Winners who take it all

Compers are a rare breed who enter dozens of competitions a week, sometimes hundreds.

They spend a fortune on stamps and win little of use.

They think nothing of spending an evening wondering why "Lucozade is number one for active people" or why "Ariel Futur Liquid and Mothercare are a winning combination", even if they really prefer other energy drinks, detergents or baby clothes.

But the buzz of winning something, anything, can be addictive.

As a hobby, comping is harmless fun. But, as with many pastimes, some people take it to extremes.

On the Japanese television show Susunu! Denpa Sho-nen, a struggling actor called Nasubi was locked, naked, in an empty apartment until he accumulated $10,000 in competition prizes, surviving only on what he won.

After 18 months of slowly losing his mind and existing on a large shipment of free dog food, the walls collapsed and Nasubi discovered he had been in a television studio the whole time.

Other people can make a living out of their prize winnings.

Members of the Brighton-based Bright'N'Breezy compers club are not in that league but have accumulated cars, holidays, food and rather more obscure items over the years.

One comper won a backstage meeting with a somewhat uninterested Pavarotti.

But club secretary Trevor Bailey is laying claim to the most peculiar win - a live French hen.

Trevor, of Kings Road, Brighton, said: "I have family living not far from Versailles. I had driven down to the south of France and stopped off on the way back.

"There was an open day at my niece's school and I went to see some of her work. There was a lady there holding a chicken.

"She said if you paid ten francs and guessed the weight of the chicken you could win a prize.

"As we were leaving, the woman approached carrying a large computer box and said I had won the prize.

"I opened the box expecting computer equipment or something and there was the chicken."

Trevor gave the bird, named Daisy, to his relatives and it proved to be a "golden" chicken, laying double-yoked eggs. Sadly, it was eaten by a fox.

Nothing is too much trouble for Trevor in his pursuit of prizes.

A recent supermarket competition challenged shoppers to take a photograph of a Tesco bag in the most unusual surroundings.

Plucky Trevor headed straight to Brighton's nudist beach and had a snap taken with just the plastic bag to shield his modesty. Unfortunately, this act of daring did not secure him a prize.

However, other supermarket contests have proved more fruitful, with Trevor's most recent win coming from Yorkshire-based supermarket chain Morrisons.

This was £500-worth of Spanish wine.

Other notable wins include DVDs and two years' free membership of David Lloyd gyms.

Trevor said: "Virtually every large company round the country runs competitions. It is big business."

Last year, the 13 members of Bright'N'Breezy won a staggering £40,000 worth of prizes.

While dwarfed by the millions won on the National Lottery, the wins are still more than welcome.

One member of the club won an opportunity to live the high life for a weekend.

While many women dream of the Bond girl lifestyle - money, adventure and fancy cars - Rachel Coles from Shoreham is a real-life Bond girl. She works for a company called Bond.

She won a weekend behind the wheel of a James Bond-style 1973 Aston Martin Vantage.

Unfortunately, Rachel was unable to make the most of her prize.

She said: "I am only 5ft 2in and when I went to London I was told they would not let me drive it because I couldn't see over the dashboard.

"They said they would have given me a Mini Cooper instead.

"But I was with my husband so he had the joy of driving the Aston Martin."

Rachel, 29, has only been a comper for two years but has already amassed a large number of prizes, including beer, wine, CDs and holidays.

She said: "My first win was VIP tickets to the British Grand Prix in 2000 and that got me the bug.

"Then I received a letter saying I had won a trip to Canada with The Argus and since then anything I see I have been entering.

"A lot of competitions go down to tie-breakers. It is time-consuming and I only started doing them in the last year.

"But you are more likely to win these because people often cannot be bothered thinking of anything."

Rachel has also enjoyed a holiday in Ayia Napa in Cyprus.

Serial comper Polly Klidaras has won two cars, two scooters and a host of holidays in six years of entering competitions.

But that is not all.

She has also scooped a tumble drier, dishwasher, a housefull of electrical goods and thousands in cash.

Polly, from Brighton, enters around 50 competitions a week and is a member of Bright'N'Breezy and another compers club in London.

Her first competition win was a runners-up prize of a trip to Derbyshire and she has been hooked on entering competitions since.

Other holidays won include trips to New York, Paris, Copenhagen, Munich and New Zealand.

Recently she won a £4,000 holiday voucher but has not decided where to spend it yet.

Polly said: "I have had the most valuable prizes out of all the people in the club.

"But I don't know if I'm the luckiest or hardest working.

"There's a couple in the London club who enter competitions professionally and they win an awful lot of stuff. They run it a bit like a business.

"Some people are very serious but it's just my hobby. It is great fun."

The Bright'N'Breezy Compers club meets once a month and gives members a chance to chat about upcoming competitions, share tips and discuss their prizes.

Keen compers are increasingly keeping track of the competition world via the internet.

There are a host of web sites and chatrooms devoted to the subject, with competition lists and tips on how to win.

Many compers also subscribe to magazines which give details about the best competitions around each month.

In addition, some newspapers, including The Argus, carry regular comping columns.

For more information about joining Bright'N'Breezy Compers club call 01273 721685 and leave your name and address.