€100,000 car job is karma, says winner

IF THERE'S such a thing as karma, this is what it feels like, said last night's winner of The Apprenticeseries, Steve Rayner.

Speaking to media at a celebration event in Dublin, Rayner said the win meant “everything to me and [wife] Eileen”.

The Englishman, who has been living in west Cork since 2005, has spoken about his addiction to alcohol and gambling which he conquered two years ago.

“Eileen and me, going back years ago, said if we worked hard on everything, on our relationship and really wanted things to work for us, good things would happen for us. I’m not a big believer in karma but if it exists, this is it.”

The couple have two children – Doireann (11 months) and Olan (8), Eileen’s son from a previous relationship. She and the children will follow Steve to Dublin in coming months.

He will move first to take up his €100,000 a year position in Bill Cullen’s car sales business on January 4th. “There are several projects I’ll be working on with the new scrappage scheme and the rollout of electric cars.”

The finale of the series was filmed last August but the You're Firedchatshow that follows each episode was filmed only in recent days.

“It has been a heavy burden, for Eileen too. We couldn’t talk about it even to each other. Even most of the other candidates didn’t know until Sunday night. So it’s fantastic now to be able to tell people back in Skibbereen.”

Runner-up Stephen Higgins said he had not even told his mother the result, which he had known since the summer. “But there has been loads happening and I’ve had a lot of job offers which I’ll think about over Christmas.”

Cullen, chairman of the Bill Cullen Motor Group, said he had hired Rayner because he had a “wonderful talent for selling”.

“He is immediately likeable, comes across as a very nice guy and he can be trusted. In a country like Ireland they are all very important in a salesman. He also shows a lot of initiative.”