Julia Yalovitsyna, from the northern Russian Republic of Karelia, was earlier one of the frontrunners for the cushy job as caretaker on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef which comes with a salary of $96,000 for six months. The caretaker's responsibilities include writing a weekly blog, a video and photo diary, as well as feeding the fish and turtles and collecting mail.
The general director of Tourism Queensland, Anthony Hayes, was cited by The Brisbane Times as saying "Today we have been made aware of an inappropriate video of Julia posted on a public website," and he added, "Tourism Queensland has decided to exclude Julia from the selection process under the terms and conditions of the job."
Earlier media reports said that Yalovitsyna, 29, worked in the porno business and had participated in "adult" films.
Hayes also said Julia's husband had been implicated in a criminal case involving the distribution of pornographic material over the Internet. Yalovitsyna has denied any involvement in the case and Hayes stressed "our investigations have not found any evidence to the contrary."
Tourism Queensland announced the competition, which drew 34,684 applications from more than 200 countries, in January 2009. On March 3, the company announced a short list of 50 applicants, of which 10 will be selected by company managers and an eleventh wild card entry is to be chosen in an online vote.
The 11 final candidates will later fly to Hamilton Island for the final selection process, which is due to be completed on May 6. The winner is due to start work on July 1.
