The Apprentice (Irish TV series)

The Apprentice
The header of The Apprentice 2009
Genre	Reality television series
Created by	Mark Burnett
Country of origin	Ireland
Language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	32 (as of 14th Nov. 2011)
Production
Producer(s)	Screentime ShinAwiL Productions
Running time	60-minute episodes
Broadcast
Original channel	TV3
Picture format	PAL
Original run	22 September 2008 – present
Chronology
Related shows	The Apprentice (U.S. version) The Apprentice (UK version) The Apprentice (Australian version)

The Apprentice is an Irish reality television series, in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a job as "apprentice" to businessman Bill Cullen.

The first series of the show aired on TV3 on 22 September 2008, and finished on 8 December 2008, with Brenda Shanahan as the winner. Shanahan worked at Cullen's company, Renault Ireland, on a 12-month contract worth €100,000.^[1] Steve Rayner, a Business Development Manager, won the second series in 2009. In 2010 Michelle Massey won the job.

The Apprentice is modelled on the American series of the same name, which stars entrepreneur Donald Trump, as well as the British series starring magnate Alan Sugar.^[2]

Bill Cullen's assistants in the Irish version of The Apprentice are his partner, and former model, Jackie Lavin and PR "guru", Brian Purcell.^[3]

Celebrity version

Due to the success and growth of the series in 2009 it was announced that a Celebrity version of the show was being sought by the producers and TV3. The producers began the task of finding a main sponsor for the show, celebrities to take part and finally smaller sponsors of each individual task. The producers were able to find a main sponsor for the launch of the spring show and would have started production in January or February 2010, however they were unable to find sponsors of each individual task. The producers also ran into trouble finding different personalities for the show and for them to give up a month of their lives for the show. The production of the celebrity version of the show has been postponed until the third series finishes production in August 2010.^[4]

2011 series

The Apprentice Series 4 began airing on 3 October 2011. The Apprentice: You're Fired presented by Anton Savage also returned.

Candidates

The fourth series consists of sixteen candidates in total again this year. In the three previous series, the candidates were inititally separated into two teams based on gender. This year however, Bill split the teams into 'youth' and 'experience'. Four male and four female candidates made up the teams.

The candidates are:

Team 1	Team 2
Zest	Spirit

Name	Occupation	Age*	Result
Brian Kirwan	Sales & Marketing	29
Christopher Harold	Marketing Manager with Cadpo Software Solutions	28
Conor Browne	Entrepreneur	20
Eugene Heary	Company Director & Proprietor	30
Joanne Sweeney-Burke	Owner of Media Company	33
Maurice O'Callaghan	Guest Relations Manager & Full time MSc Student	32
Noel Rowland	Owner and Managing Director	29
Sandra Murphy	Restaurant Owner/Manager	30
Susanne Short	Marketing Graduate	22	Fired in Week 7
Peter Nielsen	Senior Channel Account Manager	29	Fired in Week 6
Louise O'Hara	Graduate, Masters in Marketing	29	Fired in Week 5
Claire Crone	Self Employed	35	Fired in Week 4
Ruth Leggett	Construction Design Manager	40	Fired in Week 3
Eoin Hamdam	I.T Consultant	38	Left in Week 3
Yinka Rahman	Owns and runs www.hairweavon.com	25	Fired in Week 2
Aisling Smith	Marketing and Event Manager	26	Fired in Week 1

* as of the date of the programme

Weekly Results

Elimination Chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Brian	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN
Christopher	BR	LOSE	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN
Conor	BR	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	BR
Eugene	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	IN
Joanne	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE
Maurice	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN
Noel	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN
Sandra	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	WIN	IN
Susanne	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Peter	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Louise	IN	BR	WIN	IN	FIRED
Claire	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Ruth	IN	IN	FIRED
Eoin	IN	IN	LEFT
Yinka	IN	FIRED
Aisling	FIRED

     The contestant was hired and won the apprentice

     The contestant won as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant lost as sub-p.m. on his/her team

