In Great British Baking Show History, This Scandal Caused The Most Backlash
When it comes to cooking competition shows, there are quite a few popular programs out there. However, for loyal "Great British Bake Off" fans, nothing comes close to the British baking show. Some think it's because of former GBBO hosts Sue and Mel's ability to keep things light in the tent, while others give credit to the judges for handing out constructive feedback (via CinemaBlend). Overall, GBBO is considered to be one of the very few shows that is kind to its contestant and where the bakers go out of their way to help each other
As with every great reality show, GBBO also has its fair share of scandals. Some of the show's biggest scandals, in fact, were caused by contestants accidentally messing with each other's bakes. In 2013, series four contest Deborah accidentally swapped her custard for fellow contest Howard's bowl (via The Tab). Bakers were asked to whip up the best trifle they could, which, of course, required custard. Deborah accidentally picked up Howard's custard from the refrigerator, having forgotten which bowl was hers, and went on to make her trifle with the latter's creation. Although Deborah seemed visibly distraught and apologetic — and was even eliminated in the episode — the incident sparked outrage amongst British fans, with "Poor Howard" trending on Twitter.
Whilst it did get GBBO in murky water, "the custard thief" incident was nothing compared to another mishap between two contestants, which fans went as far as to suggest was quite frankly, a case of sabotage.
The biggest 'Great British Bake Off' scandal was a classic case of what fans thought was sabotage
The Daily Record claims that series five of "Great British Bake Off," which aired in 2014, featured possibly the most scandalous incident in GBBO's history. Dubbed as the "Bingate" incident, the case in question took place when contestants were asked to make a baked Alaska for Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. The challenge turned out to be particularly tricky because it took place on a very hot day and contestants were struggling with their ice creams. Even worse, contestants were fighting for space in the freezer to set their ice creams. Contestant Diana Beard happened to remove another contestant Ian Watter's ice cream from the freezer to make space for hers and forgot to put Ian's ice cream back in the freezer.
Ian was subsequently left with a melted puddle of ice cream, which he threw in the trash can in a fit of anger. Having nothing left to present to Mary and Paul, Ian was eliminated from the show. Although Diana later said that the ice cream was only out for 40 seconds, so the disaster wasn't entirely her fault, that didn't stop fans from calling her #dirtydiana and asking for #justiceforiain on Twitter (via Metro). BBC even got 556 complaints from GBBO fans after the episode aired claiming that the seemingly accidental incident was a sabotage in reality. Metro even went so far as to claim that the "Bingate" incident was "the most scandalous of all' incidents in GBBO's history.