'Freshness and enthusiasm' wins it for Ultimate Job pair

AFTER A weekend of tests, challenges and interviews, Denise and Mark Duffield-Thomas beat nine rival couples to win the Ultimate Job (in Ireland) competition in Kinsale, Co Cork yesterday.

The competition, organised by Runaway Bride Groom and partly sponsored by The Irish Times, will see Australian-born Denise and her English husband travel to – and report back on – a series of luxury resort destinations over the next six months, beginning with a trip to Zanzibar, Mauritius and Kenya.

More than 15,000 couples from all over the world applied to enter the competition, which was announced online and in newspapers in February.

Kinsale was chosen to host the final, with the entrants shooting and editing videos to showcase the town as a honeymoon destination – an easy task, as it turned out, with the town basking in picture-perfect sunshine for most of the weekend.

“It was very difficult to choose one winning couple from our final 10,” said one of the organisers and judges, Zara Stassin of travel agency Zara’s Planet.

“We were looking for a couple with all-round abilities – writing skills, competency with shooting and editing video, and an expertise in blogging and new media. All of the finalists were very strong in some or all of these areas, but Denise and Mark have a freshness and enthusiasm which really appealed to the judges and set them apart. In the end, the decision was unanimous.”

“The international response to the Ultimate Job has been phenomenal,” said Rosemary Meleady, managing director of Runaway Bride Groom.

“When we set up the project, we envisaged the winners writing about the various destinations, with maybe a bit of blogging and social media. Now it has evolved to a multifaceted marketing campaign with a global following.”

For Mark Duffield-Thomas, the win means giving up his job as a sales operative and research manager with Manchester United FC. His wife works as a new media officer with children’s charity Barnardo’s. They have been married since August 2009.