Advantage boss ‘fired’ after local radio ‘job swap’ quiz

The boss of Advantage Travel Partnership was “fired” after appearing on a local radio “Job Swap” quiz – but managed to promote the benefits of booking with travel agents.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the consortium, took part in the light-hearted quiz on Tuesday morning, competing against host Babs Michel on BBC Three Counties Radio, which covers Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

She answered three questions about celebrities and TV, while the host answered three questions about travel – but Lo-Bue Said lost on the tiebreaker.

However, she did manage to highlight the benefits of booking with agents and members of Advantage.

“I work in the best industry ever, I work in the travel industry,” she told Michel.

“[Agents] help you to get away on great holidays or, if you’re travelling for business, they make sure you get somewhere safely. There are 750 of them that I work with across the country.

“My members are top of the list when you are thinking about going away. Whatever your needs are…a bespoke holiday or quick city break or cheap and cheerful.”

She also told listeners about the Advantage website and how it can help holidaymakers with information they need when booking a holiday.

Sadly, she was “fired” rather than “hired” despite getting all three questions right – she knew that Lady Gaga was godmother to Elton John’s two sons; Poplar is the setting for Call the Midwife; and Winona Ryder had once been arrested on shoplifting charges.

The host correctly answered questions about the most popular tourism destination (France); Athens’ airport code; and the smallest country (Vatican City).

But the host won the tie-breaker about how many aircraft are in the sky at any one time – the answer is 9,728.

Lo Bue-Said guessed 15,000 but Michel was very close with a guess of 9,000.

She tweeted about the appearance, saying it was a “fun way” to start the morning but she had to go back to her day job.

The consortium also featured the clip on Facebook, saying: “It was a slightly different feature to what Julia is used to but it was a fun interview and gave us the opportunity to amplify the voice of our travel agent experts, who work tirelessly for their customers whether travelling for business or leisure, providing the very best service. Just don’t ask her if she was fired or hired at the end!”

Was a fun way to start the morning @BBCBabs_michel@BBC3CR thanks for having me on Job Swap and for firing me Back to the day job….

— Julia Lo Bue-Said (@jlo_said) August 6, 2024