Dance champion Tom 'on cloud nine'

More than 13 million viewers tuned in to watch the Holby City actor dance his way to victory on Saturday night. The newlywed, 31, won over the public in the BBC reality show, which has been mired in controversy this year.

Chambers, who postponed his honeymoon to take part in the celebrity contest, thanked his wife Clare before paying tribute to friends, family and dance partner Camilla Dallerup for their support in helping him seal the title.

His father, Stuart Chambers, described his son's triumph as "sensational".

Mr Chambers said: "He is on cloud nine and is super-charged by it. He is so pleased for Camilla - that's the big thing for Tom. It's sensational. We are all totally on cloud nine. It's unbelievable. We are so happy for Camilla."

Residents in the family's home village of Parwich, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, gathered in the local pub to watch the final. Up to 50 people crowded around the television screen in the tiny bar at The Sycamore Inn to watch Chambers dance his way to glory.

Landlady Janet Gosling, who attended the village primary school with Chambers, said: "Everyone was really happy for him when he won. It's a close-knit community and everyone knows him."

She said although Chambers now lived in London, he often returned to Parwich, a quiet rural village in the Peak District, to visit his parents, Stuart and Rosemary, and brother Giles, 42.

Reverend Christopher Harrison, vicar of St Peter's Church in Parwich, said the whole village was "ecstatic" following the popular local boy's win.

He said: "There was utter exhilaration that he made it when so many times it looked as if that was it. People know him here as Tom and it's strange to think of him as a celebrity because he's so normal when he comes back to the village."