     The contestant was on the winning team

     The contestant was on the losing team

     The contestant was brought to the final boardroom

     The contestant was fired

     The contestant lost as project manager and was fired

     The contestant resigned and left the apprentice

Challenges

Week 1

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: Maurice (Zest) and Aisling (Spirit)
• Task: To create and name 2 healthy sandwiches from the Spar deli menu and select 2 flavours from the Vit Hit drinks to compliment you diet meal and the team that achieves the most sales wins.
• Result: Zest won the task, as they made the most sales. They made a profit of €266, compared to Team Spirit who made a profit of only €19.
• Winner: Zest
• Brought into the boardroom: Aisling, Christopher and Conor.
• Who was fired: Aisling

Week 2

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: Joanne (Zest) and Christopher (Spirit)
• Task: To produce a cd and design the newspaper ad campaign, the sleeve and poster. 100,000 copies of the winning CD will be given away free with the Irish Daily Mail. Each team had to pick 10 new Irish music acts to feature on the CD. The team whose CD impresses the panel of judges the most wins.
• Result: The judges were most impressed with Zest's CD and they won for the second week in a row.
• Winner: Zest
• Brought into the boardroom: Christopher, Louise and Yinka
• Who was fired: Yinka

Week 3

• Team reshuffle: Eugene and Joanne move to Spirit, Conor moves to Zest
• Project managers: Bill appointed: Eoin (Zest) and Louise (Spirit)
• Task: To create an app. for Uni Slim.
• Result: UniSlim found Team Spirit's app to be more suitable. And chose them as this week's winners.
• Winner: Spirit
• Brought into the boardroom: Claire, Ruth and Sandra
• Who was fired: Ruth

Week 4

• Team reshuffle: Louise, Eugene and Peter move to Zest, Maurice and Claire move to Spirit.
• Project managers: Noel (Zest) Claire (Spirit)
• Task: To demonstrate and design "A Show Your Business Event" for Bank of Ireland. To source local producers and their products and set up the event in Wexford and Galway.
• Result: Bank of Ireland was most impressed with Zest. They said there was "no comparison" between the two events. Zest made a profit of over €600.
• Winner: Zest
• Brought into the boardroom: Susanne, Claire and Christopher
• Who was fired: Claire

Week 5

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: Bill appointed: Conor (Zest) Brian (Spirit)
• Task: To create an original advertising concept encouraging customers to make their homes more energy efficient with the help of B&Q. And to present the concept as a billboard, which must contain a slogan or tagline relevant to energy saving with B&Q.
• Result: Spirit won the task. Though their billboard was "simple", B&Q thought Zest's was too complicated and too old-fashioned.
• Winner: Spirit
• Brought into the boardroom: Conor, Eugene and Louise
• Who was fired: Louise

Week 6

• Team reshuffle: Susanne and Joanne move to Zest, Noel and Sandra to move Spirit
• Project managers: Eugene (Zest) Sandra (Spirit)
• Task: To relaunch the Cadbury Dairymilk variant Caramello. To create a new packaging design for the Caramello wrapper and to develop a new print ad campaign to support the relaunch of the product.
• Result: Spirit won the task. This task was based on sales. Ultimately, the team with the most sales won. Zest sold €716 worth of bars and did not make any sales in the pre-arranged meetings set by Bill. Spirit sold €16,517 before the meetings and their total profit was over €53,000! ("A boardroom record", acclaimed Bill Cullen).
• Winner: Spirit
• Brought into the boardroom: Conor, Eugene and Peter
• Who was fired: Peter

Week 7

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: This week Bill gave the teams one minute to decide their project managers. They chose Joanne (Zest) Maurice (Spirit).
• Task: To develop a Guerrilla marketing campaign to communicate Eircom's eMobile's unlimited offering. To present the campaign in the form of a video that has the potential to go viral.
• Result: eMobile felt that Spirit completely understood the brief and therefore were this week's winners.
• Winner: Spirit
• Brought into the boardroom: Conor, Joanne and Susanne
• Who was fired: Susanne

Week 8

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: (Zest) (Spirit).
• Task:
• Result:
• Winner:
• Brought into the boardroom:
• Who was fired:

2010 series

The 2010 series of the show began filming in July. The candidates have been spotted in locations including the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre on 9 July 2010. The Apprentice: You're Fired presented by Anton Savage, will be returning alongside brand new spin-off, The Apprentice: At Home featuring what has been going on in the house the contestants live together in during the competition offering further insight into their personalities and relationships. The Apprentice 2010 began on 20 September 2010 and continued for 13 weeks in total. The winner of the 2010 series was Michelle Massey.^[5][6]

Candidates

The third series consists of sixteen candidates in total. As with the two previous series, the candidates were inititally separated into two teams based on gender. The women chose the name 'Fusion', while the men chose the name 'Elev8'. In the first task, Bill swapped the project manager of the women's team with that of the men's before commencing the task.

