Just days before his gig in the “Best Job in the World” ended, Briton Ben Southall was stung by a deadly Irukandji jellyfish.
Southall, 34, was jetskiing with his friends when the tiny, extremely venomous creature tagged him:
I was enjoying a post Christmas jetski session with some friends at a quiet beach on Hamilton Island and as I climbed off the back of the ski and onto the beach felt a small bee-like sting on my forearm, I didn’t think too much of it at the time as it disappeared very quickly and left the beach to head to a sports massage appointment I had. As I arrived I noticed that my feet and hands were tingling slightly and before I started my treatment commented on the chain of events which had led to this – the member of staff immediately suggested that I get the symptoms checked out and within minutes had the islands security there to escort me to the doctor’s room, only a few hundred metres away.
Southall, who describes himself as “very lucky,” is fine after a few hours of “uncomfortable pain” and tweeted the following message to well-wishing Twitter followers:
Thanks for the concern everyone, I’m feeling 100% again after the jellyfish incident but have learnt my lesson! Happy New Year to you all ?
Southall beat out around 34,000 competitors to land the gig, exploring the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and blogging about it while crashing in a multi-million dollar villa and collecting a “large salary.” At the conclusion of the job, Southall will spend 18 months working as the “Best Job in the World Queensland Tourism Ambassador.”
