This article is from page 63 of the 2008-05-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 63 JPG
A KIN VARA teenager has been cho- sen from more than 39 million peo- ple to travel the world at the expense of social networking website Bebo.
Roxanne MHughes-Monteiro was last week picked as one of six young people, plucked from every corner of the globe, who will take part in a 6 month long Big Brother style online competition.
The Gap Year will follow the six Bebo travellers on a globe-trotting journey that will be documented on the site through video diaries, blogs and photos.
“We are trying to get Bebo users to engage with us. When we’re in cer- tain areas we’re hoping people will recommend places to go and things
to do,” said Roxanne.
Roxanne, who has just turned 19, qualified for the competition by tak- ing part in an interactive audition process which involved the creation of a video postcard about her dream gap year.
Hughes-Monteiro is the only Irish participant in the series and she will be joined by Canadian Andre Tar- diff, New Zealander Lewis Whaitir1, American Cara Cioni, Dave Brett from the UK and Amy O’Connor from Australia.
The series is being produced by Endemol, the company responsible for reality shows such as Big Brother and Fear Factor. The Gap Year group begins its journey on May 21 at a lo- cation yet to be announced.
“The Gap Year is the first truly interactive reality series, giving Be- boers a unqiue layer of interactivity — the chance to literally steer the fate of the contestants’ global journeys,” said Bebo president Joanna Shields.
“International events on the travel agenda include Rio Carnival in Bra- zil, the Chinese New Year in China and the Full Moon Party in Thai- land,”
‘Each contestant will face an array of challenges, watched by Bebo us- ers who will also be able to commu- nicate with them and vote in weekly polls which will directly influence how the journeys unravel.”
Roxanne was already on a year out between school and college as she was Saving up to study in New York. Bebo users will keep up with Rox- anne and the rest of the globetrotters by tuning into the series online www. bebo.com/thegapyear
Roxanne’s own page is available on www.bebo.com/RoxanneHugheslIre- land.