The candidates are:

Team 1	Team 2
Fusion	Elev8

Name	Occupation	Age*	Result
Michelle Massey	Telco Sales Consultant	28	Winner
Niamh McDonald	Marketing Coordinator	23	Runner Up
Panos Zambetakis	Senior Online Advertising Manager	33	Fired in Week 12
Will McCreevey	Business Development Manager	22	Fired in Week 12
Barry Ceasar Hunt	Entrepreneur	32	Fired in Week 11
Jamie Moran	Businessman / Contractor	29	Fired in Week 10
Ciara McManus	Sales Manager	34	Fired in Week 10
Dave Cashman	National Events Manager	26	Fired in Week 9
Tara Lee	Property Surveyor	24	Fired in Week 8
Nagaite Farag	Sales and Retention Agent	25	Fired in Week 7
Sarah O'Neill	Marketing Communication Manager	30	Fired in Week 6
Caroline McHugh	Solicitor	26	Fired in Week 5
Kieran Walsh	Commercial Director	28	Fired in Week 4
Niamh Humphreys	Account Manager	35	Fired in Week 3
David O'Byrne	Marketing Professional	27	Fired in Week 2
Cahal Heapes	Area Sales Manager	32	Fired in Week 1

* as of the date of the programme

Weekly Results

Elimination Chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Michelle	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	BR	BR	IN	HIRED
Niamh M.	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Panos	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	BR	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Will	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Barry	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
Jamie	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Ciara	WIN	IN	BR	BR	BR	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Dave	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Tara	BR	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Nagaite	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Sarah	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Caroline	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
Kieran	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Niamh H.	BR	IN	FIRED
David	IN	FIRED
Cahal	FIRED

     The contestant was hired and won the apprentice

     The contestant won as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant was on the winning team

     The contestant was on the losing team

     The contestant was brought to the final boardroom

     The contestant was fired

     The contestant lost as project manager and was fired

Challenges

Week 1

• Team reshuffle: Ciara moves to Elev8, Cahal moves to Fusion.
• Project managers: Ciara (Elev8) and Cahal (Fusion)
• Task: To sell vouchers for the Carlton hotel in two locations; Dundrum Town Centre (Elev8) and Blanchardstown Centre (Fusion). The team with the highest sales wins.
• Result: Elev8 won the task, as they made the most sales.
• Winner: Elev8
• Brought into the boardroom: Cahal, Niamh H. and Tara.
• Who was fired: Cahal, for poor leadership despite having prior experience and being in a leadership position within his job. Similar criticism was lobbied at Niamh H., but Bill ultimately decided to fire Cahal.^[7]

Week 2

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: David (Elev8) and Nagaite (Fusion)
• Task: To devise a one day original healthy eating menu for Unislim and to create a radio ad for Unislim to be aired on Today FM, and also plan a radio ad campaign based on a €10,000 budget.
• Result: Fusion impressed the Unislim and Today FM executives and were named winners of the task.
• Winner: Fusion
• Brought into the boardroom: David, Will and Jamie.
• Who was fired: David, due to being judged to have made the biggest mistakes that lead to the team's failure. Will, however, was warned after the firing to be 'very careful now'.^[8]

Week 3

• Team reshuffle: Kieran, Ciara and Jamie move to Fusion, Sarah, Michelle and Niamh M. move to Elev8.
• Project managers: Panos (Elev8) and Caroline (Fusion)
• Task: To design a billboard campaign for Lucozade Sport lite drink.
• Result: Elev8's billboard ad was chosen by GlaxoSmithKline executives.
• Winner: Elev8
• Brought into the boardroom: Caroline, Ciara and Niamh H.
• Who was fired: Niamh H., due to continually underperforming in tasks, with Bill saying to Niamh: "you're working way below your par".^[9]

Week 4

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: Dave (Elev8) and Kieran (Fusion)
• Task: To sell DIY power tools.
• Result: Elev8 made more money on sales.
• Winner: Elev8
• Brought into the boardroom: Kieran, Ciara and Tara.
• Who was fired: Kieran, for being a poor team leader and for engaging in false advertising. After the firing, Tara was given a strong warning by Bill, saying "don't ever try to bullsh*t me".^[10]

