Clare Wang was the winner among 50 short-listed applicants vying for the contest’s “Wild Card,” the first step in securing an A$150,000 (US$102,000) contract to live on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef for six months.
Wang will join 10 other finalists, selected April 2 by the tourism office, to attend the final interview event from May 3 to 6, which will be held on several islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The winner will be declared May 6 and is expected to start working July 1.
The job is part of an A$1.7-million campaign to promote northeastern Queensland. It involves participating in several promotional events while writing a blog to publicize the region.
The application process started Jan. 9 and closed Feb. 22. About 35,000 people, including dancers, scientists, chefs and students from nearly 200 countries around the world, applied for the gig. Each applicant had to provide a video in English no more than one minute long to explain why he or she was the right person for the position.
Tourism Queensland displayed the top 50 short-listed videos online, inviting visitors to vote for the “Wild Card” candidate. Voting took place between March 2 and March 24. Wang received 151,676 votes—over 96,000 more votes than the Canadian runner-up and nearly five times the ballots the third most popular candidate from Ireland received.
Wang, a 30-year-old Chinese-English interpreter, said this was the first time she had campaigned on the Internet. “Usually, I do not take part in this kind of competition,” she told a local newspaper, describing herself as a shy person.
In her application video, the young woman used two puppets to demonstrate her interpreting skills, as well as pictures of herself in leisure-time activities, to convince online voters she was an outdoor person. Wang ended her video by saying, “I’ve never been to the Great Barrier Reef, which makes me the perfect explorer.” She then pointed out she would be “super curious” as printed on the T-shirt she put on in front of the camera.
“Clare has done a remarkable job of promoting her quest for ‘the Best Job in the World’ in Taiwan and has become an overnight media celebrity,” Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes said in a statement. “Not only has she gained the support of the Taiwanese people, she has done an amazing job of promoting Queensland and the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, which is exactly what ‘the Best Job in the World’ campaign is all about.”
Write to Jean Yueh at yueh@mail.gio.gov.tw