PC: Guinness World Records
At 99 years and 274 days old, she became the oldest person to crowd-surf, according to Guinness World Records . The June 2026 report described a record attempt organised with help from her grandson, Ross Smith, who has built a substantial online following by sharing videos of their unusual adventures. In an interview with Press Pass LA in 2022, she explained that internet attention was unfamiliar territory for someone who had grown up in a period before television and the web became part of everyday life. Guinness World Records reported that he wanted Pauline to achieve something she could call a world record, and the pair agreed to try crowd-surfing at a Brantley Gilbert concert in Texas in May 2026.
Their videos have also introduced Pauline to audiences well beyond her own family. Country-rock musician Brantley Gilbert introduced Pauline and Ross to the audience and explained what they were about to do.
She described the experience as a positive whirlwind and said the videos had helped people connect with older relatives. Viewers had contacted her to explain that the clips encouraged them to get back in touch with their grandparents, she said. At a country-rock concert in Texas, an elderly woman made her way through a sea of raised hands without taking a single step. Secured to a stretcher and carried above the audience, Pauline Kana was there to attempt something few people her age would consider. For Pauline, the concert was another opportunity to take part in the kind of antics that made her an internet favourite. Some of the videos involve encounters with professional wrestling stars, while others show Pauline appearing at baseball games in a bikini-print T-shirt or displaying cheeky signs in public. The record attempt grew out of Ross’s interest in finding new experiences for his grandmother. The setting brought together a live music performance and a planned record attempt. Concertgoers then prepared to lift the stretcher and move it towards the stage. The crowd-surfing stunt took that format into a live setting. Rather than filming another skit for social media, the pair invited a concert audience to participate in an experience that would be documented as a Guinness World Records achievement.