Grift Watch
Investigating and exposing Internet grifters, scams and fraud.

Rebecca Kitchen

Table of contents

On 10 November 2021, Rebecca Kitchen aka Bex aka @wolfandsunflowers set up a Kickstarter to create a recipe book called “Hearty”. The target was initially £1,000. She described it as “a recipe book full of hearty, nourishing meals that take minimal organisation and effort” and 298 backers ultimately pledged £6,260 to bring the book to life. The fundraising period ended on 22 January 2022, with a promised release date of “Spring 2022” for the book.

At the time, Rebecca stated that the money would go towards “a professional photoshoot, cover design, formatting and editing“, leading backers to believe that the book was mostly written and only needed a few “touch-ups”, or at the very worse that only a few recipes remained to be written up. This was backed up in writing by Rebecca, who stated on 16 November 2021 that she would be “between now and the final day of the Kickstarter, I'll be continuing to write up my recipes and test them in several ways”, indicating that backers should expect the contents of the book to be fully written by 22 January 2022.

On 23 November 2021, Rebecca published an infographic setting out her planned timeline for the publication of the book:

A graphical illustration of the planned timeline for releasing the book

This timeline was ultimately abandoned.

We are now in August 2024, nearly September 2024, and the book has not been finished, nor does it appear to be anywhere near completion. It is difficult to reconcile Rebecca's current position on the book with her earlier position in 2021 and 2022.

For full disclosure, this article includes screenshots of private messages on Twitter. While my normal policy is to not disclose the contents, I have taken the editorial decision to publish extracts of the messages that are relevant to this article.

The current status of the book and a potted timeline of events

The book has not been finished, nor is it seemingly close to being finished. While the manuscript is apparently undergoing proofreading, there are still lots of photographs of the finished recipes to be taken, and a lot of the recipes still need testing according to Rebecca.

While some small “teasers” have been released, they are of recipes that were allegedly completed months, if not years, ago. Indeed, the photographs used are, mostly, of older dishes too. For example, the soup image was featured back on 5 December 2021 yet it is treated as though it were a brand new recipe and image in some cases, which is unfortunate and should be clarified.

In June 2023, she contacted me unsolicited to offer to answer any questions about her book. She claimed that she was aiming to release the book in October 2023. Clearly, that never happened.

On 25 May 2024, she sent me screenshots of comments that she claim were left by her proofreader on the manuscript as well as edits to the manuscript, presented below:

A screenshot of comments left on the manuscript by her proofreader

A screenshot of edits made to the manuscript

I have seen at least three recipes from Rebecca that she sent to me earlier in 2024. However, none of them were “new” recipes as I understood them. They were all recipes that had been previously mentioned and created in 2021 and 2022—although they are presented extremely well and come across as professional, and the formatting is excellent.

She also provided me with screenshots of blog posts that have allegedly been written for her website in advance of the book launching. I believe the website is https://biteswithbex.com/. However, these recipes also aren't in the book by her own admission and were allegedly a “trial for Patreon”, which she intends to focus on after the book launch. On March 24 2024, she claimed these recipe cards would form part of a series of weekly posts after the book is launched.

She claimed on 20 July 2024 that she intends to finish the book by September in order to release “early access” copies to family and friends then, but it is difficult to see how such an ambitious timeline can be met with the outstanding work that needs to be completed, especially with work being spent on blog posts, etc. instead of finishing the book.

A screenshot of a private message on Twitter indicating she would be finishing the book by September

Her message reads:

Really well thank you 🥰 I'm under pressure to get it finished because I have friends I meet up with every September and they want copies 😂 I'm like ahhh shit, I'm gonna have 15 people going oi, you've had a fucking year since we last asked 😭

My reply reads:

Do you think you'll get it done by then?

Her reply reads:

I really hope so 😅

The audiobook

On 5 December 2021, Rebecca announced a “stretch goal” of £5,000 which would result in an audiobook being produced. She claimed that this was a result of people constantly asking her if she would be producing an audiobook version. That differs from what she would later assert to me in a private message to me on Twitter on 21 July 2024.

Below are two images: the first her explanation as posted to backers on Kickstarter at the time. The second is her later explanation to me on 21 July 2024.

A screenshot of a Kickstarter update informing backers about the new £5,000 stretch goal for an audiobook as well as where people can see examples of her recipes

A screenshot of a private message on Twitter explaining why she set up the £5,000 stretch goal

The relevant part of the first image reads:

Second, I've had a lot of people ask if I'll be producing an audiobook version. I've since done some research into hiring a local recording studio for the day. To make this possible to the highest standard, I'd need to stretch my Kickstarter to £5,000. I've got lower budget options in my plan B, but I really want to deliver the best possible products for my backers.

