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British boy, Ben Southall has today been named the winner of Tourism Queensland’s ‘Best Job in the World‘ promotion.
The 34 year old charity fundraiser beat out 15 other finalists picked from a pool of 34,000 applicants from across the globe. The 15 finalists were all flown out to Hamilton Island at the end of April to prove to the judges why exactly they were ideal candidates for the biggest and most successful marketing stint ever produced within Australia (or the world for that matter!).
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It cost about $1 million but generated close to that of $150 million in global coverage for the Great Barrier Reef.
As caretaker, Ben will live on Hamilton Island for six months, earn a $150,000 AU wage while exploring the surroundings of the region and share his experience with the world through means of online tools such as blogging.
Amongst all the excitement of today’s announcement, no one seemed to notice that a slight slip saw the winner’s name being published on the Tourism Queensland website half an hour before the official announcement was mad. The finalists however, were unaware of this minor malfunction and their reaction to the announcement was genuine and honest.
The lucky, lucky bugger.