When Omar Shaker got the call from Radio 1 on Wednesday morning telling him he won a Bentley, he hung up.
“Initially, I wasn’t sure if it was a hoax call,” he admitted to tabloid! on the phone hours later.
He was sleeping when they rung to tell him, but now that the news had sunk in, he sounded much more alert and chipper. Shaker had been absent from XL Beach Club in Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa the night before where Radio 1 DJ Danny Cee drew his name and declared him the winner of the competition.
“I remember entering the raffle,” Shaker said. “I’ve never really won anything before — this is obviously a huge win.”
Half Palestinian and half British, the 33-year-old has been living in Dubai for four years and works at a bank in DIFC. He’s never owned a car here.
“When I moved to Dubai, I didn’t feel like I needed a car,” he explained. But when he was based in London before moving to the UAE, he did drive — a Hyundai Coupe, to be exact.
“This is a huge upgrade,” he said with a laugh.
As for what his first ride in the car will be? That’s yet to be decided.
“I haven’t even thought yet,” he confessed, adding that he won’t be telling his friends about his big win until the Bentley keys are actually in his hands.
