The Apprentice (Irish TV series)

The Apprentice
The header of The Apprentice 2009 with Bill Cullen
Genre	Reality television series
Created by	Mark Burnett
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	42
Production
Producer(s)	Screentime ShinAwiL Productions
Running time	60-minute episodes
Release
Original network	TV3
Picture format	PAL
Original release	22 September 2008 – 19 December 2011
Chronology
Related shows	Celebrity Apprentice Ireland

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 Bill Cullen, a business magnate.

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. Steve Rayner, a Business Development Manager, won the second series in 2009. That series also featured Breffny Morgan. Michelle Massey won the job in the 2010 series, while Eugene Heary won in 2011. It was announced in May 2012 that the programme would not be renewed for a new series.

The Apprentice is modelled on the American series of the same name, which starred entrepreneur and 2016 Republican Party president-elect Donald Trump,, but is styled more closely around the British series starring magnate Alan Sugar.

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

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 was postponed until the third series finished production in August 2010.