New Zealand's first contestant on the UK version of The Apprentice has been eliminated from the BBC show.One-time Telecom employee Paloma Vivanco-Coutts (pictured) was"fired"by host Lord Alan Sugar in front of 13 million viewers.She had made it
New Zealand’s first contestant on the UK version of The Apprentice has been eliminated from the BBC show.
One-time Telecom employee Paloma Vivanco-Coutts (pictured) was"fired"by host Lord Alan Sugar in front of 13 million viewers.
She had made it to just episode five.
Lord Sugar (in the Donald Trump role) had the same problem with Ms Vivanco-Coutts' as many of the contestants: her big mouth.
The UK media has labelled the Kiwi as a "blackhearted villan" and a woman who would "try to club bambi to death". The Daily Mail dubbed her "the wicked witch"; while the Daily Telegraph drummed up perhaps the worst insult of all, calling her "average".
"There are parts of my fiery temperament that are definitely me ... I fight for what I believe in, I am not afraid to speak my mind , I don't like sitting on the fence," Ms Vivanco-Coutts told TVNZ's CloseUp.
But she denied accusations that she was a "bitch", as the state broadcaster phrased it.
"Anyone that has worked with me will know that I am fair and considered. I don't put up with nonsense but that doesn't make me a bitch."
Undaunted, the catty Kiwi has now set up her own website, and is offering her services as a public speaker.
My brilliant career
Ms Vivanco-Coutts is a London-based expat who started her career at Telecom.
The thirty-year-old was one of 16 finalists (from 30,000 applicants) in the popular reality show's sixth series, which began screening October 16.
While a contestant, she spent several weeks at a private London mansion, battling it out for a £100,000-a-year job with Lord Sugar (an entrepreneur and property developer best know for for his first company - personal computer maker Amstrad - and his time owning premiership football club Tottenham Hotspur).
Ms Vivenco left her job in marketing at Telecom in late 2006 to travel and work in London. She has since worked for British Telecom (BT), Vodafone Group, Virgin Mobile and 3 Mobile.
She said she was now returning to a job in telecommunications.
“I’ve toughened up a lot since working in the highly cut-throat UK market, and I’m hoping the resilience I’ve gained will carry me through the next few months,” Ms Vivanco-Coutts said.
F&P hookup
She recently married fellow Kiwi Colin Coutts – head of IT and operations for Fisher & Paykel UK and Ireland.
Born in Peru, Vivanco-Coutts moved with her family to the United States, Australia and eventually New Zealand where she attended college and The University of Auckland.
Her father, Dr. William Vivanco, is a world-renowned geneticist and global authority in animal reproduction and genetic improvement.
He is best known for heading the science and technology unit in New Zealand that produced ‘Lady’ – the first cloned calf and subsequently ‘Elsie’ the cow in 1998, as a conservation effort to rescue the last surviving cow of the Enderby Islands of New Zealand.
