Young woman wins 9.5 lakh rupees while asleep

BanglaPress Desk: While the professional world often demands working late into the night, one woman has achieved success simply by sleeping. Zinia Chatterjee, a resident of Mumbai, India, won a unique competition, securing 9.6 lakh rupees and an all-expenses-paid vacation.

Out of more than 200,000 applicants from across India, she was crowned the country’s ‘Sleep Champion’ in this ‘Sleep Internship’ contest.

The initiative was organized by ‘Wakefit,’ a brand focused on sleep and comfortable living. The core task for the participants involved sleeping regularly, maintaining a consistent sleep routine, and engaging in creative weekly challenges.

Following initial screening rounds and several stages of the internship, only 10 candidates were selected from the initial pool of over 200,000 applicants. Throughout the 60-day competition, participants tracked their sleep performance, with their standing on a leaderboard determined by daily scores.

However, the competition was not limited solely to sleeping well or for long durations; participants were also required to complete various creative and entertaining assignments.

These weekly challenges included a ‘Sleep Cinema’ segment, where participants had to recreate scenes from famous movies with a sleep-related twist. In ‘Sleep Bingo,’ they evaluated their own sleep habits over the course of a week, while an unusual task called ‘Undercover Sleep Mission’ required them to slip the words ‘blanket’ or ‘pillow’ into casual conversations ten times without being detected. Each week, the top-performing participant was awarded the title of ‘Pro Sleeper of the Week.’

After two months, Zinia Chatterjee, along with Ratnagiri Manikandin and Mehik Khot, emerged as the top three finalists. However, Karim Khan from Hyderabad secured a wildcard entry into the final by winning the highest number of weekly challenges, bringing the total number of finalists to four.

How Zinia clinched the victory

The grand finale, dubbed the "Big Bed," featured two main challenges. The first was the "Memory Foam Challenge," which required contestants to recreate a bedroom setup exactly as shown in a reference image—a task designed to test their observational skills, memory, and teamwork.

The second challenge was the "Sleep Auction." In this round, the finalists had to bid for essential sleep-related amenities, such as pillows, blankets, air conditioning controls, lighting, and sound settings.

Following this, the finalists spent the night in their respective customized sleep environments. The quality of sleep they achieved that night determined the ultimate winner. In the end, Zinia Chatterjee from Mumbai outperformed the others to emerge victorious.

Notably, since the "Sleep Internship" program began in 2019, it has received over a million applications across its first four seasons, with 65 interns each earning a stipend of ₹1 lakh. Pre-registration for the sixth season of the competition is already underway on the official Wakefit website. Source: NDTV