MILLIONS of viewers watched Dorset couple Jackie Phillipson and Richard Blunderfield win Channel 4’s hit TV show, Couples Come Dine with Me and scoop £1,000 in prize money.

The husband and wife PR team from Wimborne, were competing against two other couples Ross Stallion and Hanne Basson from Bournemouth and Nigel Crabbe and Gail Beaker from the New Forest.

Jackie said it had been hard to keep their success a secret for so long as the show was filmed last year.

She told the Echo: “We were genuinely shocked when we found out we had won – we honestly didn’t think we would as we are not fiercely competitive. We only took part because we are big fans of the show and thought it would be fun.”

In the show which was broadcast at 5pm, Jackie and Richard are the first to host a dinner party which is then marked out of ten by the other couples.

Jackie said: “It felt odd at first having four strangers and a camera crew in the house. They also rearranged our dining room because they wanted it to look more intimate, but after a while you forget the cameras are there.”

Before the show was aired, Richard admitted to feeling nervous because he didn’t know how the show would be edited.

He said: “It was quite intense as the filming took longer than we anticipated – they also changed the schedule a few times which I think was a ploy to make it more pressured as it makes for better telly. But we both enjoyed it and we just had to accept the fact that we were in their hands.”

The couple, who plan to spend the prize money on a holiday, are more used to putting other people in the spotlight in their role as a public relations company.

But the pair appear to be enjoying their first taste of stardom.

Jackie joked: “We are just waiting for all the sponsorship deals and TV interview requests to start flooding in now.”