GBBO's Rebs Claims She Was 'Forced' Home On Bread Week

"Great British Bake Off" may be about making delicious cakes, pastries, and other baked goods, but things still get intense in the iconic white tent where the contestants make their bakes. The competition can get hotter than a July day during "Chocolate Week," and some GBBO contestants break down under the pressure.

But the bakers don't only face pressure from their competitors and the judges. Since they're on a massively popular show, each contestant is also vulnerable to online criticism. Just take Rebs Lightbody. Twitter was coming for GBBO's Rebs after her performance on Episode 2, Season 13, which was "Biscuit Week." Lightbody had asked for help from another contestant, who happily gave it. But after a Twitter storm from viewers, she had to defend herself. Now, the GBBO contestant has been forced to stick up for herself on social media again, after rumors swirled about her absence from the "Bread Week" episode of the current season of "Bake Off."

"Great British Bake Off" fans might have found themselves wondering, "Why were Rebs and Abdul missing from 'Bread Week'?" Rebs Lightbody and Abdul Rehman Sharif were both absent, according to Decider, and rumors about the reason began making the rounds on social media. Some speculated that they might have taken a sick day to play hooky, because "Bread Week" is considered to be so challenging. The official Twitter account for "The Great British Bake Off" wrote, "Both Rebs and Abdul were a bit under the weather during Bread Week." But Lightbody still felt the need to address the rumors herself, explaining that she "was forced to go home for the safety of all in the tent."

"Bread week was actually one of my favorite weeks, but I was not physically allowed to be in the tent no matter how much I begged," Lightbody replied to one Twitter user. She insisted in another tweet, "Ironically it was one week I absolutely didn't want to miss... But I guess that's the bake off curse, always missing your best weeks." She found some sympathetic ears.

User @Minimaz1980 accepted the explanation and wished they could have seen Lightbody in action. Even @justthatjon, who had joked about choosing to be ill for "Bread Week," told her to "ignore the haters." Thankfully, it seems like Lightbody's illness hasn't prevented her from continuing in the competition, as a preview for the next episode shared by co-host Matt Lucas showed Rebs in the tent (via Twitter).