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Great British Bake Off contestant forced to defend absence following fan criticism

The 23-year-old was ill during Bread Week

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Nicky Morris
TV and film writer
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Great British Bake Off contestant Rebs Lightbody has taken to Twitter to clarify that she did not "pull a sickie" during Bread Week.

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In the latest episode of the baking competition, which aired on Tuesday night, Rebs and Abdul were both absent from the tent due to illness and had to miss one week. 

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Some fans of the show jokingly suggested that the pair "pulled a sickie" in order to skip Bread week, which is famously one of the most feared weeks, while others suggested it was unfair for them to have a "free pass" to the following week. 

Taking to Twitter, Rebs wrote: "Will say it once for the people in the back, I DID NOT want to miss bread week (it was probably my strongest week), I was forced to go home for the safety of all in the tent, I just wanted the world to see my Lahmacun pizza and Mexican style smorgastarta!

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"No matter what you think of me and my bakes pls know I didn't pull a 'sickie', I begged to stay and then I cried all the way back to Northern Ireland," she added. 

View post on Twitter

Rebs clarified her absence on Twitter

In a separate post, she even shared a screenshot of a photo she sent to her friend on her way home from the tent. The caption read: "Camila Cabello said ain't no crying in the club but she never said anything about not crying in the taxi cause you're missing your best baking week."

rebs© Photo: Channel 4

Rebs was forced to miss Bread Week due to illness

It's clear the Masters Student has plenty of fans, however, as many viewers took to the comments to show their support for the 23-year-old. One person wrote: "Keep your chin up Rebs and try and ignore the haters. Most of them don't exist anywhere but here. Rise above (pun totally intended) Can't wait to see what you do next week!" while another added: "Sorry you've been given a hard time by a few moaners. You're great."

A third added: "Don't need to justify to people! Looking forward to seeing you back next week."

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