Arbroath woman reveals secrets of being a professional ‘comper’

An Arbroath woman has enjoyed trips abroad, a year’s worth of shoes and a PlayStation games console – thanks to her success winning competitions.

Lyndsey Bruce is a professional “comper”, meaning someone who enters contests all the time.

The 58-year-old usually spends around two hours a night looking out for possible prizes.

She says that she gets a “great buzz” from winning, and that it also encourages her to try new things.

As well as some of her more glamorous winnings. she has also found herself with quirkier items – such as a life-size cardboard cut-out of the former England rugby captain Martin Johnson.

She laughed: “Luckily there was a local rugby club who were happy to take that!”

Lyndsey, who is a retired bank auditor, landed her first prize as a teenager when she entered a contest on Radio Luxembourg and won a purple and silver belt.

However, it wasn’t until she was in her 20s that it really took hold of her.

She recalled: “I’d spend my lunchbreaks brainstorming for competitions. A lot of them were coming up with catchy slogans or rhyming couplets and that was a lot of fun to do.

“Nowadays, so many of the competitions are through the internet and you just need to send your address off. It’s all about volume now.”

Lyndsey estimates she enters up to 50 a day, with that number increasing in December when companies run even more competitions for Christmas.

Despite the increased numbers taking part in contests, Lyndsey says the “comper” community is supportive of each other, with people sharing details they’ve spotted with each other online.

Among the best prizes Lyndsey has scooped include:

Another highlight was a holiday in a log cabin in Yorkshire, as “it was not the sort of holiday I’d have booked myself, but I really enjoyed it”.

She told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that anyone interested in trying their luck as a comper should not be discouraged if they have little success early on.

She said: “We all go through periods where we don’t win anything and it is a numbers game nowadays… do as many as you can and if you’ve not won in the first month or so then keep going because you will get that win at some point.

“People do it for a few weeks, think ‘I’m not winning’ and then give up. So keep going.”