A Co Antrim British Bake off contestant has defended herself online after people questioned her absence from last night's show.
23-year-old Rebecca Lightbody, also known as 'Rebs', was unable to take part in this week's bread baking challenge due to illness, reports Buzz.ie.
Fellow contestant Abdul Rehman Sharif, an electronics engineer from the South-East, was also absent from Tuesday's show on the same grounds, leaving some to accuse them both of 'pulling a sickie'.
Read more: Meet the NI student taking part in this year's Great British Bake Off
What's been said?
At the beginning of this week's show, presenter Matt Lucas announced: "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 then chimed in, saying: "Only joking, they’re going to miss a week and hopefully they’ll be back next week.”
In response to criticism of her absence on Twitter, Ballymena woman Rebs said: "Bread week was actually one of my favourite weeks but I was not physically allowed to be in the tent no matter how much I begged."
"No matter what you think of me and my bakes please know I didn't pull a 'sickie', I begged to stay and then I cried all the way back to Northern Ireland," she added.
The masters student also revealed what she would have made for break week in a final post, writing: "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! #gbbo"
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