Ex-Apprentice struggled to shine

BY MICHAEL FOX

If reality television needs controversy to thrive then Apprentice contestant Kirsty Parkhill was never going to last long.

The Wellington business development manager was fired by host Terry Serepisos last night after her team failed in a sales challenge.

The judges criticised Parkhill's leadership as project manager including a location blunder and running out of stock as they competed against team Number 8 in a bid to sell the most ice creams.

Parkhill said she struggled with an environment she felt was too negative while she had "always been a fairly positive person".

"It was a challenging but quite a bit more negative environment than I'm used to," she said.

"When you're in the board room and also when you're talking to the camera in the private interviews you notice that they prefer you to discuss those negative feelings or things you didn't like," she said.

"I'm someone that very much dwells on the positive so I found that quite tough."

She felt she had been a force in the competition but said that had not been apparent in last night's show.

However, the feedback from friends and colleagues was that she came across as calm, assured and competent, she said.

"Obviously there were mistakes made on the show last night but everyone has commented that I'm certainly a strong competitor but that's the nature of the show. That you're judged by a couple of hours rather than who you are and how you play."

Parkill, who was the third eliminated contestant, said the axe was always hovering over the losing project manager's head "but I don't think I was the weakest competitor".

Last night she was criticised for her decision to take Nicky Clarke and Karen Reid in to the board room with her, with the judges claiming she had been manipulated by Catherine Livingston.

However, she still felt like she made the right call.

She stood by Livingston who has emerged as one of the shows most competitive and combative contestants, saying the pair "connected" as they were similar competitors.

"I still think she had my back," she said.

"I felt she wasn't the weakest. She was one of the strongest competitors in the team, she just puts herself our there more often than not so she puts her head on the block more often than not."

Others were flying under the radar though she would not say who.

Parkhill admitted that "things do come out in the board room" but maintained the contestants were able to look each other in the eye afterwards.

It was an extended interview and they were all going for the same thing - a job with Serepisos and a $200,000 salary package, she said.

The board room itself it was "intense and quite negative" and the viewers only saw a small part of it.

"What you saw was about five minutes of the board room. We've had an hour of that. It's pretty intense and, really, it's quite tough."

"I think by the time the firing pin comes along, it's almost a relief. It's pretty tough in there."

She said being picked from 2500 applicants and meeting the "high calibre" contestants were highlights but could not pick who she thought would win.

"I think they're going to have to be quite strong with the other competitors but they're also going to have to be able to come out fighting and take a few tough times as well as the good."

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