After three "fantastic" performances Paul Rothwell and his choir Only Men Aloud won the public vote to become the Last Choir Standing.
On Monday.

Following four frantic weeks of rehearsing and shows at the BBC TV studios, the Cardiff University student returned to Warwick to celebrate and enjoy a well-earned rest with friends and family.

But at the weekend he will be back in London to perform with the 20-strong choir at the Proms in the Park.

Hopefully this time he will be able to relax and enjoy the event a little more than last week's show - which went by in such a flurry of adrenalin and excitment he can only remember performing the last song.

He said: "I watched the show again on Sunday night and it brought it back. One of the best results was when we did All By Myself and made the Sharon - one of the judges - cry for the first time.

"The emotion was there that time - we really did it.

"And in the final performance Don't Rain On My Parade, the words really did ring true. I think the expressions on our faces said it all - I was shaking like a leaf.

"It was an amazing experience and the two other choirs were so good about it and supportive. After Revelation got knocked out they came into our dressing room and said a few words for us."

To try and help his choir relax before they went on stage, director Tim Rhys-Evans asked each member what they thought about when performing the Welsh Rugby Union team's anthem Cwm Rhondda - their first song of the night.

Paul said: "Tim had told us the only thing the piece was missing was a bit more passion to make it come to life and he got us all to say something that we were thinking about during the song.

"We started out with 20 grown men in the room, but by the end of it we were replaced by 20 big girls crying."

Paul had feared his family would not be able to attend the show, but he managed to get a ticket for his mother Lyn.

He said: "Over the past four weeks I have only seen my mum for one hour during the final and the rest of my family for less than that.

"It was amazing to look down into the audience and see her. You always want to make your parents proud and I think I did it that night."

He added: "I will never, ever forget the feeling I got when we were on stage and they announced we were the winners.

"When the cameras had finished rolling all our family and friends came up onto the stage and were celebrating with us."

Lyn, whose husband Kevin and 13-year-old daughter Amy, watched Paul at home on television, said: "I wouldn't have missed it for the world. They sang from the heart. It was the most emotional experience that I have ever had.

"Paul is not normally that emotional, but he was on Saturday. He winked at me and I had this lump in my throat and when they won I thought 'wow, they've done it'."

Speaking to the Courier on Monday, Paul said it was the first day he had not seen any of the "other guys", and felt they would miss one another.

But he added: "Hopefully this is the start of bigger and better things."

The choir has already been booked for a number of high profile events and is set to release an album in November.