Week 5

• Team reshuffle: Tara and Nagaite move to Elev8, Barry, Niamh M. and Will move to Fusion.
• Project managers: Tara (Elev8) and Barry (Fusion)
• Task: To create a bus shelter campaign advising the public to recycle electrical goods.
• Result: Elev8 was judged to have had the better campaign.
• Winner: Elev8
• Brought into the boardroom: Barry, Ciara and Caroline.
• Who was fired: Caroline, for allowing her inexperience to shine through despite her acknowledged social skills.^[11]

Week 6

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: Sarah (Elev8) and Jamie (Fusion)
• Task: To design and create a calendar for the Ford Fiesta.
• Result: Fusion's calendar impressed the Ford executives more, despite missing the month of December.
• Winner: Fusion
• Brought into the boardroom: Sarah, Dave and Nagaite.
• Who was fired: Sarah, for being the project manager on an ultimately unsatisfactory creative project; despite Bill claiming Dave's performance on the task was very poor.^[12]

Week 7

• Team reshuffle: Michelle and Dave move to Fusion, Will and Jamie move to Elev8.
• Project managers: Michelle (Fusion) and Will (Elev8)
• Task: To create a Cadbury spots v. stripes games event in a local community.
• Result: Fusion's event was judged the winner by Cadbury executives.
• Winner: Fusion
• Brought into the boardroom: Will, Panos and Nagaite.
• Who was fired: Nagaite, for her indecisiveness in the boardroom and ultimately failing to 'fill the boxes' that Bill required in his Apprentice.^[13]

Week 8

• Team reshuffle: None
• Project managers: Niamh M. (Fusion) and Tara (Elev8)
• Task: To create a viral marketing campaign for Appelby jewellers.
• Result: Fusion's viral was voted by Appelby staff to be the winner.
• Winner: Fusion
• Brought into the boardroom: Tara, Jamie and Panos.
• Who was fired: Tara, for overly criticising her fellow team members in the boardroom, and for lacking maturity and experience.^[14]

Week 9

• Team reshuffle: Panos and Jamie move to Fusion, Barry, Niamh M. and Dave move to Elev8.
• Project managers: Michelle (Fusion) and Barry (Elev8)
• Task: To source an Irish product and create a marketing campaign for the product for Spar Ireland.
• Result: Fusion's product and campaign was judged the winner by Spar executives.
• Winner: Fusion
• Brought into the boardroom: Barry, Dave and Will.
• Who was fired: Dave, for failing to live up to the credentials in his CV and for not convincing Bill he could bring more 'to the table' compared to the other two candidates.^[15]

Week 10

• Team reshuffle: Panos moves to Elev8.
• Project managers: Ciara (Fusion) and Panos (Elev8)
• Task: To create a 30 second cinema advert for a coffee machine.
• Result: Elev8's advert was judged the winner.
• Winner: Elev8
• Brought into the boardroom: Ciara, Jamie and Michelle.
• Who was fired first: Ciara, for 'rubbing people up the wrong way' on the task, failing to improve her skills within a team, and for being in the final boardroom too many times.^[16]
• Who was fired second: Jamie, for maintaining his lack of positivity and dismissive nature throughout the tasks. Bill was also indicating he was considering firing Michelle as well, but allowed her to remain in the reality television game show.^[16]

Week 11

• Team reshuffle: Barry moves to Fusion.
• Project managers: Niamh (Elev8) and Barry (Fusion)
• Task: To create a website concept for Carry Out Off Licences mainly targeting a female audience and to give a wine tasting presentation on their concepts.
• Result: Elev8 won the task, as they made a clear presentation and targeted the audience given in the briefing.
• Winner: Elev8
• Brought into the boardroom: Barry and Michelle.
• Who was fired: Barry, for lacking focus on the task and unimpressing Bill with his comments in the final boardroom.^[17]

