Tuam’s Apprentice shows his human side in defeat

Date Published: 19-Dec-2009

HE may have been the hard man of the show but when Tuam man Stephen Higgins broke into tears this week on getting the finger from Bill Cullen, he also endeared himself to a hardened public.

If you haven’t a clue what the hell this is all about, you must have been living in cloud cuckoo land for the last three months.

The 2009 Apprentice show has been the hit home-grown show of the year, and Stephen – alongside Oranmore native Aoiffe Madden – were among its shining lights.

Stephen made it to the final and probably to the global series’ history books when he declared in the semi-final: “I am one of the most talented young people in Ireland."

It is a much more humbled entrepreneur that talks to the Connacht Tribune in the wake of his firing – and his tears.

“Of course I was disappointed, you’re there for such a long time and it’s the be all and end all. I didn’t realise just how much I did want it till going in the car at the end of it and shedding a few tears,” he said, with a slightly embarrassed chuckle.

To be fair, there were tears in the eyes of the winner – Skibbereen- based business development manager Steve Rayner – when he finally got the nod after having to bare his soul about battling his demons with alcoholism and gambling.

But of all the 14 contestants it was Stephen that had the most life-changing experience. A number of his female contestants claimed he was aggressive, arrogant and impossible to deal with. His arch-nemesis on the show, schoolteacher Samantha Conroy, declared there had been a definite turn around in his personality and he was more willing to listen to others on the final task.

Does Stephen think he was unfairly portrayed in the series?

“With reality TV it’s always going to be character driven. I knew they were going to ham it up as much as possible. They really tried to make me look as aggressive and arrogant as possible. But when everyone asked who they got on best with in the house, I was always there, when they were asked who was going to win The

Apprentice, I was always there, so it didn’t add up,” he reflected.

He says people forget he is only 25 and just two years out of college when they level such heavy criticism at him.

His parents sought to censor any bad stuff that came out of his home town when they relayed the feedback from Tuam. In fact they didn’t even know he was going on the show until he used his weekly ten-minute phone call from the house to tell them he was already in the thick of filming. Being part of the show means contestants have to sign confidentiality agreements.

His dad Eamon works for Eircom, and his mum, Nuala, is an artist. The family, consisting of three boys and a girl, is from Bel Air Drive in the town.

Stephen went to St Jarlaths, where he excelled at football and soccer. He left at 16 to try and make a professional career in soccer in the US and Korea, but gave it up after 18 months after it didn’t work out.

He returned to take an honours degree in business and law at the University of Limerick, where he also became an accomplished rugby player.

After college Stephen worked for AIB and Bank of Ireland in Dublin and left the sector in October 2008 to set up The Wedding Trainer, a company that specialises in helping people to change their body type for their wedding day.

He plans to re-launch the company in the New Year in light of all the publicity that the show generated for his business. He also does some financial consulting.

He has received three job offers, one in PR in the car industry, the other two in financial services, and plans to use the Christmas at home with his family to reflect on his future.

The experience of The Apprentice is certainly one that he does not regret. He did however have some low points. It certainly was a cringe-worthy moment when he declared that beneath the tight suit was “all muscle”.

“It did happen that I could be a bit dismissive of people. Anything Bill Cullen or the contestants have said to me I’ve taken on board. I’ve definitely grown as a person. Actually I’ve become a lot nicer since The Apprentice so it could happen that a much nicer Stephen Higgins is going back to Galway this Christmas!”