An advertising employee who cut his teeth at the Western Telegraph was crowned Britain's top salesman last night.

In a nail-biting final Gavin Davies, from Haverfordwest, battled it out with two other contestants in the last episode of ITV's Natural Born Sellers.

The 33-year-old gave up his job and put his life on hold to compete against seven other cut-throat contestants, all determined to take home a pot of prize money which grew bigger each week.

Tasks involved selling windows, furniture, limousines, hot tubs and cleaning products. Although Gavin had consistently been one of the worst performing salesmen in the show, he was repeatedly saved from elimination by the best performing seller.

The final challenge for the three remaining contestants in last night's episode was to sell shares in a race horse for charity.

After a hapless start Gavin put all his faith in attracting one huge bid from a successful businessman. His strategy worked and he emerged as top dog, scooping over £87,000 of prize money.

Gavin, popped into his old place of work yesterday to give the inside story on his victory: "In the last task I focused on the charity side, and was just glad to have made it through to the final," he told the Western Telegraph.

"Imagine my surprise when I won. It's been great, I feel I've proved my worth as a salesman."

When asked what skills gave him the edge in the contest, Gavin said he was less pushy than other contestants, and relied on honesty instead of high pressure sales.

He also remembered sound advice from his former boss and mentor Tim Gould.

"If it wasn't for the Western Telegraph and Tim Gould I would not have got the opportunity to go on the show," he said.

"I did draw on what I'd learnt here and kept ringing Tim for advice during the show." After the contest Gavin decided to split his prize money with fellow contestant Danny, an Essex car salesman, who had kept him in the competition several times when he was left facing elimination.

"He was an accomplished salesman," said Gavin. "We became friends and I thought it would be a nice way to end by splitting the money, he deserves it."

He added: "I'm not sure what the future holds. It's quite exciting. I've had a few offers, and am hoping to go into business promoting Pembrokeshire, ghost hunting, and doing my own writing.

"I'll explore my options in the New Year."

Log on later for a video interview with Gavin.