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13 August 2011

Best Job on The East Coast The Competition Update

So last blog post I told you all about the back round info of the “Best Job on the East Coast”. In this one, I will tell you about how the contest itself is panning out.
I of course took one look at the details of it and proceeded to enter, about 20 times!
Then one Monday morning about 3 weeks ago, while I was fast asleep (I work on weekends thus usually sleep in on a Monday morning) I woke up with my phone’s alarm, then realized that I had not put on my alarm. So I looked at my phone and saw a call coming in, I picked it up and the man on the other side introduced himself as George from East Coast Radio. He said that he was calling to let me know that they were going to call me again in 5mins and interview me live on-air! So I quickly composed myself and just managed to get a big breath before they phoned again, they asked a little about me, then tested me by seeing how quick I could do a Twitter update, which I did. Then they said goodbye and that was that. But I bugged them and bugged the entire East Coast Radio team, Signature Life Hotels, and all my friends and family all over my twitter and facebook for the next weeks.

Then about 2 weeks ago, they called me and said I am one of the finalists and must come into the radio station for another interview! It was for Monday the 7th and I had to be there by 7am, yes, you better believe it, I dragged myself out of bed at 5am and got ready and to the studio on time. At the studio I met one of the other finalists, Sharney. So we went in and they first recorded a ‘promo’ where we had to say what we would do to win the competition with the help of George (the producer) and Wes (not sure exactly what Wes’ job description is, but he works really hard behind the scenes). Then we went into the main ‘on-air’ studio and chatted to Darren Maule for a bit, yes, that’s when the whole Irish surname and accents thing came on. Anyhow every morning for the past week they have interviewed some of the finalists (except for Wednesday and Friday). And then we (the 20 finalists) were all told to come to Canelands Beach Club in Saltrock for a ‘function’ hosted by Signature Life on Saturday (today).

So we jump to today.....
I arrived at about 9.30am Saturday 13th August to an intimate hotel on the beach front in Salt Rock. I walked into the lobby to see the other finalists mingling with the staff and the glorious smell of fresh coffee. We were put through our paces by being taught how to make our own Pina Coladas (spelling?), Getting changed and sunning on the fantastic beach, given a tour of the ten room intimate hotel and open kitchen restaurant, and then had to facebook and twitter about it. And then they sat us all down and called out 7 people's names. I was one of them, got told to go into the next room, sit down and wait! The nerves were shot by then. After a few minutes our lovely hosts entered, and told us they had been watching everyone's interaction with other people, they had fairly judged everyone, but eventually it had come down to the speed that we could do social networking at. They paused, and then said we had only just made it! That whittled us down to the final 7, from 13! I couldn’t believe I had made it that far! The suspense was killing us all, the competition was stiff, and we all knew that we ourselves wanted it and are good enough to make it, but we also all know the others are amazing too. No one wants the others to lose, but no one wants to lose themselves. We were then told to blog about our experience that we had had thus far, we had only ten minutes to do it! You can see mine by clicking the following link http://www.ballitonews.co.za/2011/08/13/signature-life-hotels-and-ecr-sponsoring-the-best-job-on-the-east-coast/
Once done that, the 7 of us were then told to sit and wait in another room, and they took what felt like ages to come around, and felt like we were on Idols. We all knew that only 2 are going to Mozambique! We were lined up next to each other, and they told two of the 7 to stand forwards, I was not of those 2. They said they are very sorry, but the two who had been called to step forward were going home now, the rest of us still stand a chance!!!!
We were then told we need to come into the East Coast Radio studios for the Breakfast Show (called the Breakfast Stack) at 7am Monday morning where Signature Life Hotels and East Coast Radio will be announcing the 2 winners of the “Best Job on the East Coast”

Make sure you listen in Monday morning! I will soon upload all the photos from today on my facebook page which you can access by clicking on the following link:






The 5 finalists’ are Amelia (me), Bruce, Helen, Ashley and Sharney.