Do you get nervous at job interviews? Fancy going for a post as a whale trainer? That’s what 21 year old Lia Abrantes of Los Realejos did and she beat off 20 other finalists to become the new addition to the training team at Orca World in Loro Parque, Tenerife.

This very specialised job was advertised in the local papers and attracted 200 applicants but Lia had the perfect qualifications, being a former Spanish synchronised swimming champion.

To mark the arrival of the new trainer, Loro Parque put on a special show featuring their 4 performing whales and Stig Avall Severinsen, the World Champion for holding breath underwater. Stig swam around in one of the parks pools, submerged for 6 minutes and 5 seconds. I’m just waiting until they want a volunteer to perform a similar feat in a vat of Dorada.