Rob Hall beat out a mass of grotesque competition to win our zombie auditions.

After an audition at the Pineapple Dance Studios and a rigorous interview process, he triumphed. We sat down to ask him what is’t like to be a professional zombie…

How has your life changed since winning our Zombie challenge?

Since winning, my life does seem to have changed a lot, and not just in terms of getting my zomb on! Obviously the zombie work itself is the biggest change; it seems that every other week I’m doing some filming, or a photoshoot, or any other assortment of random zombie adventures. But on top of that I’ve had a massive increase in my own self-confidence. No longer am I just another nameless face in the crowd… I’m a professional zombie!

How did you hear about the competition?

It was actually sheer dumb luck. Stephen Fry had mentioned it on his Twitter feed, but even though I follow him I’d actually missed that tweet entirely.

Luckily an old workmate of mine who also followed him and knew about my love of the undead retweeted it my way. The rest, as they say, is history!

What was the audition process like?

It was really a little intimidating to begin with, simply due to the quality of zombie talent I was up against. The moment I stepped through the door to the studio and saw all these zombie fanatics in amazing make-up and really fantastic outfits, my heart just sank. I looked down at myself and just thought “ I’m so far out of my league”.

But once I was in make-up I started to feel more comfortable. The audition panel asked the standard interview questions (“Do you mind being shot at with ballistic weapons?” etc.) and then the moment came to showcase the best zombie performance I could muster.

Obviously I did something right!

When did you hear about your victory and how did you react?

I’d actually put the competition out of my mind.

So many weeks had passed that I’d naturally assumed one of the better zombies had triumphed, and I’d moved on with my normal life. I was actually on my way to get a tattoo when I had a missed call on my mobile, and just before going in I dialled my voicemail to hear a message saying “You may remember the zombie audition from the summer?” (as if I’d ever forget) “ I’ve got some very exciting news if you can give me a call back.” So I spent the next two hours under the needle trying to stay calm (and still!), whilst desperately wanting to return the call.

As soon as I was out of there I got straight on the phone to receive the news I never expected but really hoped for: that I’d won! I think the first thing I did was burst out laughing and texting/Tweeting/Facebooking everyone I knew, and then I went out and bought donuts.

Take us through a typical day as a zombie?

There isn’t really a typical day as such, which is part of what keeps the zombie thing so much fun and so fresh. It can range from a photoshoot with professional actors, to wandering around a convention hall with some of my closest friends.

But one thing they all have in common is that they tend to start at an unreasonably early hour. Even though I’d spent many years honing my best zombie impression I’d never been in make-up until the audition, and I’d certainly never attempted to do monster make-up myself. As such I’m still a little slow on the zombifying front, and so the process from Human Rob to Zombie Rob usually takes around two hours.

Once I’ve been through the arduous process of contact lenses, liquid latex, more liquid latex, even more liquid latex, several shades of make-up, half a dozen varieties of fake blood, and tooth enamel then I’m ready to go!

What opportunities have you been offered since winning?

Where do I start? Through the friends I’ve made in the zombie community I’ve started to build up a bit of an undead network, and all kinds of things have arisen from it.

I’ve done promo work for a film, extra work for a TV series, and the most surreal experience was having a documentary crew doing a feature on my life as a professional zombie! If you’d told me 12 months ago that this was going to be a major part of my life, I’d have smiled politely and started to slowly back away.

Most recently I’ve auditioned for a TV advert, so this undead mug could be appearing in commercial breaks throughout the country if I’m lucky enough.

Have you met anyone famous through your work?

A big one in the world of zombie films was Marvin Campbell, who played the infected Private Mailer in 28 Days Later. But probably my favourite was doing a photocall for the film Warm Bodies, in which I got to meet Nicolas Hoult. As a big Marvel film fan it was great to be working with the man who played Beast in X-Men: First Class.

How do people react when you tell them what you do?

The reaction seems to be pretty universal when you tell someone you’re a professional zombie: surprise, confusion (not necessarily in that order), and then a stream of “what/where/how?” questions.

To this day I’ve not had a negative reaction from anyone, and I’ve got such a passion for it. People just love zombies!

Are there any perks stemming from being a professional zombie?

