11:25a.m.
7th May 2009 It began with a bang but almost ended with a whimper. Briton Ben Southall won the Best Job in the World competition yesterday, after it generated headlines for Queensland’s attractions across the world. Ben, who was picked from a pool of 34,000 international applicants, was among the 16 finalists for the $150,000 job. However, before premier Anna Bligh could make the official announcement, the Queensland Tourism website let the result slip, sparking an embarrassing scramble to withdraw it. All the same, Ben, a 34-year-old project manager and charity fundraiser, will take up the six-month Great Barrier Reef island caretaker’s job from July 1. Ben told a crowd assembled on Hamilton Island that the campaign, which has generated about $100 million in tourism publicity, had been an “enormous worldwide success”.
As well as his day-to-day island duties, Ben will sail, snorkel and scuba dive while promoting the island and the Great Barrier Reef to tourists through an online blog.