Week 12: Semi Final

• Team reshuffle: No teams
• Project managers: None
• Task: Final four candidates were interviewed by Bill Cullen's experts: David Bloch (MD at Brightwater Recruitment), Mairead Fleming (Brightwater Recruitment), Gavin Duffy and a well known psychiatrist.
• Brought into the boardroom: All candidates
• Who was fired first: Will, for delivering an unprofessional CV, and lacking a little too much in experience; despite his strong selling abilities.^[18]
• Who was fired second: Panos, for failing to compensate for his promising CV through lack of energy and plateauing performances over the tasks.^[18]

2009 series

After the success of the first series, TV3 announced that the show would return for another series. The second series started broadcasting on Monday, 21 September 2009. In addition to the main show, an official after show called The Apprentice: You're Fired! started this series. The winner of the 2009 series was Steve Rayner.^[19]

Candidates

There were fourteen candidates taking part in the second series and initially they were separated into two teams based on gender, Bill later switches around the personnel on these teams. The women chose the name Platinum, while the men chose the name Cúchulainn.

The candidates are:

Team 1	Team 2
Platinum	Cúchulainn

Name	Occupation	Age*	Result
Steve Rayner	Business Development Manager	30	Winner
Stephen Higgins	Advertising Sales Manager	25	Runner Up
Geraldine O'Callaghan	Accounts Manager	26	Fired in Week 12 : Semi Finals
Lucinda Kelly	Telecommunications Manager	29	Fired in week 11
Aoiffe Madden	Business Development Manager	25	Fired in week 10
Breffny Morgan	Harvard Graduate	23	Fired in Week 9
Ruth O'Dowd	Marketing Manager	30	Fired in Week 8
Samantha Conroy	Secondary School Teacher	32	Fired in Week 7
Brenden Moore	Recruitment Consultant	23	Fired in Week 6
Maria Loughran	Financial Products Manager	33	Fired in Week 5
Jennifer Quinn	Environmental Engineer	27	Fired in Week 4
Setanta Landers	Tax Consultant	27	Fired in Week 3
Donal Proctor	Senior Engineer	30	Fired in Week 2
Craig Butler	Business Developer	25	Fired in Week 1

* as of the date of the programme

Challenges

Week 1

• Project managers: Ruth (Platinum) and Craig (Cúchulainn)
• Task: To sell HB Icecream in Dublin city centre. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Team Platinum won the task, as they make the most profit.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Craig, Breffny, Donal.
• Who was fired: Craig

Week 2

• Project managers: Lucinda (Platinum) and Stephen (Cúchulainn)
• Task: To create an advert for the newly released Samsung Jet mobile phone.
• Result: Team Platinum won the task, as Bill Cullen selected.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Breffny, Donal, Stephen.
• Who was fired: Donal

Week 3

• Team reshuffle: Maria, Lucinda, and Sam move to Cuchulainn. Setanta and Brendan move to Platinum.
• Project managers: Breffny (Cúchulainn) and Setanta (Platinum)
• Task: To develop and Pitch a media campaign for software company, The Big Red Book.
• Result: Team Cúchulainn won the task, as officials from 'The Big Red Book' decided the winner.
• Winner: Cúchulainn
• Brought into the boardroom: Geraldine, Ruth, Setanta.
• Who was fired: Setanta

Week 4

• Team reshuffle: Geraldine moves to Cuchalinn. Stephen moves to Platinum.
• Project managers: Geraldine (Cúchulainn) and Jennifer (Platinum)
• Task: To take a run-down rental property of current equal rental value and transform them using products bought from B&Q. Both teams were given €2,500 to spend.
• Winner: Cúchulainn
• Brought into the boardroom: Jennifer, Brendan, Aoiffe.
• Who was fired: Jennifer

Week 5

• Team reshuffle: Lucinda moves to Platinum.
• Project managers: Maria (Cúchulainn) and Aoife (Platinum)
• Task: To create an advertisement to promote Meteor Broadband To Go in order to raise awareness and to drive sales of the product.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Maria, Steve, Sam.
• Who was fired: Maria

Week 6

• Team reshuffle: Ruth, Brendan, and Aoiffe move to Cuchulainn. Steve and Sam move to Platinum.
• Project managers: Brendan (Cúchulainn) and Steve (Platinum)
• Task: To create a unique Christmas themed product and the winning product will be onsale in over 470 Spar supermarket stores and all profits will go to the charity Turning The Tide Of Suicide.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Brendan, Breffny, Aoiffe.
• Who was fired: Brendan