The hours can be long, unpredictable, and absolutely exhausting, but the main perk is YOU GET TO BE A ZOMBIE!!! Whether it’s posing for a photo, shambling your way along a film set, or frightening the life out of someone on an experience day, the feeling of being a zombie is a feeling like no other.

What other zombie related activities do you get involved in?

Aside from the professional work I haven’t managed to get to many events on the zombie calendar yet, but this is something I plan to change. I’m already signed up for Silent Studios’ Zombie Weekend: a two day festival where the festival-goers are under constant threat of an undead horde!

I’m also planning on attending the Birmingham Zombie Walk in the summer, as well as the celebrations for World Zombie Day later in the year. And on non-specifically-zombie note I’ve started attending conventions dressed as zombified versions of popular characters. Zombie Arthur Dent (Hitch-hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy) went down a storm in the spring, and Zombie Magnum P.I. is on the cards for the autumn!

Do you have any zombie related ambitions?

My greatest ambition would be to get a film role. I’ve done still photos, a documentary, and TV extra work, so to be a zombie on the big screen would be a dream come true for me.

And though it’s not quite zombie-related, I’d love the opportunity to meet Stephen Fry. None of this would have been possible without his original tweet, and I’d like to be able to shake his hand and thank him in person for the awesome road he’s sent my life down.

You can find Rob on Twitter (@CaptainKindling) or read his blog right HERE.

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To celebrate to release of Harry Bingham’s new future crime classic Talking To The Dead, we want to send you off somewhere!

We’ve teamed up with the nice and clever people at Orion Books to provide you with a refreshing Country Break for two in Wales, where Harry’s hero DC Fiona Griffiths comes from.

To win this fabulous prize in conjunction with this marvellous book, head over to RIGHT HERE and answer a question possessing a This Morning quiz level of difficulty.

The novel deals with a young policewoman with a mysterious past dealing with a series of gruesome murders tied to a long dead tycoon. Find out much more about it HERE

And you can find out much more about our country breaks and their ilk OVER HERE.

Crime! Murders! Countryside mini-breaks! What could be better? Nothing, we can ensure you. So enter and win with due haste!

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It was a nice day for a fright wedding, as Billy Idol almost, nearly sang.

Just for a change of pace, the streets of central London witnessed a phalanx of sickly, groaning, near-human figures, as bride and groom horror aficionados Jennifer Jones and Rob Blackmore from Stockport tied the knot in full zombie regalia.

After beating out a slew of other prospective living dead couples, they won a competition from the makers of video game Dead Island Riptide to throw the biggest matrimonial monster bash the capital has ever seen. Just watch this wedding video and see if it doesn’t have the tears rolling down your grotesque, scab-addled faces.

Bride, groom, priest and 250 members of the congregation were all zombiefied – eventually resembling some hideous knees-up in a post-nuclear apocalyptic nether world. There was further trouble at the reception where no one could tell where the party’s running sores stopped and the running buffet started.

But we wish all the luck in the world to these ghoulie-weds and let’s hope we’ll soon here the shuffle of little zombie feet.

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Zombie Shopping Mall – the world’s most famous zombie experience – is back on sale.

We have a limited number of tickets available as we speak (less than 100), and will have a similar number each month going forwards. Don’t miss out – buy your tickets over here.

Last time we had a fresh batch, we sold out in 24 hours. We expect this lot to go pronto too. If you can still see “add to basket”, we’ve still got tickets.

Not familiar with the wondeful world of Zombie Shopping Mall? Head over here to see Jamie Oliver at the Mall and over here to see what The Sun said about it.

PS. You choose your date *after* you buy yours tickets. We’ve good availability from June onwards!

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Renting a hire car is practically a licence to print money. But what can you do with all that money and the car you just hired?

Lots of stuff! Just like when you rent a human being, there’s a whole new world on offer. Check out these hot, hot, hot things to do in a rental car style ideas.

Jackrabbit Starts
Sure you don’t want to bunny-hop start your own car, but you’re in a rental stupid and anything goes, including this hideously fuel-wasteful way to get going.

All you have to do is release the clutch pedal as you’re applying the gas.

