And The Best Job in the World goes to…

May 6 2009.

… not me!

Ha ha. But we knew that already.

No but seriously, last night at 11:00PM Edmonton time, the winner of The Best Job in the World was finally announced. It’s Ben Southall from the UK!

First off, I want to congratulate Ben. He seems like a really nice, funny person, who is obviously super qualified and I wish him the best of luck for his new job as the Island Caretaker of the islands of The Great Barrier Reef!

Now after the congratulations, I have to say I’m kind of surprised. I mean I guess he kind of slipped under my radar because I wouldn’t have guessed he’d be the one to get it out of the Top 16 (no offense, Ben). There were several other candidates that I think stood out over Ben. I had kind of stopped following the competition after I didn’t make it beyond Top 50, but I started being really interested again when all the Top 16 were flown to Australia for their week of fun events, final tasks and interviews and from that alone, I felt there were a few candidates that stood out a lot more.

Oh, also another thing that happened after I didn’t make it beyond Top 50 was that I decided to throw my support behind Top 16 candidate Juweon! He’s a fantastic person. A great blogger and his efforts during the campaign really need to be noted. When all the candidates were down in Oz, they were obviously under really tough time pressures, lots of scheduled things to do during the day so a lot of the candidate’s blogs went inactive for the period they were down there except a few, including Juweon’s. Juweon blew my mind with how he was able to keep the world updated on what was going on Down Under. He updated his blog everyday with detailed, interesting, and insightful posts, included photos and the thing that especially blew my mind – he had fully-edited, well polished videos to put up as well! I don’t think he really slept the entire time he was down there because he spent most of the night working on updating and I was completely and utterly impressed. If I hadn’t been supporting him before, I would have definitely started supporting him based solely on his ridiculously awesome blog.

Aside from Juweon’s blog, I was also regularly checking up on Canada’s lone candidate Erik‘s blog, Australian James‘s blog (I’ve mentioned him on this blog before, I absolutely love his photographs!), and the other Ben from France’s blog. I figured all of them had a really great shot at taking the title of Island Caretaker and I’m actually shocked none of them were chosen.

But oh well, what’s done is done. I think all of the Top 16 have been fantastic and they’ve had an incredible journey that, not going to lie, I was completely jealous of. They all also got cyan-colored shirts that said ‘THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD’, which only further fueled my jealousy, lol. But I think I share the same sentiment as all of the Top 50, and everyone who has been following this contest the last few months… it’s finally over.

Will I be following Ben’s blog come July 1st when he officially starts his best job in the world as Island Caretaker? Not sure. I’m not really sure how interested the world will be after this anyway. I know all/most of my supporters stopped following the contest after I was out, as I’m sure was the case for the other candidates in the Top 50 who didn’t move onto the next round. But I don’t really think people actually religiously following the Island Caretaker’s blog was really the point of the whole contest anyway. The point was to generate worldwide interest in Australia and The Great Barrier Reef and that has most certainly been done. No one can deny that. And the fact that the Top 16 represented someone from all corners of the globe also ensured that reports about the winner of TBJITW would be popping up from all corners of the globe. Oh Tourism Queensland, you’re so clever.

But seriously I think the other 15 candidates are going to have so many great opportunities open to them now and it’ll be cool to see what directions they end up going.

Also, since this is a Best Job-related post. I ask that everyone check out fellow Canadian Top 50 candidate Mitch‘s latest Best Job-related video! He’s seriously SO talented. I can see him having a very successful career on broadway one day. He’s also headed down to Oz for school for a semester come end of July. Another fellow Canadian Top 50 candidate, Anny is also headed down to Australia for a few months of traveling and working. So goodluck and congrats to those two for ending up down in Australia anyway! :)

One day I’ll get down there as well. ;)

Oh also, I was asked to write a first-person article about my experience with TBJITW for Edmonton’s SEE Magazine. It’ll run for next week’s issue and I’ll wait till then before I post it up.

Anyway, as I’ve said before, this entire experience has been fantastic and life-changing for me. Even though I didn’t move onto the FINAL final, I’m glad I made it as far as I did and I think it’ll be really interesting to look back on the newspaper articles, TV interview videos, and blog posts about TBJITW, years from now. I also think it’s cool that I now share this Best Job bond with 49 other people worldwide. A lot of them are really cool people and I hope I get to meet them someday in the future too.

On that note, I’d like to congratulate Ben one more time… congratulations Ben! :)

Linda

8 Comments

  • Queena says:

    You’re too nice to the other candidates Linderz. This is a blog to be viciously ranting about how much better you are than any of the other top 16 candidates.

    So classy, you. It’s a shame.

    <3! :)

  • stk says:

    Linda – I clone your feelings 100%.

    My top picks varied, depending on what TQ put their emphasis on: Juweon was my personal fav – ability, desire, commitment & his pledge, which demonstrated he was thinking beyond “Island Caretaker”. Erik’s descriptive writing would have made a follower out of me. Best Job Ben had drive, enthusiasm and great marketing skill. Cali brought video editing and experience, which would have made a great IC blog.

    Congrats to Ben and here’s my on-record reaction.

    Cheers!

  • Debra ward says:

    Linda,

    You should already know by now how impressed I am with you but just in case I am going to say it again.

    You rock girl! You have such class and poise (and you sizzle!). It is a shame you did not get down to Australia but you went so far because of your own efforts and personality!

    I KNOW that great things are in store for you and I will be cheering you on in whatever they are.

  • Kim says:

    Whatever.

    I dgaf.

    LOLOL.

  • Linda Hoang says:

    I’ll try to be meaner next time Queena!!!
    Haha, thank you love. <3

  • Linda Hoang says:

    Agreed Scott!

    But well, I’ve been getting “over” it for over a month now so I’m not dwelling on it much anymore. Definitely want to vaca down in Australia someday now though!

  • Linda Hoang says:

    Debra you are too sweet and too kind. Seriously! Thank you for all of your kind words and your support these last few months. I’m glad I’ve gotten to know you ! :)

  • Linda Hoang says:

    LOL IRL. Ikr.

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