Great British Bake Off 2022: Why Rebs Lightbody and Abdul Rehman Sharif were missing - are they coming back?

Channel 4 viewers spotted that two bakers were missing during Great British Bake Off’s Bread Week episode.

Popular Channel 4 series Great British Bake Off 2022 continued on into its third week - but you may have spotted a major difference.

As amateur bakers filled the tent to tackle Bread Week - one of the toughest challenges - there were fewer contestants than usual.

Eagle-eyed viewers would have noticed that Northern Ireland’s Rebs Lightbody and engineer Abdul Rehman Sharif were missing.

As confusion grew amongst those watching, questions started to arise as to why and whether or not they will return next week.

Why were Rebs and Abdul missing on Great British Bake Off?

Showrunners at Channel 4 confirmed the news that Rebs Lightbody and Abdul Rehman Sherif would be missing from Tuesday evening’s episode of Great British Bake Off 2022.

It is understood that both bakers could not carry on with the competition this week due to illness.

During the Bread Week episode, host Matt Lucas said: “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,” he joked.

Rebs, 23, posted her reaction on Twitter, stating: “Devastated to be missing this week.”

Following the announcement, Ms Lightbody faced a series of online abuse, of which she reacted by posting: “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.”

Will Rebs and Abdul be returning to the Great British Bake Off?

Great British Bake Off presenters and judges in cake corner (L to R (back) Noel Fielding, Matt Lucas (front) Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith.

Despite missing Paul Hollywood’s infamous Bread Week episode, both missing contestants will be returning to Great British Bake Off 2022.

Rebs and Abdul are pencilled in to re-enter the tent for this’s episode - but this is not guaranteed.

Co-host Noel Fielding confirmed the news during the show on Tuesday, saying: “They’re going to miss a week and hopefully they’ll be back next week.”