Gap Year travellers complete ultimate challenge
07 Dec 2009
Three young British travellers have left New Zealand after the final of an online reality series that tested their stomachs and skills in the quest for the title of the ultimate ‘Gap Year Traveller 2009’.
Holly Stile, Emma Halstead and Antonio McIntosh were finalists in The Gap Year: Challenge New Zealand project which wrapped up in Queenstown last week (4.12.09).
In a successful and well-scrutinised competition, supported by more than 25,000 online votes, Holly Stile emerged as the ultimate winner. But, instead of taking the NZ$4585 round-the-world prize for herself, she generously decided to share her winnings with fellow finalists, Halstead and McIntosh.
Gap Year Challenge
The group of young travellers spent a testing month immersed in the Kiwi experience and won the hearts of the online community as they faced their fears in extreme adventure, wild food and cultural challenges around New Zealand.
Throughout the challenge, the travellers were pushed to their physical and mental limits in a series of daily experiences that included bungy jumping, ski-diving, heli-sledging and eating grubs.
The project was created by Endemol UK’s Digital Studios arm, and sponsored by Tourism New Zealand.
Throughout the series, the travellers posted short videos and updates documenting their adventures on 'The Gap Year' homepages, which had more than 12,000 followers across social media sites Bebo, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.
Viewers were also able to get involved with the show by interacting with the travellers and voting for the person that they wanted to win.
Go all the way
Co-producer Matt Smith said the Gap Year Challenge had been hugely successful. "It’s the first project of its type to be rolled out across a number of social networks and it has exceeded expectations in every way."
The initiative was part of Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Go All the Way’ campaign, which was developed to target the resilient backpacker market.
Tourism New Zealand acting chief executive Tim Hunter said the initiative had been an ideal way to showcase the New Zealand holiday experience to a backpacker audience.
"Outbound travel from the UK has been hit hard by the global economic downturn but we’re finding that backpackers are still travelling. The Gap Year project is just one of a series of initiatives that will aim to make sure these travellers come all the way down to New Zealand when they make that big trip," Hunter said.
The three finalists agreed the project had raised New Zealand’s profile overseas and said they were lucky to have experienced so many activities for free.
More information:
Gap Year five in online Kiwi adventure
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