--- --- # 5 Ordinary People Who Captured the Internet's Heart in 2017 by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 30, 2017 6:10 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 30, 2017 6:10 PM UTC _TIME’s new_ [_weekly roundup_](http://time.com/5013155/hershey-bar-internet-reactions-reddit/) _brings you the best and most surprising things happening on Reddit_ ### **A Man With an Impossible Cake Mission** A redditor put a $300 bounty on a discontinued lemon cake from an Illinois chain restaurant called Portillo’s. His thread got enough traction on the Chicago subreddit to lead to its tasty revival. The chain brought the citrusy dessert back for a limited time, and it even appeared on [_Jimmy Kimmel Live!_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4-xcQfVzwo) ### **Monopoly Man at the Senate Hearing** A person dressed as the [Monopoly man](http://time.com/money/4969855/monopoly-man-equifax-hearing/) spurred national coverage when they showed up to a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the Equifax data breach, spreading long-lasting joy across the Internet in October. (The person was [Amanda Werner](http://time.com/money/4969855/monopoly-man-equifax-hearing/), an arbitration campaign manager for Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform who wore the Rich Uncle Pennybags getup to raise awareness about forced arbitration that happened as a result of the credit bureau’s data breach). People had questions about the stunt, and Werner’s Reddit AMA garnered a whopping 80,000 points. ### [ **_The Stranger Things_**](http://time.com/5023559/viral-lizard-reactions/) **Eleven Costume That Won Halloween** Fans of the sci-fi cult hit [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/) post photos of their costumes, but only one Eleven costume was enough to spread this much joy and make headlines during Halloween season. An image of Cooter\_McDoogletron’s friend biking and lounging in Eleven mode was even enough to score a nod from [Netflix](https://twitter.com/netflix/status/923656311471931392). ### **Out of This World Eclipse Prep** No one on earth was more ready to take in the summer’s [solar eclipse](http://time.com/4900148/total-solar-eclipse-time-livestream/) than this 101-year-old woman armed with the most appropriate snacks including a stash of Eclipse gum. Her neighbor shared the photo in August to Reddit’s endless delight. **‘Best Weatherman Ever’** [Alabama meteorologist Alan Sealls](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2017/live-updates/weather/hurricane-irma-a-monster-storms-devastating-path/best-weatherman-ever-the-internet-delights-in-a-calming-voice-in-a-hurricane-news-cycle/?utm%5Fterm=.a1c979d971f3) gave people a kind of shelter during September’s hurricane season. The internet delighted in this [weather man’s](https://twitter.com/WKRG/status/905897616780734464) particular knack for making the weather so easy to understand. People loved his delivery so much that the WKRG, CBS affiliate YouTube clip made it all the way to Reddit’s front page. He then graced his new fans with an AMA to explain weather phenomena further, scoring more than 4,000 comments. Most Viral People of 2017, Monopoly Man, Portillo's Cake ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5026623/viral-people-2017-reddit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5026623/viral-people-2017-reddit/"},"headline":"5 Ordinary People Who Captured the Internet's Heart in 2017","datePublished":"2017-11-30T18:10:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:50.093Z","description":"From the Equifax Monopoly man to the \"best weatherman ever\"","url":"https://time.com/5026623/viral-people-2017-reddit/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media","viral","reddit"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5026623/viral-people-2017-reddit/","name":"5 Ordinary People Who Captured the Internet's Heart in 2017"}}]}] ```