TikTok Loves Rahul's GBBO Relatable Butter Moment

Fans of the culinary competition show "The Great British Bake Off" will likely remember former contestant Rahul Mandal, the scientist with a passion for baking who competed in and ended up winning the ninth series of the show. Mandal was a fan favorite, per GoodtoKnow, because of his kind personality, self-deprecating approach, and expressive reactions — not to mention the incredible creations he whipped up in the "Bake Off" tent.

The show recently took to their TikTok page to share a humorous clip from Mandal's appearance on "The Great New Year Bake Off" special to the delight of fans — and it was all about butter. Butter is obviously a staple in the bake-off tent, with contestants going through 198 pounds of butter over the course of the fourth series alone, as The Guardian reported. However, that number may have been even higher in the ninth series given Mandal's penchant for the decadent ingredient.

While it's not uncommon for contestants to sneak tastes of ingredients such as chocolate or fruit, or other components of their dish (like scooping up a bit of icing or fruit filling) as they assemble their baked goods, Mandal had a different snack of choice. During a brief chat with co-hosts Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas, Mandal sliced off a small pat of butter and popped it right into his mouth, only to be met with stunned reactions. As he told them, if there was a choice between chocolate or butter, he would choose butter every time.

The TikTok post documenting the moment racked up over 304,000 likes and 3,219 comments within just a few days of being shared to the culinary competition show's account, and the comments section was filled with fans weighing in on the clip. At the time when the special aired, many viewers were shocked by Mandal's predilection, as Metro reported, taking to Twitter to share memes that expressed their horror and disgust. However, the audience on TikTok had a much different response, instead finding the moment relatable and hilarious.

One fan commented that their mother did the same thing, while another confessed to their own butter-snacking habit, writing that their preferred process was to put some butter in the pan, and enjoy some themselves right away. Yet another commenter seemed incredulous at Lucas and Fielding's reaction, questioning why they were so shocked by the move, convinced that everyone has done the same thing that Mandal did at one point in their lives. And, it seems in the eyes of TikTok, Mandal can do no wrong, with one individual chiming in that, "I will not stand for any Rahul slander."

Beyond social media, one writer even shared a whole treatise on Netflix's Tudum explaining why Mandal's actions weren't really that strange, agreeing wholeheartedly with his preference of butter over chocolate, and highlighting that consuming pats of straight butter isn't particularly different from consuming other dairy-packed ingredients such as slices of cheese.