Jackie Miao

I’m not sure if it’s incidental or did lots and lots of things happen in the last two weeks? You decide.

1. Steve Rogers’ Running Grandpa featured on USA Today

Remember Steven the Texan, one of the Top 50 candidates I was competing against for the Best Job in the World? His 91-year-old granddad Orville Rogers was featured on USA TODAY this week to show everyone you can still run at his age. So the next time you manufacture some excuse about not exercising, think about Orville and ask yourself what’s your excuse again?! Uhuh… I thought so!

Read the USA TODAY article here…
Website: Steve’s Blog

2. Island Caretaker to Appear on Oprah

When I read that Ben was going on Oprah I was pretty excited for him. As happy as I am for Ben I couldn’t help but think how close I came to being on Oprah myself. Saying that, to now know I am only one degree away from one of my biggest sources of inspiration of all time is pretty stokin’. Maybe I’ll get to meet Oprah for other reasons one day. There’s definitely hope yet!

Websites: Best Job in the World, Oprah.com

3. Jordan on Female Magazine’s GORGEOUS 50 List

My friend Jordan stunned everybody when he appeared in the quintessential ladies magazine as a celebrated sizzling hot symbol of desire in the November 2009 issue of Female Magazine (Malaysia Edition). If I don’t appear shocked, it’s because he kind of told me about a mystery photo shoot he did before he became too hot to handle!

Read my interview with Jordan…

Website: FemaleMag.com.my

4. Mia Palencia to Launch her Second Album

One of my good friends Mia Palencia will be launching her second album Songs from the Jiwang Kingdom this Friday in Kuala Lumpur. I get goosebumps when I listen to her sing; firstly from her amazing diva voice and secondly from beaming with Sabahan pride. It’s even better watching her live, as she scats her vibes into your pores. Listen to her here and judge for yourself.

Websites: Brabons Entertainment, MiaPalencia.com

5. Pete Teo, Honey Ahmad on CNNGo’s List of People to Watch

Pete Teo, the melodic prose king from Sabah and foodie Honey Ahmad of FriedChillies.com were featured on the new and very sexylicious CNNGo.com as people to watch in Asia. I met Pete about 8 years ago at No Black Tie through Roger Wang and worked with Honey Ahmad to host the delegates from the World Gourmand Awards in Sabah in 2005. FriedChillies also supported me earlier this year when I ran my Best Job in the World campaign, so as you can imagine I couldn’t be happier to see Honey’s name sprout up on CNNGo’s Hot List!

Websites: http://www.peteteo.com, http://www.friedchillies.com

6. Mad About CNNGo

Speaking of CNNGo, When I was invited to check them out a few weeks ago I wasn’t sure how good their content was going to be. A few weeks into this I’ve now gotten slightly cozy with the guys behind the scene. CNNGo.com is hip, stylish, daring, quirky, humorous and relevant. I laugh incessantly at their stuff, so much so that I can imagine myself giggling, chuckling and just about snort in their Hong Kong office with them. Loving them so far! CNNGo.com is the most exciting website in Asia right now and if you live or spend a lot of time in the region, they’ll make sure your wanderlust never fizzles.

Website: http://www.cnngo.com

7. BFF Gives Birth to a Baby Boy

This is more of a personal phenomenon but my BFF (who in our invincible years swore she’d mother a child with or without a man by 35) just gave birth to a baby boy(at 33 years old)! Phew… Thank goodness her husband locked her down before she hit the tadpole bank. She’s in super-confinement mode at the moment but I can’t wait to meet her little treasure in a week’s time!

8. Jennifer featured on Harian Metro

Remember Jennifer Pedersen, the beauty who won the Estee Lauder Model Search? She appeared in Harian Metro on November 5th, 2009. Below are the scans from her mother.

Isn’t she lovely? I’m sure you’ll see her popping up everywhere in Malaysia and Singapore, but I thought I’d follow up since the last post I wrote about Jennifer.

9. Fakawi Banshee Proud of Team Achievements

One of the coolest bunch of people in Malaysia are the Fakawi Tribe mountain bikers. Their Banshee team riders Ausanee Pradupyard(Thailand) and Stanly Jalip JR (Malaysia) podiumed in the ACC Asian MTB Championship held in Malacca last week.  All mountain biking nerds should check out those Banshee Bikes. Last I read they cost you your left kidney, but the hefty pricetag is nothing compared to the satisfaction of riding downhill like a demon. (Small print: If you’re skillfull and daring that is!)

Websites: FakawiBikes.com, FakawiTribe.com

That about rounds up the eyebrow raisers of the fortnight. In my next post I’ll share more about what I’ve been up to, so stay tuned!

Finally the BBC ‘Best Job in the World’ documentary is out and if you are in the U.K. you can watch the replay on BBC iPlayer for the next 5 days.

For me, it was especially fun to see what the other candidates were up to as we were all being really secretive with our plans while we were campaigning for votes!

Here’s a quick screenshot for your enjoyment if you’re not in the U.K. There isn’t a lot about me in there since the documentary focuses on the British candidates. There is however a flashing of my face and a quick mention of my name along the lines of “Up in the big wheel there are other candidates with an eye on the 70k prize. There’s Jackie from Malaysia…”

Despite a small cameo, I am pretty happy I managed to get myself on the Beeb for “happy-feel-good” reasons while I was in the U.K. I wish my mom could have been around to see this (God bless her soul)! She would have been delighted to see her daughter on British T.V.

It’s official! Tourism Queensland has chosen Ben Southall as their Island Caretaker.

Ben is the hardiest and most impressive candidate as far as extreme adventurism goes. It is very hard to top the Land Rover roaring, tough-as-nails man who climbed 5 mountains and ran 5 marathons in the same year in some of the toughest conditions in Africa. I know he’ll be able to hack this job because of the physical and mental requirements of the role. He’s as tough as they come and so is his toughbook (which he showed to us the last time we met up)!

I’m sure he’s inundated with media requests at the moment and I’ll wait till this dies down to congratulate him privately. I would however like to congratulate everyone from the Top 50 to the Top 16 for all their achievements and I thank Tourism Queensland for the amazing experience. I’ve made good contacts from this campaign and have a renewed sense of purpose because of the Best Job in the World. Money can be made in many ways but the experience is something money cannot buy.

I hope that the Top 15 who didn’t make it will know that you’re all winners. I remember how disappointed some of the Top 50s were when we didn’t make it to Hamilton Island but look up because the opportunities for other things have just begun and I hope to get to meet the rest of you one day.