Canadians make the final 50 of Charlie Sheen ‘Tiger Blood’ intern contest

A former Belleville, Ont., resident says he feels he’s already “winning” after making it into the final 50 candidates to become actor Charlie Sheen’s social media intern.

Phil Pallen, 22, got the news on Monday that he had made it into round 4 of the competition to work for the fired “Two and a Half Men” star this summer.

“I am very excited,” he said in an email interview from Winter Park, Fla., where he’s finishing his masters degree on digital marketing in the entertainment business.

More than 82,000 people from 181 countries, 2,832 of them Canadians, applied to work with the embattled TV star and handle his social media musings as his “TigerBloodIntern!”

Pallen has been campaigning hard for the job. He set up a website called tigerbloodphil.com to promote his bid to work for Sheen, who’s ranted publicly he is a warlock and has tiger blood.

“I’ve been actively demonstrating what it takes to generate buzz and harness the power of social media. I credit that for my success,” Pallen said.

Sepy Bazzazi, 25, who works in social media for Earls Restaurants in Vancouver, also had enough “tiger blood” to survive the latest cut in the contest.

When Bazzazi first got the email, he said he started shaking and didn’t have the nerve to open it right away. He said he started “howling with excitement” when he read he was through to the next round. He phoned his parents and texted his brother and friends.

“What a feeling it is, knowing that you have beaten out 99.993 per cent of competitors!” Bazzazi said in an email.

His email read “Congratulations. You have been selected as one of the final 50 candidates to be TeamSheen’s Social Media Intern!”

Barrie, Ont., B101 radio morning news anchor Lyndsey Vanstone, 25, is out of the running but said it was fun while it lasted. She “definitely gained from this experience,” she said.

“Seriously what a wild ride it was for about two weeks,” said Vanstone in an email and on her Facebook page.

“I have definitely experienced what they call ’15 minutes of fame’. Everyone was sooooo supportive, despite their ‘opinions’ of Charlie,” said Vanstone.

Brad Slater, a 28-year-old morning show producer for Calgary radio station Fan 960, is a big fan of Sheen’s movies “Platoon” and “Major League.” He is disappointed he won’t be wielding words for the “warlock”.

“I’m a little upset but not too much. To make it as far as I did out of 82,000 people from 181 countries is pretty astonishing on its own,” Slater said in an email.

Toronto media developer Dexter Howe, 22, who’s originally from Sudbury, Ont., was also shut out.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards this time,” he said.

“I’m disappointed to have not won. I believe that I’m as good as any, and better than most. This was one path my life could have taken, but there’s plenty of other directions to go,” said Howe.

A spokeswoman for Internships.com said all of the Final 50 applicants were notified Monday but would not say how many of them were Canadians. TeamSheen takes over the process and will choose the contest winner who will be paid for the eight-week gig.

“There were numerous outstanding submissions and it has been a long and arduous process to select the 50 candidates,” read an email the firm sent to losing applicants.

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