A BBC television host has jumped to the defence of a contestant who appeared on a game show yesterday, after a barrage of transphobic tweets were sent about her.

Richard Osman, co-host of BBC’s Pointless, tweeted today in defence of Stephanie, a contestant on the game show Pointless yesterday.

Following her appearance, a number of Twitter users took to sending transphobic and abusive messages.

Anyone making unpleasant comments about Stephanie on #Pointless can stop watching the show altogether. Grow up and let people live life. — Richard Osman (@richardosman) March 7, 2014

Osman also pointed to a large majority of Twitter users who gave positive responses to Stephanie’s appearance alongside her elderly friend named Pearl.

As this article was published, Osman tweeted: “Very moved by how lovely, kind and thoughtful my timeline has been for the last hour. What a magnificent country we live in.”