Explosive auction tops the list
Pushing the button to implode Christchurch’s Radio Network House in less than eight seconds has topped the list of New Zealand’s most viewed auctions of 2012.
Almost 460,000 people viewed the Trade Me auction, which gave the winners the chance to set off the demolition of the earthquake-damaged Worcester St building.
The auction was won for $26,000 by eight demolition companies working in Christchurch.
The money was donated towards the restoration of the Isaac Theatre Royal, and the demolition companies gave the honour of pushing the button to 6-year-old Queenstown boy Jayden Halliwell.
Jayden, who was undergoing cancer treatment in Christchurch, pushed the button to trigger the implosion on August 5, with thousands of people watching the 14-storey building come down in less than eight seconds.
The auction with the secondhighest number of views in 2012 gave the winner a chance to put a tattoo on a Wellington wo-
Boom time: man’s bum. Tina Beznec, 23, sold her skin to Auckland strip club Calendar Girls for $12,450 in January. A scantily clad woman posing between the club’s initials was tattooed on her backside in February.
The auction was viewed 355,889 times, and Beznec donated a fifth of her cheque to 9-year-old Phoenix Stafford – a Nelson boy who died of cancer in March.
Other popular auctions in 2012 included advice and a recording session with Kiwi musician Neil Finn, and charity fundraisers involving a particular yeast-based spread currently in short supply.
The top 10 Trade Me auctions of 2012:
1. Radio Network Implosion, Christchurch, auction end date: August 1. Views: 429,420. Price: $26,000.
2. Your tattoo on my bum, Wellington, auction end date: January 20. Views: 355,889. Price: $12,450.
3. Two days in the studio and advice from Neil Finn, Auckland. auction end date: January 9. Views: 258,775. Price: $10,150.
4. Miles Davis 1955 signed single, original, Martinborough, auction end date: May 17. Views: 193,936. Price: $990.
5. Marmite for charity, Hamilton, auction end date: March 30. Views: 152,831. Price: $2115.
6. 500g limited edition ‘‘Smokey’’ Marmite fundraiser, Palmerston North, auction end date: September 17. Views: 146,058. Price: $200.
7. A crushing fairytale, Wellington, auction end date: July 10. Views: 96,841. Price: $818.
8. The right to rename me, Auckland, auction end date: May 19. Views: 95,286. Price: $2021.
9. Win a date with Meghan Mutrie, Wellington, auction end date: August 29. Views: 89,912. Price: $2019.
10. Ex-boyfriend’s GPS fishing co-ordinates, Waikato, auction end date: January 22. Views: 89,688. Price: $355.