| MUMBAI:
Web18’s In.com, your gateway to the web & South African Tourism are thrilled
to announce the lucky winner of Fantastic Five( The South Africa Chapter) as Zishaan
Hayat. The spirited 27 year graduate from IIT Bombay who spends life split between
work, travel, photography and reading outperformed 4 other contestants in India’s
first online travel reality show. As the winner of FANTASTIC FIVE, Zishaan will
get to work on an assignment with the prestigious ‘Better Photography’
magazine, coupled with some cool gadgets in store for the winner on the go! In
addition, he will be entitled to a ‘Wild card’ entry into the next season
of the show without any auditions or any other rounds for an entry into season
2. Fantastic
Five, an interactive online travel series, chronicled the journey of five young
travelers set out on an adventure of a life time to a dream destination - South
Africa! The Fantastic Five with their immense love for traveling and blogging
outdid one another in a bid to win the maximum votes and take the final bow. Post
their return to India, online voting for the Fantastic Five blogs were kept open
for an additional 10 days, to allow audiences to review the individual travels
and choose their final favourite. In addition to audience votes, the performance
of each travel blogger was scrutinized and graded internally by Web18 and South
Africa Tourism. The final scores were a result of 50% weightage to audience votes,
25% to Web18 and 25% to South Africa Tourism appraisals. Zishan emerged as the
clear winner with his excellent writing skills, blogging style, photography and
overall travel persona, in addition to popularity with the audience.
The Fantastic
Five contestants traveled from 6th July till 10th of July covering the beautiful
cities of Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in South Africa.
Equipped with their mobile phones, video cameras and laptops, the Fantastic Five
had one mission – to discover South Africa through their eyes and showcase
their unique experiences through their individual perspectives to the world. Connecting
real time with the world and constantly posting their blogs, videos and their
experiences on the move, each participant indulged in their favorite activities
in their respective cities. Speaking
on this unique initiative and about the first ever winner of Fantastic Five, Surya
Mantha, CEO Web18 said, “It gives us immense pleasure to announce the winner
of Fantastic Five, Zishaan Hayat. Fantastic Five not only gave the finalists a
chance to experience South Africa like never before, but it also gave the world
a chance to see this incredible country though their eyes. Fantastic Five has
redefined the entire concept of reality shows with every part of it being available
real time! The series has been more successful than we had expected and we are
all geared up to launch the second season of this adventure series in the coming
future” Commenting
further on their association, Medha Sampat, Country Head – India, South African
Tourism said, “We at South African Tourism are very pleased with the response
generated by this initiative. This was our first tryst with the online medium,
giving us the opportunity to reach out to a wide universe of travelers with all
the wonderful things that South Africa has to offer, in real time! Our best wishes
to Zishaan and all the other contestants of the Fantastic Five contest. We are
happy to have created history by being the first to venture in with an online
travel reality show!” Tauseef
Khan, Acting Head –South East Asia, SA Airways said "South African Airways
was privileged to fly down the team of fantastic Five to South Africa. This association
with Fantastic 5 has added to SAA's celebrations. SAA is ready to serve the thousands
of viewers that would be touched by the experience of the contestents of fantastic
5 and if they decide to discover South Africa. | 