Leeds student Seb Smith has slipped past stiff competition to land ‘the world’s best job’ as an Official Waterslide Tester.

Smith, a Design Technology student, took part in a five month long selection challenge, ultimately triumphing over more than 2,000 other applicants to land the job.

For six months, Smith will be flown across the globe on an all-expenses-paid tour of First Choice’s 23 ‘SplashWorld’ resorts. At each resort, the student will exercise his unique skills and qualifications, evaluating waterslides on a range of complex assessment criteria, including “biggest splash” and “adrenaline factor”.

For his efforts, Smith will be rewarded with a week long holiday for two at one of First Choice’s resorts, along with a pay check of £10,000.

Speaking to Leeds Student, the 22-year-old said “I’ll check out the different slides and then write blogs, reviews and do all the social media stuff”. He added “it’s all-inclusive as well, so you get food, drink and lush rooms”.

Asked about the possibility of a career in the leisure and tourism industry, Smith said: “Obviously I’ve met a lot of the travel team, and they’ve got a lot of different sections within their head office”.

Smith will also be working alongside First Choice staff as part of his new job. “I’ll actually get to work with these guys and try out different areas [of the water park industry]”.

Smith was keen to point out that his new role would involve other duties alongside his waterslide activities. “That’s the ‘media friendly’ side to it, which is obviously wicked, but it’s a customer experience role and I’m going to be speaking to customers, finding out what could be improved and making sure that First Choice customers get the best experience for their holiday”. He added “Then, there’s the whole water slide aspect where I’m going down slides and having a ball!”.

Words: Max Bruges and Sean Hayes

Photo: First Choice