Tyres spinning like a DJ with severe mental health problems and approving looks from low-lifes are guaranteed.

Starskey And Hutch Bonnet Slides
See also ‘The Professionals’. There is only one cool and convincing way to travel from the front door of your bed-sit to somewhere near the front door of your vehicle.

Pick up speed then slide across the bonnet with arms aloft and your face pressed into an expression of criminal crotch-kicking determination.

Nascar Doughnuts

Though NASCAR has adopted this tyre-screeching, skidmark application as a form of celebration, teenagers and idiots have been doing it for years.

And now and your beloved rental car can join in the rubber-burning fun.

You’ll need a rear-wheel drive vehicle to properly perform this completely redundant stunt. Start driving slowly in a circle then hit the clutch and the handbrake. As you start to spin, release the handbrake and hit the accelerator.

Then, my son, you are doing doughnuts.

Car Skiing

Perfect if you are drunk, confused or incredibly stupid.

First you will need an icy road, a rental car and a friend you don’t really consider a friend. Your ‘pal’ opens the passenger side door and grabs onto the door handle on the inside with his heels on the icy ground.

Then you pull away, slowly, dragging your companion in a filthy imitation of skiing. We strongly advise you not to do this at all.

Cardboard Boxes

There must be something gained from driving through a big pile of cardboard boxes as it was a staple of every 1970s cop show and movie.

We just can’t work out what it is. Same goes for avoiding two men carrying a large sheet of glass across the street.

With your hire car to hand, now you can enjoy this fantastic cubic experience. Probably best to find an empty parking lot or the immensely long driveway of a stately home. Gather some boxes and then drive through them, possibly screaming “DAMN YOU MENDOZA!”

Low Speed Drag Race

An incredibly fun (if you have elastic parameters for the definition of ‘incredibly’) thing to do if you and your special friend both have rental cars.

Pick your race location, draw a finish line and see who can get there the slowest. You both have to be continually moving, just at a pace best described as ‘snail’s’.

Handbrake Turn

Very handy if you want to change direction in a hurry because you are being pursued by a puma, a Frankenstein or the paparazzi.

Turn the wheel, yank the handbrake and dip the clutch. You will soon find yourself magically facing in the opposite direction, or not, if you did it wrong.

Even more fun if you’re humming the theme tune to Hawaii Five-O.

Fill It With Stuff

You don’t want to mess up your own beloved four-wheeled wife, but with old Dr Rental going back to the place on Monday, you can get down and dirty with it.

May I suggest taking every meal in the car? Plus snacks, treats and inter-meal refreshments?

Just see how much discarded crap you can get flapping around your feet. Make it resemble a four-wheeled episode of TV show Hoarders. Then you’ll be a man my son.

Scandinavian Flick

Slightly more complicated than the crap-filling, but a manoeuvre so cool it has the word ‘Scandinavian’ in it.

You’re basically flinging your car sideways at high speed then controlling it to fly around the corner in the sexiest way possible.

So you steer away from the turn, then quickly into the turn while dramatically lifting off the throttle and lightly applying the brakes.

You should slingshot into the corner. Or possibly into the afterlife.

Driving To Places With Comical Place Names

You’ve got a vehicle, a tank full of petrol and an ENORMOUS amount of time on your hands.

Now is your chance to fulfil that lifelong ambition of driving to locations with hilarious names.

Such as Middelfart or Crapstone or North Piddle or Scratchy Bottom or Dildo or Intercourse or Wetwang or Tipton.

Further Reading…

• Driving Tricks
• Rental Car Damage Excuses
• Weird Things You Can Rent

The post 10 Things You Can Only Do In A Rental Car is from .

What’s the worst that could happen? I can think of a few things, mostly involving hair and Marmite. But that’s really between me and my therapist.

But we want to give you, via the wonderful, tasty, delicious folks at Dr Pepper, the chance to win the experience of your dreams. Or, if it’s something that fills you with malignant dread, the stuff of nightmares.

Confused? You shouldn’t be. Basically head over to the Dr Pepper Facebook page, tell them how much you love Dr Pepper and several exciting things you can think of to do with their beverage, then you’ll be entered into a grand prize draw. There you have the chance to win a delightful, sedate, warmly comfortable year long membership to English Heritage for two. Enjoy a plethora of stately homes, engaging castles and frothy formal gardens.

