SHE'S spent three weeks in the lap of luxury, stayed in a hotel suite next door to Arnold Schwarzenegger and become a familiar face on TV.

But quiz show winner Sarah Walker never lost touch with her colleagues at St Martin's College.

Wherever she went, from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro and New York, Sarah found time to pop into a cyber-cafe and e-mail her friends from home.

"I started work again on Monday," she said: "And they were all really surprised to see me in. I was quite jet-lagged though, so I was here in body more than in mind.

"My favourite part of the trip was a helicopter ride, when they took us to the top of the mountain in Rio.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger was staying in one of the penthouse suites at the hotel in Rio, and we had the suite next to him.

"I didn't actually meet him, but he did walk past me in the hotel lobby.

"We didn't have champagne on tap at the hotels, but they did give us a weekly allowance depending on how expensive the place we were in was."

College principal Chris Carr said: "There was no problem letting Sarah have the time off. It's a once in a lifetime stroke of luck and you can't deny somebody that.

"I'm delighted for Sarah. I can't think of a better person this could have happened to."

Sarah had to come through a telephone interview and auditions in Manchester and London before taking her place in front of presenter Eamonn Holmes on the Saturday night programme, but missed out on a skiing break in St Moritz. Welcome home!"I think I could have handled a fourth week and I really wanted to go skiing." she added: "But I had a great three weeks."

Sarah is due for one more brush with fame, however. This Saturday she will be back in London pushing the button to start the National Lottery Draw.