Week 7

• Project managers: Sam (Platinum) and Breffny (Cúchulainn) (named by Bill)
• Task: To create a new Cadbury's chocolate bar with an Irish twist.
• Result: Team Cúchulainn won the task, as Bill Cullen selected.
• Winner: Cúchulainn
• Brought into the boardroom: Sam, Stephen and Steve.
• Who was fired: Sam

Week 8

• Project managers: Steve (Platinum) and Aoiffe (Cúchulainn)
• Task: To create a device to measure alcohol units.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Aoiffe, Geraldine and Ruth.
• Who was fired: Ruth

Week 9

• Project managers: Stephen (Platinum) and Geraldine (Cúchulainn)
• Task: To sell nasal strips to pharmacies and gyms.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Aoiffe, Geraldine and Breffny.
• Who was fired: Breffny

Week 10

• Team reshuffle: Geraldine moves to Platinum. Steve moves to Cuchulainn.
• Project managers: Steve (Platinum) and Lucinda (Cúchulainn)
• Task: To promote and present an expo on Microsoft Office Live.
• Winner: Cúchulainn
• Brought into the boardroom: Aoiffe and Steve
• Who was fired: Aoiffe

Week 11

• Team reshuffle: Lucinda moves to Cuchulainn.
• Project managers: Stephen (Platinum) and Lucinda (Cúchulainn)
• Task: To make a 30 second radio advertisement and a 2 page magazine advertisement for Appelbee Jewelry.
• Result: Team Platinum chosen by client.
• Winner: Platinum
• Brought into the boardroom: Lucinda and Steve
• Who was fired: Lucinda

Week 12: Semi Final

• Project managers: As this is a job interview, there are no project managers.
• Task: To face tough job interviews by Bill's experts.
• Result: Bill felt that Geraldine still had to learn, so she was fired.
• Who was fired: Geraldine

Week 13: The Final

• Project managers: Steve and Stephen
• Task: Ford Fiesta Launch
• Recruits: Maria, Sam, Breffny, Aoiffe, Brendan, Lucinda, Geraldine and Setanta were brought back to help Stephen and Steve. Stephen chose Aoiffe, Sam, Breffny, and Setanta. Steve chose Lucinda, Geraldine, Brendan, and Maria.
• Result: Bill surmises that sales are the lifeblood of every business, and this more than anything else convinces him to hire Steve as his Apprentice.
• Who was fired: Stephen
• Who was hired: Steve

Elimination Chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Steve	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	BR	WIN	IN	LOSE	BR	IN	HIRED
Stephen	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Geraldine	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	IN	IN	FIRED
Lucinda	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Aoiffe	IN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	BR	IN	LOSE	BR	FIRED
Breffny	BR	BR	WIN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	FIRED
Ruth	WIN	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Samantha	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Brendan	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Maria	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Jennifer	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Setanta	IN	IN	FIRED
Donal	BR	FIRED
Craig	FIRED

     The contestant was hired and won the apprentice

     The contestant won as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant was on the winning team

     The contestant was on the losing team

     The contestant was brought to the final boardroom

     The contestant was fired

     The contestant lost as project manager and was fired

2008 series

Filming of the 2008 series on Moore Street in Dublin.

Candidates

There were fourteen candidates taking part in the series and initially they were separated into two teams based on gender. The women chose the name Phoenix, while the men chose the name Dynamo.

The candidates are:

Team 1	Team 2
Phoenix	Dynamo

Name	Occupation	Age*	Result
Brenda Shanahan	Bridal Shop Owner	32	Winner
Nicky O'Callaghan	Auctioneer	26	Runner up
Stuart Butler	Business Development Manager	31	Fired in Week 11
Orla Power	Marketing Manager	34	Fired in Week 11
Shane Davey	National Account Manager	29	Fired in Week 10
Sarah Cowley	Advertising Sales Manager	32	Fired in Week 9
Paddy O'Dea	Senior Sales Executive	26	Fired in Week 8
Joanna Murphy	Sales Director	37	Fired in Week 7
Mark O'Rourke	Company Director	26	Fired in Week 6
Orla McAdam	Medical Sales Representative	24	Fired in Week 5
Avril Daly	Recruitment Consultant	24	Fired in Week 4
Ronan Whitty	Yield Analyst	27	Fired in Week 3
Derek Ramsey	Regional Sales Manager	26	Fired in Week 2
David Neary	Assistant Brand Manager	25	Fired in Week 1

