Why Twitter Is Coming For GBBO's Rebs

Twitter, the platform where monoliths like fast food giants, TV shows, and politicians get scrutinized, has focused its powerful lens on Rebs from "The Great British Bake Off" (GBBO) for something that you may also have noticed.

Rebs Lightbody, who hails from a pedigree of home bakers, per the GBBO official website, scooped first place for her Garibaldi biscuits in "Biscuit Week" (Episode 2, Season 13). This success is not the general theme of her baking endeavors on the show, per Nerds and Beyond. In the signature challenge, Rebs' macaron batter turned out unsatisfactory on her first try, and she returned it to the mixing bowl to start again. As a result, she ran out of time and needed help, which she got from fellow contestants Carole and Janusz to catch up. But those efforts still surrendered a less-than-ideal result.

Her showstopper mask did not do it for the judges either, but Rebs maintained her spot on the show, with the judges axing Maisam instead. Season 12 GBBO winner Giuseppe Dell'Anno has also been paying attention to Rebs and warned that she is playing it a little too close to the edge, per Radio Times. Twitter weighed in with the heaviest criticism.

Twitter has picked up on Rebs' habit of soliciting help from her counterparts and finds it galling. Twitter user @HareBrainedIdea put some viewers' negative sentiments into words when they tweeted, "Not sure how many times Rebs can get away with demanding help from the other contestants." "She is criminal with it. Every challenge," complained another user. But Rebs responded to such affronts, "Please remember that you see a small, edited snippet of life in the tent." What does this mean, Rebs? Janusz, in the true spirit of GBBO camaraderie, defended Rebs in a tweet: "I actually finished before time, and before I was asked I actually offered help. You don't see everything on TV."

Despite the program's competitive nature, it has a history of contestants helping each other. "If one member is failing, once people are finished they'll go and help them out," Ali Imdad from Season 4 told the Insider. Perhaps there is a lot more "helping" on Season 13, and the producers cut it away. If the latter were the case, it would make more sense that Rebs did not receive marching orders at the end of "Biscuit Week."