MORE than 20,000 people visited Tom Chambers' home village website during his stint on Strictly Come Dancing.

The ex-Repton School pupil, whose family live in Parwich, near Ashbourne, was crowned champion of the BBC One show last month.

Parwich.org, a community website run by members of the Parwich Memorial Hall committee, has followed his progress on the show.

Its editorial team has posted pictures and video of Tom during the competition and of when he and professional dance partner Camilla Dallerup visited the local pub, the Sycamore Inn.

Last month, there was also a raunchy advent calendar with residents pictured in various poses.

The number of page views in December was the most the website has ever had in a month, beating the previous record of 15,000, which was seen in July as a result of interest in Wakes Week, where the village hosted a series of sporting events.

One of the village's blog writers, Mike Atkinson, said the website's popularity in December was due to Tom's success, interest in the calendar and the fact that the village Memorial Hall was awarded a £500,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund.

"Perhaps this goes to show us what tabloid newspaper editors have known for a long time, that nothing sells like sauciness, sportiness, success and celebrity," he said.

"We'd be surprised if these extraordinary figures were ever matched again in the future but then again, you never quite know what's lurking around the corner."