* as of the date of the programme

Challenges

Week 1

• Project managers: Joanna (Phoenix) and Mark (Dynamo)
• Task: To sell fresh fruit on Moore Street in Dublin city centre. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams were given €350 to start with. Team Phoenix won the task by a margin of €15.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Brought into the boardroom: David, Mark, and Ronan.
• Who was fired: David

Week 2

• Project managers: Orla Power (Phoenix) and Ronan (Dynamo)
• Task: To organise the launch party of a new computer game. The team that impresses Electronic Arts most wins.
• Result: Phoenix impressed the EA executives and were named winners of the task.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Brought into the boardroom: Derek, Mark, and Ronan.
• Who was fired: Derek

Week 3

• Project managers: Avril (Phoenix) and Shane (Dynamo)
• Task: To organise a 30th birthday party for Supermacs. The team who most improved profits were the winners.
• Result: Dynamo most improved profits.
• Winner: Dynamo
• Brought into the boardroom: Avril, Stuart, and Ronan.
• Who was fired: Ronan

Week 4

• Project managers: Orla McAdam (Phoenix) and Brenda (Dynamo)
• Task: Design a "Personal Loan Card" for Blue Cube Loans, and sell the concept of the Card to three retailers. The team who most impresses the three retailers wins.
• Result: Dynamo chosen by all three retailers.
• Winner: Dynamo
• Brought into the boardroom: Avril, Joanna and Orla McAdam.
• Who was fired: Avril D

Week 5

• Project managers: Stuart (Phoenix) and Paddy (Dynamo)
• Task: Shoot and edit a 45 second TV commercial for "The Elysian" development in Cork City. The team who most impresses Michael O'Flynn (Chairman and Managing Director of said development) wins.
• Result: Dynamo chosen by Michael O'Flynn.
• Winner: Dynamo
• Brought into the boardroom: Orla McAdam, Shane, and Stuart.
• Who was fired: Orla McAdam
• Notes: Shane was called back to the boardroom by Stuart. However, Bill recognised Shane's efforts to stand up for Stuart during the presentation earlier in the day, and instantly sent him back to the house, thus rendering him safe.

Week 6

• Project managers: Sarah (Phoenix) and Nicky (Dynamo)
• Task: Presentation launch of the new 2009 Renault range, and to secure as many sales of used and new cars as possible.
• Result: Both teams had "solid presentations", but Phoenix sold more cars.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Brought into the boardroom: Joanna, Mark, and Nicky.
• Who was fired: Mark

Week 7

• Project managers: Shane (Phoenix) and Joanna (Dynamo)
• Task: Organize a WEEE collection day. The team with the most recycled appliances wins
• Result: Phoenix were declared winners. Joanna was challenged with (and admitted) cheating - by emailing friends and neighbours and arranging for them to bring items from a nearby recycling centre.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Brought into the boardroom: Joanna, Nicky, and Orla Power.
• Who was fired: Joanna

Week 8

• Project managers: Orla (Dynamo) and Brenda (Phoenix)
• Task: Develop a new brand for "Travel Value Shopping" outlets of Dublin Airport Authority.
• Result: Phoenix adjudged to have won (Dynamo's selected brand name is already a registered company name).
• Winner: Phoenix
• Brought into the boardroom: Paddy, Nicky, and Orla Power
• Who was fired: Paddy

Week 9

• Project managers: Nicky (Dynamo) and Sarah (Phoenix)
• Task: Sell Garmin products across Dublin to make the most profits
• Result: Team Dynamo had the most profits
• Winner: Dynamo
• Brought into the boardroom: Shane, Sarah, and Orla Power.
• Who was fired: Sarah

Week 10

• Project managers: Stuart (Dynamo) and Orla (Phoenix)
• Task: Create a new marketing campaign for Appleby Jewellers, in order to attract customers for the Christmas period.
• Result: Joe Appleby and Eileen Gould of Appleby favoured Dynamo's photo album idea over Phoenix's Christmas tree decoration.
• Winner: Dynamo
• Brought into the boardroom: Orla Power and Shane
• Who was fired: Shane

Week 11: Semi Final

• Semi-Finalists: Brenda, Nicky, Orla, Stuart
• Task: The four remaining candidates undergo a sequence of intense interviews by three of Bill Cullen's business colleagues.
• Result: Brenda and Nicky through to the final.
• Who was fired: Orla
• Quit: Stuart
• Notes: Along with the mandatory firing, Bill felt that he wanted two finalists only, and Stuart was meant to be fired as well.

