Come Dine With Me SA contestant Tamryn Calitz, 21, caused a frenzy among gob smacked viewers this week.
She and the programme were among the most talked-about topics on Twitter after Monday night's screening.
Varsity College student Calitz, who is studying to become a teacher, stunned viewers when she described Milk Stout beer as "milk powder" and remarked: "I'm not sure what meat a chop comes from."
The show, in which four strangers dine with each other at their homes as they compete for a R10,000 prize, featured Calitz as the host. All her dishes were panned. She was visibly drunk and spent part of the next day throwing up.
Some viewers went on Twitter to comment about her binge-drinking and her remarks. One viewer tweeted: "She will never graduate."
Another begged Calitz not to pursue teaching, tweeting: "Think of the future of South Africa."
Gibbs, whose controversial autobiography, To The Point, exposed a dark side of South African cricket, joined the conversation on Twitter to defend her.
"Good value tonight. U played out of skin!! Had a royal laugh," he tweeted.
He advised her to live life the way she wanted, adding that he had dealt with public opinion "all my life".
Gibbs, who could not be reached for comment, came in for criticism two years ago when his autobiography exposed orgies and dagga smoking on international cricket tours.
Asked about Gibbs's comments, Calitz lived up to her ditzy reputation, saying: "To be honest, I didn't know who this was at first. I am not such a sports fan.
"I was really taken aback that he made the effort to tweet me."
She thanked Gibbs on Twitter for coming to her defence.
"Glad you had a nice thing to say, other people not so much," she wrote.
Calitz, who lives in Cape Town, described her television debut as nerve-racking.
"I had one hour of being on national television and I couldn't handle the negative comments. I don't know how Herschelle or big movie stars go through it," she said.
She added: "People were just being malicious, telling me that I'm a lost cause, need rehab and that they would never let me teach their children.
"This is what upset me the most, because teaching is my passion. People don't understand that I was nervous, so I did drink before my guests arrived to calm the nerves. [But] it made good TV."
A spokesman for BBC Entertainment said Monday night's episode was the best show of the season and had scored the highest ratings of the show's second series.
Source: Sunday Times via I-Net Bridge.
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