Tourism Australias Best Jobs in the World competition - Heidi Klum with competitor Graham Freeman. Picture: supplied Source: Supplied
Tourism Australias Best Jobs in the World competition .. Stephen Colbert with America's Jane Chiao Source: Supplied
THE candidates for Tourism Australia's best jobs in the world have managed to secure some pretty impressive referees including US talk show hosts, Stephen Colbert and Jay Leno, supermodel Heidi Klum and even Sir David Attenborough.
The 150 shortlisted candidates were given two weeks to generate publicity and support for their application, including being asked to find influential figures willing to endorse them for their chosen job.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the quality and variety of references received had been as eye-catching as the original video entries.
"These candidates are obviously hungry for Australia's best jobs and have managed to secure some very impressive referees, including film and TV stars, authors, musicians, supermodels, sporting stars, explorers, scientists, politicians, celebrity chefs... you name it," Mr McEvoy said.
South African born American Graham Freeman managed to secure the support of German supermodel Heidi Klum in his quest to become Outback Adventurer.
Freeman ran into the model backstage as he was due to appear on Los Angeles television station KTLA. Klum thought he was Australian and said "G'Day mate". By the end of the TV show taping, Freeman had a picture with Klum holding a sign that read "Team Graham for the Outback."
He immediately posted it onto his Facebook page with the caption "Wooo! Heidi Klum is on Team Graham!"
"The support has really been overwhelming," Freeman said. "I'm running on adrenaline. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I'll sleep later."
To secure her spot in the shortlist for Chief Funster America's Jane Chiao convinced US talk show host Stephen Colbert to make a video doing the Harlem Shake. They called it the Colbert bump. Now she's returned to the show and secured an official endorsement from Colbert. US talk show hosts, Jay Leno and Colbert have also come out in support of America's Reena Reuta (for Taste Master).
While they didn't provide endorsements Bear Grylls, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey are just some of the other celebrities who have tweeted their support for candidates on Twitter.
One hundred and fifty people from 35 countries are still in the running for Tourism Australia's 'Best Jobs in the World' competition, with candidates from as far afield as Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia and Mexico.
Their video entries included a Taste Master applicant 'singing for his supper', a spoof '007' assignment for the Park Ranger role and a candidate for the Chief Funster delivering his entire application in rap.
The six 'best jobs' are: Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia), Chief Funster (New South Wales), Park Ranger (Queensland), Taste Master (Western Australia), Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory) and Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria).
The United States provided the highest number of short-listed candidates (33) followed by the UK (23), Australia (17), France (17), Canada (8) and Italy (5).
Based on these references and original videos, judges will select the 18 strongest candidates (three for each of the six jobs), who will be announced on 15 May.
The 18 will be invited to a final assessment in Australia in mid-June, with the six successful job candidates announced on 21 June 2013.
All 150 short-listed videos can be viewed at www.australia.com/bestjobs or www.australiaworkingholiday/facebook
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