ENJOYMENT OF WINNING HAS LITTLE COMPETITION FOR KAZZY
through one of the groups, invited me to go on an all-inclusive holiday to Crete she won last year through Instagram.
“I don’t keep comps to myself. I put them on the group so everyone has a chance. When my friend wins something amazing I’m as chuffed for them as I would be for me. It’s a really joyous thing. We all put our wins in the group and congratulate each other.”
Mother-of-five Kazzy won the garden makeover in a San Miguel competition.
“I knew I was going to win that as well,” she says. “I had this really strong feeling about it. I’d wanted to have my garden done for years. I’ve got lighting, a bar which is unbelievable, a fire pit, sofas – it’s just superb.
“We live in a lovely part of the world and being there looking out over the beach is just stunning.”
Lee, whom Kazzy met 10 years ago when she went into his parlour for a tattoo, has also got the bug for the artsy entries.
“Lee is very much a creative comper,” she says. “He loves that side of it, making the videos or photos and getting it just right. He’s an artist in every way; we both are.”
Lee, 57, won the couple the Corona Island trip through a Corona beer giveaway on Instagram. He won it with a picture of his Corona tropical can beside a picture he was painting on his easel on the beach.
“It was an incredible holiday,”
Kazzy said. “The island only allows 20 tourists at a time. We were so lucky. We literally had toucans and parrots right beside us while we were eating breakfast.”
Norway has been Kazzy’s favourite win yet.
“Just amazing,” she said of her trip above the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia where the sun doesn’t set between May and July. “It was the best experience of my life.
“I’d seen it on social media through something called The Timeless Society by Visit Norway. I sent in my 200 words on why I wanted to go. The following weekend I got told I was through to the next round and would I make a video, which I did just standing out the back chatting away and showing myself as I am.
“Then I had a message saying I was through to the final stage and I had a Zoom call with the director, which I thought meant the director of Visit Norway, but I realised I was actually going to be in a documentary.
“When I got there I met the other two winners: a girl from London and a young man from Italy. We flew to Bardufoss Airport and then we were driven to Senja.
“When we got there, there was a crew of 12 waiting for us and for the whole week we had the cameras on us. I was a bit taken aback but it was an unforgettable experience.
“They told us to hand in our phones and watches at the start and the whole time I had no idea what the time was because the sun never sets there at that time of the year.
“We hiked, kayaked, paddle boarded, did yoga. One of Norway’s best chefs came out to cook for us too. It’s the only holiday I’ve ever taken solo and I cried my eyes out leaving there.”
Hundreds of prizes later, her love for the morning comping grind hasn’t waned. In fact, she’s as hungry as ever.
“This morning I’ve mostly got my usual stuff,” she said, looking through her to-do list. “I have three videos waiting to be made and edited for TikTok, which I’ll put on my YouTube channel as well.
“Yesterday I made a TikTok video very similar to the video I did for the Norway trip, but this one is with Visit Finland for a week in Helsinki.
“I’m getting excited now because I’m counting down to my thousandth prize and I want to have a little celebration when I get there.
“It’s been a really exciting few years and has given us a lot of stories to tell.”