OR

You could win an exhilarating day indoor skydiving for you and a companion. You’ll be blown to ecstasy as you swoop and glide on a huge wind-generating device, replicating all the excitement of skydiving without having to go really high up. You could also win tickets to our Zombie Manor House or even our Segway Rally experience!

But which will you get? You just don’t know and that, as Bernie Winters and Schnorbitz used to say, is the rub. It’s a gamble my friends, you could have a deadly fear of wind and end up with the skydiving. Or you could have an ongoing feud with English Heritage that has led you to be banned from all their venues and offices and then you get that one. Exciting! Which one will you win!

So get over there now. You have until midnight on April 28th to enter RIGHT HERE and have a chance of winning one of those fantastic/devastating prizes! Good luck! Or should I say, good luck?

The post Dare To Win With Dr Pepper? is from .

But it also an excellent tool for those looking for journalists’ and the like, who try to find unsuspecting rubes to illustrate their article on ‘Why I Smell and I’m Proud Of It’ on the social media network using the #journorequest hashtag.

But amongst the desperate, deadline-compromising pleas are some excellent spoofs, pastiches and giggleblips, as well as legitimate ones that are too abstract to be believed.

The excitable @Brainmage hurts all of our minds with this superb combination of astro-surrealism and the magically mundane:

Can anyone help find an early 20th Century Bellhop who travelled through time in order to battle intergalactic mindviruses? #journorequest

— Guy (@Brainmage) March 6, 2013

Some tell a baffling little story all on their own:

#journorequest If said Spam Javelin broke in 2 mid-flight, all the better. After reaction, thoughts, feelings etcs… It’s for a thing

— Morgan Colohan (@Morgans_Plinth) March 6, 2013

A few have a vague air of truth about them. I’m sure I saw this show on Channel 4. It was part of the ‘Body Gosh’ series:

#journorequest Looking for people who collect Goblin vacuum cleaners for a feature on STI clinics.

— loveandgarbage (@loveandgarbage) March 6, 2013

The occasional personal ad sneaks in, but how are Journos supposed to meet people?

Seeking person with a smart mouth & huge cheekbones to comment on shite TV with me. Will provide popcorn & wine. And kissing. #journorequest

— Hannah Chutzpah (@Hannah_Chutzpah) March 6, 2013

Some scream ‘I’ve been staring at the computer screen for 11 hours straight and now I don’t know what everything means’:

Plural of mongoose anyone? Mongooses or mongeese? The latter sounds ridiculous, but I like it #journorequest

— Sam Dimmer (@samdimmer) February 9, 2013

@JoeThe Dough gives us all that warm, fuzzy feeling that can only be described as ‘unspecified fear’:

Looking for the Kwisatz Haderach, or any male with mental powers capable of bridging space and/or time. #journorequest

— Joe Saunders (@JoeTheDough) March 4, 2013

They can even be satirical, as @dangusset proves:

Looking to speak to a German ex-pat who has been forced to resign from a position of religious power #journorequest (can pay in children)

— Pope Dan Gusset (@dangusset) March 4, 2013

Some don’t mean to be funny, but manage it through the marvellous world of typos:

Come and teat drive the new big app before launch! Hang w/. Remember the name! Will be huge! hangwith.com #journorequest

— Rob Shoesmith (@shoesmith81) February 21, 2013

And the final word has to go to @LoveandGarbage:

#journorequest Write more interesting stuff. Thanks

— loveandgarbage (@loveandgarbage) March 6, 2013

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Look, you know we’re wacky right? Isn’t it obvious? Check out these trousers – just look at them. Look at their size and colour and those braces. Wacky.

But did you know we even race wacky? To prove it we visited our Wacky Racing experience and filmed it in a way that only a wacky person can…

Has all that wackiness whetted your appetite for some Wacky Racing of your own. That delights us like a pelican with a halibut. Book you own experience RIGHT HERE.

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In case – like us – you’ve been living under a rock, the #TwitterMillion is a celeb drive to raise £1m for Red Nose Day.

