A dream year travelling round the world begins today for a York couple who won the remarkable prize on national TV.
Dean and Anna Walters-Holliday prepare for their trip of a lifetime after beating dozens of other couples to win a national TV prize.
With a surname like Walters-Holliday, Anna and Dave seemed destined to clinch the trip of a lifetime after beating dozens of other couples on the hit BBC show, Whatever You Want.
They are still in a state of shock and have "gone through every emotion" since presenter Gaby Roslin announced that they had won the series last March.
Since then they have rented out their house in Boroughbridge Road and given up their jobs - although Anna's bosses in the administration department of North Yorkshire Health Authority have been kind enough to keep her job open.
Today the couple were in London, ready to catch a flight to Bombay on Monday, when their adventure will really begin.
From there the 12-month journey will continue eastwards - taking in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, South and North America before heading home from New York next Christmas.
Dean, who's given up a desktop publishing job with Donnelly's, the printing firm, explained how they felt: "It's like standing on the edge of a cliff and waiting to bungee-jump off. You know it's going to be great but you're scared to death.
"It's great because we haven't got a clue what's ahead of us. This is beyond our dreams and for me the best part is going to be diving in some really great locations. We have both got our licences and we got engaged underwater so we're used to it."
Anna explained how it all happened: "We got through to the final last March by going through a series of bizarre challenges. For example, we were the couple to keep the most yoghurt in a pot after travelling on the rollercoaster at Blackpool.
"And we had to throw flour bombs out of a two-seater plane on to targets below and find our way out of the maze at Longleat.
"When we found out we had won the year-long trip, with £5,000 spending money, we just went mad. We were elated and over the moon.
"Recently we've both had nasty dreams about it all going wrong. But we've always wanted to do this and never imagined it would happen. It's amazing - out of this world."
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article