Carol's the strongest link

French teacher Carol Midwood proved a class act as she won nearly £3,000 on The Weakest Link.

Hundreds of her pupils at her school watched her chalk up success in the show yesterday.

Carol, who is also a Black Country poet and storyteller, had expected the show's host Anne Robinson to make fun of her collection of books depicting the bawdier side of life in the region.

"I have to say she left me alone at first, but by the end I was thinking I had been targeted as much as most," said Carol, a teacher at Redhill School, Stourbridge.

"I thought she would make fun of the poetry, and I was ready for that, but she homed in on my French teaching instead. I had to sing a song in French and also make up a poem in French, as well as putting up with jokes about French mistresses. I didn't expect that."

Carol was nominated a number of times by fellow contestants but was never the weakest link. However, she still had to endure a nailbiting finale which had to be decided by three separate sudden-death questions.

"I couldn't even remember what the question was I won on until I saw it back on TV. All I could remember was that I knew the answer straightaway," she said.

The show was filmed in May but Carol had to stay tight-lipped about how she got on until it went out on air on BBC2 last night. She walked away with £2,760 – and has already spent the money by travelling with husband John for a holiday in Thailand in the summer.

"We had both always wanted to go there," Carol, from Wollaston, said.

"Doing the show and being able to go to Thailand was fantastic – I would recommend anyone to go on The Weakest Link and have a go. It was brilliant."