Why Is It Cake? Fans Think One Contestant 'Cheated'

When people are feeling a little stressed or sad, internet memes do a lot of the heavy lifting to bring a smile to their faces. Some trending jokes come and go, but some popular memes have staying power. Take, for instance, the "Is it a cake?" meme, where people would show items that appeared to be real — human hands, plants, shoes, and more — only to show a video of the item being sliced into, revealing that it was cake the whole time (via GQ Middle East).

The phenomenon was so successful, in fact, that it inspired an entire TV show. In Netflix's "Is It Cake?" baker contestants compete to make the most realistic-looking cake facsimile possible. Then, a group of judges has to determine which items in the lineup are really what they seem, or if they're a cake in disguise. It's already a game rooted in confusion, but fans of the show were left even more confused after the first episode when a contestant tried to trick the judges by adding fake tomatoes to real tacos.

On the first episode of "Is It Cake?" contestant Jonny Manganello had to make cake tacos that looked realistic enough to fool the judges. But he improvised, creating some fake cherry tomatoes out of cake, and adding them as a garnish to the real plate of tacos, hoping it would confuse the judges and make them think that his cake tacos were the real deal (via Lad Bible). And though he didn't get in trouble on the show or reprimanded for his bit of subterfuge, some fans on Twitter think he was a little too devious and duplicitous.

"Johnny cheated by putting his fake tomatoes into the decoy cakes," alleged one Twitter user. "So we gonna just act like Johnny didn't cheat in #IsItCake ep. 1??? Why didn't anyone say anything lmao I'm lost," another person tweeted. Others felt similarly, but it's the last comment that sort of answers the question. The camera people saw what Manganello did, as did the producers, and the editors of the show. Everyone involved in the production of "Is It Cake?" who saw what he did decided it was not, in fact, a serious infraction, which seems to show that he was not, in fact, cheating — even if his trick left a bad taste in some fans' mouths.