NEWS COPY - by Harriet Crawford
A former school cleaner is renting an entire paradise island - in a bid to change the lives of six random strangers in a lifestyle 'boot camp'.
Self-made Mark Bowness, 35, has launched a global search to find six people who most deserve to be flown to the remote Fijian outcrop to "make their dreams come true".
Applicants must submit an idea to make the world a better place - and the winners will be flown to the exotic island to help them launch their business, product or charity.
More than 1,400 hopefuls - including 250 from the UK - have already applied for the opportunity at ThisIsYourLifeChange.com.
The participants will be selected for their personalities and compelling life stories as well as their big idea.
Their prize - worth #100,000 - will be an all-expenses paid two-week island boot camp with life, business and fitness coaching and support for the idea over the next year.
After rising from humble roots, Mark is now a successful life coach and wants to use his skills to change lives.
He is splitting the #3,000 cost of renting the 200-acre volcanic island of Vorovoro with his team business coach Ryan Magdziarz and personal trainer Sofia Toumbas, both from Australia.
Mark, from the Wirral, said: "You could be a teenage mum in New York, a corporate lawyer in London or an unemployed graduate in Melbourne.
"You could literally be anyone, from anywhere in the world.
"You will all have one thing in common - a deep down belief that the life you are living now is a life that is standing in the shadows of the one that you know that you were created to live, and an undeterred passion to make that change.
"The end for me is to create some ground-breaking projects and turn them into reality. My goal is to inspire people.
"And obviously it raises our profile as coaches," he added.
People have so far applied from 22 different countries.
Mark added: "There are some really amazing stories from around the world. It's quite hard for me when I read them and know that only six people can be part of it."
One of the most memorable applications Mark has seen so far was a "humanitarian clown" from Australia who visits children's wards, hospitals and orphanages, "inspiring positivity".
Mark attributes his drive to change lives to the breakdown of his marriage nine years ago, when "the walls came crashing down".
He woke up in hospital after attempting suicide with "a profound realisation of how precious life is".
Just three months later he discovered Vorovoro in 2006 and co-founded the eco community Tribe Wanted.
He and co-founder Ben Keene invited a group of strangers to escape the rat race and build an eco community on the island, which was filmed for a BBC documentary, Paradise or Bust in 2008.
He said: "I am now giving six people an all expenses paid opportunity to visit the same remote 200 acre-island in Fiji.
"They will be put through their paces by a life coach, a personal trainer and a business coach. Together we will ensure that their life will never be the same again."
Former teacher Ali Walsh, 35, is one of the hopefuls who has already submitted her application.
Coeliac Ali wants to spread her gluten-free cake business, Bristol Bakehouse, across the country - to give other coelics their first bite of cake or a gluten-free wedding cake.
She said: "As soon as I read about it, I knew I should apply - it's Fiji and it looks amazing.
"It would just be such a fantastic opportunity. I really want to make this work.
"It's so lovely to be able to offer a child who can't eat gluten their first taste of a cake, or to be able to make a lovely wedding cake for a couple who are gluten-free.
"I would plan to take everything they say and bring it back to Bristol and the country. It is a nervous wait now, but I would be so thrilled to get it."
Applications for This is Your Life Change are open until March 1.
ENDS
