Geraldine O’Callaghan

The Apprentice Ireland, Series 2, 2009

GERALDINE, along with Breffny, below, injected a much-needed dose of fizzy romance into the Irish version of the show with their on-screen flirtations, especially when their burgeoning relationship was sacrificed at the altar of business. Geraldine, from Dublin’s north inner city, was unemployed when she joined the show. ‘The business I’d had when I was 24 went belly up and I was on the dole,’ she explained. ‘So I needed a job and there wasn’t too much happening in Ireland then as we were on the verge of recession. I thought that if I didn’t win maybe I’d at least get a job in the aftermath. Which I did, so it served its purpose.’ Indeed after she was fired in week 12, having reached the semi-final, she scored a job with a promotions company. She was also praised for her determination to make it.

‘I’ve received mail that I’ve cried reading,’ she said. ‘People have told me that I have inspired them, that they love me. It’s mind-blowing and completely humbling.’

However, not everything about the reality show was positive.

‘I would consider myself a grafter but even at that the hours are so long and it’s anything but glamorous,’ she said. ‘The amount of backstabbing was pretty hardcore and I think you’d need to be made of stone not to feel in some way hurt or insecure by everyone pointing out your flaws or trying to get you fired.’

Now a travel writer and blogger with her own website,

travelandculture.ie, she doesn’t regret her time on the show. ‘It opened doors for me. I now write travel features for a number of newspapers and magazines, which is something I would not have had the opportunity to do before I became well known for being on TV.’