‘Devastated’ Bake Off star defends herself after being accused of pulling a sickie to miss Bread Week

BAKE OFF star Rebs Lightbody has hit back after she was forced to miss part of the show after falling ill.

The star was absent from last night’s show alongside Abdul Rehman Sharif, which meant no one ended up getting sent home.

Devastated Rebs told her followers: “Sadly, sickness meant I wasn’t allowed to take part in my fave week. Crying my eyes out.”

Denying her absence was tactical, she added: "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!

"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."

At the start of the show Matt Lucas told viewers: “Both Rebs and Abdul are a bit under the weather this week, but with your permission, we thought we’d send them both straight through to the final.”

Noel Fielding quickly added: “Only joking, they’re going to miss a week and hopefully they’ll be back next week.”

The third episode saw eight contestants tasked with baking two signature pizzas, a pain aux raisin technical challenge and a savoury Swedish showstopper.

When the time came to eliminate a contestant, Matt said: "This week nobody is going home. The judges felt given the quality and the fact that Rebs and Abdul aren't here, everybody deserved the chance to bake again."

Rebs is a 23-year-old masters student who hails from County Antrim.

Flavour is paramount for her, and she has more recently started to play around with Middle Eastern ingredients – in a nod to her boyfriend Jack’s Turkish family heritage.

Abdul, 29, is an electronics engineer who lives in London.