Best Job Ben Southall on Oprah Winfrey Show

Tourism Queensland's Best Job island caretaker Ben Southall has hit the big time on Oprah.

The Englishman, who is almost two-thirds of the way through his six-month contract, has a five-minute stint on the Oprah Winfrey Show tomorrow.

Winfrey interviewed Southall, 34, by satellite from his Hamilton Island base in the Whitsunday Islands.

And as part of the Best Job promotion, an audience member of the Oprah show will win a trip to Queensland.

Pictures: Best job in the worldThe Oprah appearance is seen as a tourism coup for the State Government, which says the state will be promoted direct to more than seven million US TV viewers and 145 countries.

Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said Southall had been able to give a first-hand account of "fantastic" Queensland experiences.

Southall said the Oprah show had been a highlight of his work in Australia. "She spoke to me personally, and I thought, 'Wow, this really is something'," he said.

Southall, a charity events organiser, has been in the Queensland Outback this week, supporting the Angel Flight Trailblazer, a new bush charity event.

Published in Courier Mail 21 October.

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