The Wish.co.uk team are offering two – count ‘em – once-in-a-lifetime exclusive…

VIP Tickets
Zombie Boot Camp

…plus more exclusive Warm Bodies/zombie prizes.

What Can You Win?

#1. Biggest Donation: VIP Zombie Boot Camp Tickets

You’ll earn this exclusive VIP package, not available ANYWHERE else for making the biggest single donation. It’s worth around £600 by our maths. It’ll include…

• 2x tickets for Zombie Boot Camp
• 2x hotel rooms for one night nearby
• 2x train tickets from anywhere in the UK

We’ll get the whole trip booked in and organised for you.

#2. Second Biggest Donor: Zombie Boot Camp + Warm Bodies Goodies

You’ll get your mitts on a load of goodies for zombie romanace Warm Bodies. Included is…

• 1x (regular) ticket for Zombie Boot Camp
• Warm Bodies novel
• Warm Bodies hoodie
• Warm Bodies hand warmer

Take a look at the Warm Bodies movie launch when we helped out back in January. You can pre-order Warm Bodies on DVD and Blu-ray over here at Amazon.

#3. Three Lucky Donors

Three donors (of any amount) will be chosen at random, and will win a Wish.co.uk goodie bag with…

• Tote bag
• T-Shirt
• Stickers
• Some braiiiins or zombie slippers (depending what we have left…)

Phew! What you waiting for?

How to Donate (Hint: Be Quick)

#1. Head over to our Red Nose Day page to make a donation and…

#2. Check out the highest donation so far – you’ll need to beat that to win the top prize (but there are prizes for the second biggest and for random donors too).

#3. Make your donation. It can be £1 more or £10 more – it’s up to you (or you can just donate because you’re a nice person).

The top three donors will win the three prizes. Each person is eligible for only one prize. It ends on 15 March at 5 PM, so donate now to ensure you don’t miss out!

How Does #TwitterMillion Work?

Celebs are building their own Red Nose Day fundraising armies. Enter Team Pegg, @SimonPegg’s fundraising army on Twitter…

With great power comes great responsibility and I have decided to use my powers for good. #comicrelief #twittermillions More to follow.

— Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) February 26, 2013

Like any modern army, you can follow their progress on Twitter (via hashtag #TeamPegg). Don’t forget to follow @SimonPegg on Twitter for updates.

You can learn all about #TwitterMillion over here.

What’s Red Nose Day All About?

EVERYBODY knows Red Nose Day, right? But not everybody knows exactly what the charity behind it, Comic Relief, do with the millions of pounds they raise each year.

Find out over here who and how you’d be helping – not only in Africa but closer to home in the UK.

What Is Zombie Boot Camp?

Zombie Boot camp is an awesome live-action zombie shoot-’em-up. It’s been featured on TV/radio/newspapers around the world, including CNN, Fox News, Metro and FHM.

It takes place just outside Birmingham, and a pair of regular common-or-garden tickets would usually set you back £158.

This video by our friends at CNet gives you a good idea of what to expect…

Those Instructions once again

Head over to our Red Nose Day page to make your donation. Don’t forget, the more you donate, the better your chances of winning!

This ends on 15 March at 5 PM, so best get over there now to make sure you don’t miss out!

The post Win VIP Zombie Boot Camp Tickets With @SimonPegg’s #TwitterMillion is from .

Our ‘Luxury Mile High Club’ gets its wings…

We’ve had a flurry of interest in our Luxury Mile High Club when we launched, most recently from ITV’s This Morning.

To recap, we’re offering a UK first – the once-in-a-lifetime chance to join the Mile High Club in your very own private jet.

One booking enquiry came from the UK’s top tabloid (and zombie newspaper of record) The Sun.

They asked to get ex-Loaded editor Martin Daubney and his missus booked in pronto to see what all the fuss was about – and, crucially, to answer the question on everybody’s lips: “is it worth five thousand smackers?”.

Martin’s verdict? “[It] might not be great for the greens — but by Jove it was great for the groans.”

Read the full writeup here and get booked in here.

PS. Since you can’t make it out so well in The Sun photos, here’s what their trophy says…

Thanks also to Jonathan Pow for the tremendous photographs on the day – take a look at more photos from the shoot here.

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