A GLOBE-TROTTING teenager has made it through to the final of a contest to appear in a fly-on-the-wall travel show.

Dave Brett, 18, of Rectory Close, Chingford, has already visited 26 countries.

The Harlow College leisure and tourism student has travelled to countries including Ireland and Germany and across Scandinavia, regularly sleeping on the sofas of people he has met on the internet.

So when Dave saw an email from social networking site Bebo in December advertising a show in which he would be able to travel wherever he wanted in the world, expenses paid, he leapt at the chance.

The jetsetter applied for the programme, which is produced by Big Brother creators Endemol and called Gap Year.

It will be broadcast on Bebo and possibly on television at a later date.

Dave sent in a video of himself explaining why he likes travelling, and he has beat thousands of others to make it thro-ugh to the last two candidates in the United Kingdom section.

He said: "If I get this it will be amazing - it will really give me a lift.

"I have always loved travelling. I don't like to stay in Chingford that often.

"I like learning about different cultures and ways of life. It changes you as a person and alters the way you look at the world."

If Dave is successful he will be able to select where he wants to go on a five-month expedition, which would be filmed by a one-man camera crew.

And it appears he is definitely not short of ideas.

He said: "I will choose to go across Canada, through Latin America, Russia, Beijing to see the Olympics and then surfing in Australia. It will be amazing."

The 18-year-old, who lives with his father Mark and younger brother Edward, will find out if he has been successful on March 26.