In an 'intellectual blitzkrieg' the student captain of Corpus Christi, Oxford, has wiped the floor with wave after wave of rival colleges.
Before reaching the grand final to be screened tomorrow, her team trounced Exeter University 350 - 15, a victory described by host Jeremy Paxman as 'less like a general knowledge quiz and more like a cull.'
Gail Trimble, seen with team-mates Sam Kay, left, and James Marsden outside Corpus Christi College. She has scored more points on University Challenge than her three team-mates combined
But rather than celebrating Miss Trimble's success she has been on the receiving end of a vicious backlash of abuse, which some critics say shows a sinister disregard for brainpower in our celebrity-obsessed age.While fans praise the 26-year-old's as being 'very sexy with a gorgeous smile' and a 'lovely heart-throb', others brand her 'a hateful know-it-all' and an 'annoying bitch', who is 'smug, patronising and cocky'.
They have taken particular exception to her saying 'Oh, well done', 'Of course' and 'Quite' to her teammates.
One wrote scathingly: 'We have been watching this horse-toothed snob for the last number of weeks.
'She ruins University Challenge every time she is on it with her "better than thou" attitude.'
Another branded Trimble 'so brain-rupturingly irritating and smug that you actively will science to invent a screen that you can reach through and punch those inside'.
'My normally placid girlfriend ended half-poetically seething "Not a friend did she own at school" before physically turning her back on the screen so she didn't have to bear this odious little smug-specimen.
'When you're dealing with a Trimble, you just know that they've sneered at thick people... and by "thick", I mean people who don't know as much as her, which is virtually everyone, her own team included.
'She could easily win University Challenge on her own, but I get the feeling she may well celebrate alone as well.'
Corpus Christi, Oxford, beat Exeter University in the quarter-finals by 350 points to just 15. They will compete in the final against Manchester University
Other bloggers, however, have leapt to her defence. One wrote: 'So she has a few mannerisms that don't look too good on camera - I suspect she has career intentions other than TV presenting, so who cares?'I can only suppose that all the bile comes from a feeling of total inadequacy in the the face of obvious excellence.'
Another fan said: 'She is impressive. I am on the side of those who find it rather attractive and a welcome change to the bimbo culture that the reality TV curse has spawned!'
In person, speaking in a room at Corpus Christi college - around the corner from Logic Lane in Oxford - the Daily Mail asked Miss Trimble the effect this abuse has on her.
The student said: 'They are a little bit hurtful. It's not nice reading unpleasant stuff about yourself. But they don't really know me, they have only seen a very specific thing on TV.
'I'm surprised people care so much. The viewing figures are around two to three million, which is an awful lot of people who have never met me.'
And far from being arrogant, she downplays the idea that she is 'hyper intelligent.'
'Impressed': University Challenge host Jeremy Paxman
She added: 'A lot of it is about good guessing.'
Miss Trimble, who carries her mobile phone in a pink and white furry 'Bagpuss' case, achieved 11 GCSEs - including 10 A*s and one A at Lady Eleanor Holles school in Hampton, Middlesex.
She then took four grade As in Latin, Greek, English Literature and Maths at A Level, followed by a first in Latin at Corpus Christi in 2004.
In the semi-final against St John's College, Cambridge, last week, she put the other seven players to shame as she was first in with correct answers to a dozen crucial 'starter for 10' questions in matter-of-fact, clipped tones.
Her knowledge spanned everything from English and Greek literature to physics, the New Testament, ducks, turnips and Kazakhstan banknotes.
Studying a doctorate in Latin literature, she naturally made short work of Latin expressions coined by Roman poet Horace such as carpe diem - seize the day – interdum dormitat bonus Homerus – everyone makes mistakes – and non licet omnibus adire Corinthum – not everyone can get where they want.
Even when questions were open to all four of her team, she seemingly knew all the answers and was usually first to voice them.
On the few occasions she came unstuck, she once offered 'ungulates' as a class of animals when the answer was birds.
Corpus Christi won by 260-150 with Trimble's personal haul a massive 185. In the 1,235 points scored by the Corpus Christi team on the way to the final, she has scored 825 of them.
An admiring Paxman described it as 'another convincing win' and said he looked forward to their performance in the quiz's grand final.
Miss Trimble, who shares a house with her brother Hugh, 24, likes reading old children's classics, The Railway Children was a recent selection, 'random TV' and playing the cello. She is also a member of the college choir.
And far from being a lonely bluestocking, Miss Trimble will be watching the final - which has already been filmed - in a pub in Oxford with her college friends. She also has a boyfriend, Tom West, a trainee solicitor who she hopes to marry one day.
Her parents Michael and Mary Trimble spoke of their enormous pride at their daughter's quizshow supremacy today at the family's home in Walton-on-Thames.
The couple said their daughter first began to read at the age of three and attended a state junior school. Mrs Trimble said: ‘At the age of five, she was mad keen on the Secret Seven.’
Mrs Trimble, a magistrate said: ‘It’s been absolutely wonderful for her. It’s always been an ambition of hers to go on University Challenge. We’re pleased she’d done so well and had the opportunity to do it.'
Her father, Michael Trimble, a manager, added: ‘But she has got a very strong team as well. She’s getting all the attention because she’s the captain but people forget everything is channelled through the captain on University Challenge who has to give the answers. We’re both very proud of her.’
Asked about her hurtful comments that their daughters appear smug, Mr Trimble said: ‘We wouldn’t like to comment on that.’
In the semi-finals Corpus Christi College, Oxford, beat St John's College, Cambridge by 260 to 155. Miss Trimble won 185 of those points. Here are some of the 'starter for ten' questions she answered correctly:
Corpus Christi: 20St John's College: 0
The common name of the tree Betula pendula, a wingless scaly insect commonly found in kitchens, an adjective meaning 'eloquent', and an archaic name for...
GT: (interrupts) Silver
Corpus Christi: 80
St John's College: 15
The originator of the smoked salmon pizza and the American geneticist who pioneered the laboratory use of human cell colonies share what name - also that a figure of English folklore who's the eponymous character of a book of 1906 by Rudyard Kipling?
GT: Puck
Corpus Christi: 105
St John's College: 10
In the cautionary poem by Hilaire Belloc, what was the 'trick that everyone abhors', practised by Rebecca...
GT (interrupts): Slamming doors
Corpus Christi: 140
St John's College: 85
Described as a Greek soldier by Homer and as a slave by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida, Thersites gives his name...
GT (interrupts): Rudeness
Corpus Christi: 205
St John's College: 125
Three of the ten digits have names in French, German and English that begin in each case with the same letter of the alphabet. Name one of them.
GT: Six