British charity worker gets 'world's best job'

MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) - Following an unprecedented global selection process, a British charity worker won the "best job in the world" as the caretaker of a tropical island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef on Wednesday.

"Ben Southall was chosen from more than 34,000 applicants for the Best Job in the World," the project's website said.

On Thursday morning, the winner will receive the keys to his new home - the Blue Pearl villa overlooking the Coral Sea, with a swimming pool and a golf course. He will start his work on July 1. The caretaker's responsibilities include publishing a weekly blog and video and photo diaries, as well as feeding fish and turtles and collecting mail.

Yulia Yalovitsyna, from the northern Russian Republic of Karelia, was an early frontrunner for the cushy job, but was scratched from the list of applicants following media reports that she worked in the porno business and had been in adult films. (VIDEO)

Tourism Queensland announced the competition, which drew 34,684 applications from more than 200 countries, in January 2009.