His responsibilities will include eating his way around Western Australia and blogging about the state’s best bars and restaurants.
More than 36,000 Brits applied for Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ campaign, in the hope that they might get one of the six roles on offer. In total, more than 330,000 people applied from across the world.
On his win, Keam, 34, said he “couldn’t quite believe it” and that the experience has “absolutely changed our lives.”
He added “Myself and Chrissie, my fiancée, were planning to get married in Brighton later on in the year, but we put it on hold because of this competition. Now I’ve won, we will be based in Perth, so Chrissie and my four-month-old son, baby George, will come across to Perth and then maybe we will have a wedding [here] and get all the family over.”
Keam has been in Australia for the last two weeks competing in a series of challenges against the other 17 finalists. For the Taste Master role, Keam was up against the USA’s Rebecca Morris and Germany’s Julian Button.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy wished to “congratulate all of the 18 finalists for the tremendous enthusiasm and effort they have put into this competition. Rich is among six successful candidates that have demonstrated incredible talent, energy and desire throughout the application process and will, I’m sure, take these positive attributes into the job with him.”
“We know Brits have a strong affiliation with Australia and we hope this competition will encourage more young people from the UK to consider a working holiday Down Under.”
The five other dream jobs went to:
Andrew Smith (USA): Chief Funster (New South Wales)
Roberto Seba (Brazil): Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria)
Allan Dixon (Ireland): Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory)
Elisa Detrez (France): Park Ranger (Queensland)
Greg Snell (Canada): Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia)
Keam is expected to start his job before the end of 2013. See below for his original video application.
Image and Video via Youtube
@ExperiencePerth @TheBelleIsle @JohnnyRussells Oh my word, I’m actually going to be doing that!! Best thing I ever did #bestjobs
— rich keam (@richkeam) June 24, 2013
Cheers @ShearaDesigns It’s been an amazing and surreal 2 months, had the BEST time in @Australia @WestAustralia and I blinkin’ won! Yowsers!
— rich keam (@richkeam) June 23, 2013