The second image reads:

So I originally put the kickstarter on with £1k goal. It quickly surpassed that and everyone was telling me to do a stretch goal and I was like wtf would I put so I was like okay stretch goal for £5k then, and I'll use the extra money to record an audio book.

However, people were still mostly only selecting paperback & digital copies, there was practically no demand for an audiobook even after I put the stretch goal on.

People were not contributing because they desperately wanted an audiobook.

However, on 21 July 2024 she admitted that she intended to cancel the audiobook and refund the backers who had paid for it, at the time that the physical and ebook versions of the book were released. Then she planned on recording the audiobook at her leisure and releasing it later on separately.

This was prompted by me asking her if she still planned on making an audiobook version.

A screenshot of a private message on Twitter explaining why she plans to refund the audiobook backers

My message reads:

Do you still plan on making an audiobook version? I think that could be quite handy in the kitchen.

Her reply reads:

I do, but only two people paid for the audiobook version. I think I'm going to refund those two people for the audiobook, when the physical & digital copies are available, and then record the audiobook later down the line at my own pace. That way I can release it without any pressure.

The friend I am visiting in Scotland is also my formatter & is taking author headshots for the book (man is like a graphics designer, website developer, photographer and a DJ, it's like save some talent for the rest of us) after I had an awful experience with a photographer I knew through the kink scene (absolutely should have known tbh).

He also has recording equipment so I'm either gonna use his studio to record the book or cave to his suggestions and buy the crazy expensive equipment he keeps pushing me to get 😂 but I want the pressure off.

She provided evidence from Kickstarter that five people had paid for the audiobook, shown below.

A screenshot showing five people had paid for the audiobook on Kickstarter

It is difficult to reconcile this reality with her claim that people were “constantly asking” her to produce an audiobook. However, it is easier to reconcile with her admission that she needed to put “something” up for a stretch goal, and so settled on producing an audiobook as a result.

Of course, it seems rather self-evident that you set a stretch goal of £5,000 to produce an audiobook, and then you cancel the audiobook, you should refund the people who have backed it but also that there may be a moral obligation to refund the money that would have been spent on the now-cancelled stretch goal too.

The Kickstarter finances

The £6,260 raised on Kickstarter has been the subject of intense speculation on social media as well as notorious gossip forum Tattle Life. Rebecca has claimed that she only received £5,300 from Kickstarter after fees were deducted, but it appears her calculations may be off by a few hundred pounds.

While Rebecca did indeed raise £6,260 for the book, she wouldn't have received the full amount. Kickstarter's fees at the time were 5% of the total amount raised, plus 3% and 20p for every pledge.

This works out accordingly:

Digital PDF ebook at £10/pledge

Audiobook copy at £10/pledge

Paperback First edition at £15/pledge

Signed Paperback First edition at £20/pledge

Signed Paperback First edition and a set of postcards at £25/pledge

Signed Paperback First edition for two at £30/pledge

Totals

At some point in 2022, Rebecca posted a screenshot of a bank account showing a sum of approximately £3,000 in it. She claimed that she had spent approximately £1,800 of the money on the book already. However, this is difficult to reconcile with her statement to me on 21 July 2024 where she presented evidence of £5,086.92 having been “set aside” in a “simple Saver account with Moneybox” so she “cannot dip into it for stuff” as well as claiming that she puts “extra money away from my own funds”.

A screenshot of a private message showing the bank account Rebecca claims the money is in

This amount is difficult to reconcile with her earlier account as well as the amount leftover after Kickstarter fees had been deducted. Her claim of only having received £5,300 means there would be a £460 difference between what she claimed she received and what would have been sent to her after Kickstarter fees were deducted.

It would seem that this is the only series of events that makes complete sense: she received £5,760.85 from Kickstarter and spent approximately £1,800 at some point in 2022, leaving approximately £3,000. She then rebuilt the pot back up using her own contributions, to a level of £5,086.92 as of August 2024.

Tattle have claimed that shortly after the Kickstarter closed, and she received the funds, she spent around £400 on tattoos. There is no public evidence of this—Rebecca deleted all of her tweets on or around 21st August 2024. However, it is a plausible claim based solely on the numbers; the difference between what she claimed to receive from Kickstarter and what I have calculated she would have received is just over £400. Only she knows what happened to the discrepancy.

