'Best Job In the World' campaign branded 'worst run contest ever'

Sydney, Feb 27 (ANI): People vying for Tourism Queensland's Best Job In the World have branded the campaign worst run contest ever after repeated website failures prevented them from submitting their applications.

Fifty job seekers, out of more than 34,000 applicants around the globe, have been shortlisted for the 150,000-dollar stint as 'island caretaker' on the Great Barrier Reef, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

However, blog sites and Internet forums have been buzzing with complaints since the weekend, when the Tourism Queensland website crashed on the eve of the competition deadline.

Tourism Queensland's efforts to boost the server supporting the site ahead of Sunday's international cut-off date failed, as the website was flooded with more than 7000 applications at once. The final tally was 34,684.

US hopeful Jeff Cook was shattered after he was unable to submit his video entry online, despite 20 consecutive attempts over the weekend.

The 51-year-old professional photographer and avid traveller has blasted the promoter, after he received an email from the website's regulators advising his application was not accepted because it exceeded the time limit.

After sending out a mass email with the subject line "The worst run contest in the world", Cook detailed his gripes when contacted by brisbanetimes.com.au.

"Queensland Tourism (sic) blew it big time and is not accepting responsibility. I made sure my video was exactly one minute long. I tested it on five different devices. They created a monster that got out of control and a lot of people wasted time and effort and now are being wrongly blamed," Cook said. (ANI)