Student paid to sleep in designer beds
Roisin Madigan, a student, is being paid to do what student's do best - sleep.
Miss Madigan, 22, is earning £1,000 to sleep in designer beds every day for a month.
The student, from Harborne, Birmingham, is helping with a "sleep survey" carried out by luxury bed specialists Simon Horn Ltd.
General manager Craig Roylance said Roisin will not only provide an objective view of the beds on sale, but will also be part of a look into what brings a good night's sleep.
He said: "It's a slightly quirky way of doing something quite serious.
"We're very passionate about beds. We wanted to conduct a sleep survey to help our sales team, but more importantly our customers.
"Just being in a good, good bed is not the only thing for a good night's sleep - there's lots of different factors such as routines before you go to sleep, drinking, light, temperature.
"We wanted to find somebody that for a month could sleep on our beds and somebody who was articulate and interested in writing about it."
He said they advertised the position and were shocked to have 400 applicants in the first day alone, followed by 200 in the second day.
The winning applicant proved to be Roisin Madigan, who studied Writing for Media Arts for two years at the South Bank University in London but moved back to Birmingham.
Mr Roylance said: "Because of the high cost of living in London, Roisin actually ran out of money and could not complete her course so she moved back to Birmingham.
"In her we've found somebody who is absolutely perfect."
He said the 22-year-old will spend 10am to 6pm in beds in the company's showroom in Edgbaston, then will blog about her experiences.
"We know exactly what we want her to do," he added. "She will not only be testing the beds, but we'll be putting her under certain conditions such as giving her alcohol or caffeine, changing the light, and changing the temperature.
"On some days she'll be actually sleeping in the ********
"There's an element of altruism to it, helping a student who hasn't got much money, but there is a serious side to it. We're not just splashing out £1,000, we want something in return."