There is no other evidence to indicate that the money has “all been spent” as many suggest on social media. It is difficult to see how that could happen, and how she could have replenished it if that did happen, given her publicly stated reliance on social security payments, the various expensive misfortunes that she has endured over the same time period, and the fact that replenishing the pot would be an expensive endeavour.

For example, it is difficult to see how she could have paid in, for example, £100 a month (which would get her to her goal of £5,400 in approximately 2 years, from Summer 2022 to Summer 2024) on the benefits she admits to receiving while simultaneously trying to find money for an £800 deposit on a new home, plus moving costs, etc. totalling approximately £2,000 and still have sufficient money to live on with all her usual living expenses. Tattle claim she was lying about those “misfortunes” and many others. They claim that photos of her new nails regularly and other allegedly expensive lifestyle habits, etc. indicate that she has a lot of “spare” money which they claim is drawn down from the Kickstarter fund. There is no public evidence to back up Tattle's claim, as Rebecca deleted all her tweets in August 2024 and in any event, only she would know her own finances.

If we accept those calculations, and if we take the view that Rebecca invented a lot of her alleged misfortunes, then I accept someone can hold the opinion that potentially she may have spent the money in the Kickstarter pot to finance her lifestyle, and then rebuilt the pot up using her own contributions. But again, there is no public evidence of that because Rebecca deleted all of her Tweets, and only she knows how she funded the lifestyle she portrayed on social media during this time.

What is clear that at some point there has been evidence provided of a pot of money totalling over £5,000 that Rebecca claims will be used to meet the expenses of publishing the book later this year. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.

Lifestyle discrepancies

Separately, she has publicly documented leading a lifestyle that appears to be inconsistent with her claimed financial position. For example, she has documented going on holiday multiple times and to expensive festivals for the past several years. Tattle have calculated Rebecca's total income to be approximately £25,000 gross equivalent to a working person based on various public details published by Rebecca. It is difficult to see how she is entitled to PIP, etc. on the basis of her public evidence that she can't go to new places, struggles to drive, etc. and therefore meets the stringent PIP criteria when she is documented by her own admission as travelling across the country on regular trips to Scotland, to Bath, to Leeds, and so on which would appear to contradict her claim.

Further, she has claimed privately to me to have severe anxiety, depression, etc. which entitles her to various social security payments. It is difficult to reconcile this with her previous media appearances in newspapers and on TV (e.g. Sky News) over the past four years. Incidentally, it appears that Louisa Britain (Roadside Mum) arranged most of these media pieces as Louisa has connections to the media herself. These media pieces have since mostly been scrubbed from the Internet.

Her friendship with Louisa Britain, formerly known as Roadside Mum

In January 2024, Rebecca admitted to me that she had previously been quite good friends with Louisa Britain since 2020 as they had allegedly had similar experiences of poverty, and said that Louisa had come to visit her with Louisa's children. She confirmed that she was a contributor to Louisa's book, “1 in 5” but didn't know what had happened to the work she had contributed and claimed she hadn't been paid for it either. She also claimed Louisa hadn't been paid by Unbound.

A screenshot of a private message explaining that she was a contributor to Louisa's book

She admitted that they fell out partly because Louisa claimed Rebecca was not keeping herself and her child safe from me. This is because Louisa insisted that Rebecca file a police report claiming that I am a “stalker” and a “harasser”, which Rebecca considered but ultimately declined to do.

A screenshot of a private message where Rebecca claimed Louisa encouraged her to file a police report

Around this time, Louisa was busy defaming and threatening me as I came close to exposing her true identity. She then turned on Rebecca and called her a “snake” and a “traitor” for acting as an intermediary on WhatsApp between Louisa and myself. I understand that at this point, Louisa threatened Rebecca for interacting with me and Rebecca realised Louisa was “dangerous“ and broke off all contact.

Safe to say, they are no longer friends.

Conclusion

Given the extremely lengthy delays to the book—it is coming up on nearly three years since the book was supposedly “nearly finished” and just needed tweaking and formatting into a professional book, and the fact that Rebecca's attention has been diverted on extraneous things like post-launch blog posts, etc. it is difficult to see the book coming to completion, given the amount of work that is apparently left to do on it.

If it does indeed get completed on time for a September launch, I will be very surprised. This is clearly a cautionary tale that if you take money from members of the public for something, you should ensure you deliver on it when you say you will, or otherwise keep people updated as much as possible—otherwise people will start calling you a “scammer”.

I have presented the facts and the evidence. Now it is for you to make up your own mind as to whether you think the book will ever be completed.