Apprentice admits 'rookie mistake'

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WEB WIZARD: Chris Whiteside started an internet business with his twin brother when the two were still in high school.

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Axed Apprentice contestant Chris Whiteside admits that on second thoughts, sharing information with the opposition is not such a good idea.

Host Terry Serepisos was livid with the 28-year-old entrepreneur and accountant last night after he showed his old team his new team's plans for a presentation to Microsoft executives.

Whiteside, who was switched from project manager of Team Number 8 to team Athena in a shock move by producers, says he never realised the impact his decision would have.

"It was such a minor incident in the whole task. I didn't think much about it at the time and I never thought about it again."

He defended his action saying both teams were due to give their presentations shortly and he didn't feel the opposition could do anything with the information he gave them.

However, on seeing last night that Team Number 8 made changes to their presentation based on what he showed them, he realised that had not been the case.

"Yeah, that was a bit of a knife in the wound," he said.

In hindsight, he admits the decision was a "rookie mistake".

"I deserved to be fired."

Whiteside stood by his claim he was given a "hospital pass" after being switched to Team Athena.

He was so confident in Team Number 8's ability to win the task, that in spite of his own lack of aptitude, he had opted to become project manager.

"I've been an accountant, I had very little to offer, I was just going to facilitate the winning process," he said.

"It backfired, yes. In my face badly."

The dynamic in Team Athena, which was completely different to the "keen environment" at Team Number 8, had also let them down.

The men had a team-oriented focus while Athena had individuals who were in it for themselves, he said.

"Team Athena is really taking a backwards step every week," he said.

"When you keep going to the boardroom, when you keep arguing with each other, a lot of personal issues come up, get quite heated and the team finds it hard to leave that in the board room."

Catherine Livingston and Karen Reid were butting heads and once either of them was eliminated, the dynamic would improve, hence his strategy in the boardroom, he said.

"I thought I'd leave the girls to argue themselves into a hole and really it just turned in to me trying to dig myself even further in to one."

Whiteside believed that should similar pressure be placed on the guys, the effect would be similar.

He also shed light on the reason why his team mates were so delighted when TVNZ weatherman Tamati Coffey turned up to join the blokes on a bungy jump off the Harbour Bridge, a reward won after last week's challenge.

"We sort of had this in joke... we all went round and asked who would you turn gay for, and I was like, 'oh, I'd turn gay for Tamati' and then when he came on the show I was just like, 'oh it's gone from bad to worse for me again'."

"I got absolutely heaps," he said.

Whiteside, who has now quit his job and is preparing for a permanent move to Auckland in a bid for a career in local government, expected Thomas "All Star" Ben to win.

- © Fairfax NZ News