Week 12: The Final

• Finalists: Brenda, Nicky
• Task: Raise money for an assigned charity, at a Charity Gala Dinner. Both finalists enlist the help of three of the previously fired candidates.
• Teams: Brenda chose Shane and the two Orlas; Nicky chose Mark, Paddy and Sarah.
• Result: There was very little in the difference of amounts raised for their charities with Brenda slightly ahead of Nicky in the end. Although Bill questioned Brenda's team management skills noting that some of her energy had dwindled in the final task - he felt compelled to hire her because of her constant performance throughout the series. Bill gave Nicky credit for being a great contestant and said that he had no doubt that she would be picked up by a company.
• Who was hired: Brenda. Although Bill was impressed with both candidates, he wanted someone who would be able to 'hit the ground running'.

Elimination Chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Brenda	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	HIRED
Nicky	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	BR	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Stuart	IN	IN	BR	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Orla P	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	BR	LOSE	FIRED
Shane	IN	IN	WIN	IN	BR	IN	WIN	IN	BR	FIRED
Sarah	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Paddy	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Joanna	WIN	IN	IN	BR	IN	BR	FIRED
Mark	LOSE	BR	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Orla M	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	FIRED
Avril	IN	IN	LOSE	FIRED
Ronan	BR	LOSE	FIRED
Derek	IN	FIRED
David	FIRED

     The contestant was hired and won the apprentice

     The contestant won as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team

     The contestant was on the winning team

     The contestant was on the losing team

     The contestant was brought to the final boardroom

     The contestant quit the competition

     The contestant was fired

     The contestant lost as project manager and was fired

References

1. ^ "The Apprentice coming to Irish TV". RTÉ.ie. 10 June 2008. http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0610/theapprentice.html. Retrieved 16 June 2008. 
2. ^ Will Hanafin (15 June 2008). "Irish Apprentice will be confused at barn-bracking". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/irish-apprentice--will-be-confused-at-barnbracking-1410538.html. Retrieved 16 June 2008. 
3. ^ "The Apprentice Ireland Panel". http://www.theapprenticeireland.com/category/the-apprentice-panel/. 
4. ^ http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/celebrity-apprentice-fired-before-first-day-2091083.html
5. ^ "Michelle secures €100,000 'Apprentice' dream job". Irish Times. 2010-12-14. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1214/1224285490350.html. Retrieved 2010-12-14. 
6. ^ "The Apprentice winner is crowned". RTE News. 2010-12-14. http://www.rte.ie/ten/2010/1214/theapprentice.html. Retrieved 2010-12-14. 
7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM7s3poSXCQ (The Apprentice 2010, S03E01, Part 4/4)
8. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlZZrwt2CMw&feature=related - The Apprentice 2010, S03E02, Part 4/4
9. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD7njgUP2EU&feature=related - The Apprentice 2010, S03E03, 4/4
10. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33EwtKSZYc&feature=related - The Apprentice 2010, S03E04, Part 4/5
11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pc2e8l7mjg&feature=related - The Apprentice 2010, S03E05, Part 4/4
12. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N68CCqj-LXc&feature=related - The Apprentice S03E06, Part 4/4
13. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxBwF_LNSw4&feature=related - The Apprentice 2010, S03E07, Part 4/4
14. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hv6iTOYnYM&feature=related - The Apprentice S03E08, Part 4/4
15. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKnn2nt1XS4&feature=related - The Apprentice S03E09, Part 4/4
16. ^ ^{a b} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbjASMrzKFo&feature=related - The Apprentice 2010, S03E10, Part 4/4
17. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wQjdsvy0LM&feature=related - The Apprentice S03E11, Part 4/4
18. ^ ^{a b} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVjx401T0WQ&feature=related - The Apprentice S03E12, Part 4/4
19. ^ "Reformed addict wins hit TV show". Independent. 15 December 2009. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/reformed-addict-wins-hit-tv-show-1975130.html. Retrieved 31 December 2009. 

External links

• The Apprentice at tv3.ie