall is for my sister.”

McBrown worried the Amadia owner “is someone who is moved to kindness the moment she sees tears and neediness. I don't know why that is”.

According to the media star, on Friday, July 12, she looked into how the management of Amadia became sponsors of Chef Smith’s fraudulent Guinness World Records (GWR) cooking marathon.

“When Smith and co went to see her, she decided to help because you made her believe you were joining the trendy Guinness Book of Records attempts. 

“To be honest, I forgot to ask her if they saw the approval for the attempt and all that. But they signed a document so I’m very sure she was shown something. And then she gave her space and gave products [to support],” she narrated.

McBrown then explained why she joined the audience when Chef Smith cooked.

“It was being done at my sister’s place. Moreover, I supported a number of the marathons: Afua Asantewaa’s sing-a-thon and Adu Safowaah’s speech-a-ton. And since his was also a marathon, I had to show up. One, my sister’s premises, and, two, I was doing my show McBrown’s Kitchen nearby. Three, I had also done an activation in the area that day, evidenced by what I was wearing on the day. When I got there, banku was ready. If I hadn’t eaten, perhaps, they would have said it was proof the food wasn’t tasty. I like food but I could have controlled myself. However, I had gone to support and I couldn’t say no to food offered,” the actress and TV host recalled.

She said, “just like many of us,” she thought Smith would receive good news from the GWR for his “month-long impressive performance”. Thus, she added, she was not surprised when “we heard congratulatory messages for him but little did we know it was all [a fake certificate in] a frame work shown to us”.

“Up until the verification, we all congratulated him,” McBrown bemoaned, lightheartedly revealing blogger Kobby Kyei was first to share the news which turned out to be false with her.

Amadia Shopping Centre, Spintex, Accra, is owned by Nana Ama Duodoo whose brother, Nana Boroo, leads the management team. Together, they offered sponsorship to Ebenezer Smith, alias Millennium Chef Smith, to cook for one month (February 1 to March 6, 2024), apparently believing he had approval from the London-based Guinness World Records. It is reported they spent GHS300,000 on Smith for his performance at their establishment. They also signed a three-year contract with him, hoping his eventual victory would be of mutual benefit to all parties involved.

On July 2, when Smith, after avoiding them since his performance, surfaced and held a presser to announce his supposed GWR victory, Amadia had him arrested for acting behind their back. On July 6, Smith, with uncontrollable tears, confessed his GWR performance and certificate were all fake.