Great British Sewing Bee contestant Rebecca was left in tears as she opened up about her hidden disability.
A contestant on The Great British Sewing Bee has opened up about their invisible disability, as they left the show. Sewer Rebecca became the latest star to leave the competition, missing out on a place in the semi-final.
At the end of Literary Icons week, the five remaining sewers stood in front of judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young and host Sophie Willan, to discover who would make it through. Sophie stated: “Now for the difficult bit, one of you does have to go home today,” reports the Mirror.
She continued: “You’ve all been amazing, it’s getting very serious now, it’s up here, so it’s very difficult for the judges. But unfortunately, the person going home today is Rebecca.”
As she burst into tears over her exit, Rebecca revealed how proud she was to have made it so far in the competition. She also spoke about her hidden disability, admitting she’d been in pain “the whole time”.
Rebecca received support from her fellow contestants as she became emotional about her departure, though she expressed immense pride in her achievement. She remarked: “I’m feeling incredibly proud of myself, I never thought I’d make it to the quarter-finals, so it’s been a privilege, every step of the way.”
Esme commented: “I’ll really miss Rebecca. She was such fun, and making a dress and jacket was a lot of work. But she made so many mistakes.”
Rebecca went on: “Doing all of what I’ve achieved, being in pain the whole time, it’s just, I’m so proud of myself, and I hope that anyone who is living with an invisible disability or any disability, knows they can do incredible things.”
The contestant had previously opened up about her health condition, after suffering through years of pain. In an earlier episode, when tasked with making adaptive clothing, Rebecca shared: “Almost everything I make for myself is adaptive. I have chronic stomach pain, so for me, adaptive fashion is making sure there is nothing tight around my stomach.”
The chartered actuary from London was crowned winner of the first challenge that day, and celebrated: “I’m so thrilled to have specifically won the adaptive fashion challenge as an invisibly-disabled person.”
The BBC had teased the challenges for the quarter-final episode, airing on Tuesday, September 1. The synopsis read: “It’s week 8, and the five remaining sewers must channel their inner bookworm in a series of challenges celebrating literary icons. For the Pattern Challenge, the judges ask the sewers to create literature’s most iconic piece of headwear, the deerstalker worn by Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes. It’s a challenge that at this stage of the competition is far from elementary.
“In the Transformation Challenge, they must imagine what the iconic children’s character Matilda would be like as a grown-up and create an outfit for her from second-hand school uniform. Finally, in the Made-to-Measure, everyone must travel back to the turn of the 19th century and the Regency period by creating outfits inspired by the works of Jane Austen.”
Rebecca had earlier shared her excitement as being announced to be in this year’s line-up for The Great British Sewing Bee. She shared a post on social media, saying: “ I’m going to be on the Great British Sewing Bee!” The 27-year-old added: “It’s been an absolutely crazy year trying to keep this all under wraps. But the secret’s finally out and I couldn’t be more excited!”
The Great British Sewing Bee is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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