Bill Cullen (businessman)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

This article may not meet the notability guideline for biographies. If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand or rewrite the article to establish its notability. The best way to address this concern is to reference published, third-party sources about the subject. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for redirection, merge or ultimately deletion, per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion.
This article has been tagged since March 2008.

For the American television personality, see Bill Cullen.

Bill Cullen^[1] is an Irish businessman and philanthropist. He is also known for owning the Renault Ireland franchise along with proclaiming himself the "Pushup King of Ireland". Cullen has made numerous appearances on RTE's The Late Late Show.

Cullen set up and is a current director of the charity, The Irish Youth Foundation. All proceeds from Cullen's autobiography, It’s a long way from penny apples have been donated to this charity.

As of June 2008, TV3 are inviting applications for the Irish version of The Apprentice. Cullen will be performing the role in the programme filled in the US by Donald Trump and in the UK by Alan Sugar.^[2] Critics have already described the appointment as pure nonsense, as Cullen is perceived by many industry observers as a clown. Despite his fortunes he does not appear to carry a shred of credibility in the Irish business world. Numerous observers have noted that Cullen seems to play on the "I came from nothing" card in accentuating his current financial profile. His highly unacclaimed prose "A long way from penny apples" charts Cullen's rise from selling fruit on Dublin's famed 'Moore Street' synonymous with Dubliners in years gone by for its working class folk, the pimple on Dublin's arse.

Despite TV3 announcing its plans recently for 'The Apprentice' they have already been lobbied by many TV viewer peer groups who have threatened to stage a protest at the company's studio in west Dublin if they forge ahead with their plan to assign Cullen as the spearhead for the program in the autumn. A voxpop by a Dublin radio station on Wednesday June 11th revealed that 90% of apprentice fans thought Cullen was a bad decision and asked why someone of Michael O'Leary or Denis O'Brien's stature was not secured for the program, both highly respected and successful Irish businessman.

Message boards were awash with potential applicants discussing the 'package' that has been touted for the eventual winner of the series. It was noted on TV3's website that a 'package' of €100,000 was on offer but it was not clear what the breakdown was. There was speculation that the package would be broken down into a basic salary with bonus and a free renault car, in reference to Cullen's ownership of the renault franchise in Ireland. TV3 refused to confirm or deny the story.

[edit] Gift Grub

A character parodying Bill Cullen (voiced by Tom Dunne) also appears on the Today FM Gift Grub comedy segment. The sketches usually portray Cullen as being a great philanthropist and being a fantastic lover. The sketchs often play on Cullen's willingness to be called Doctor Bill due to Cullen's Honorary Doctorate. The sketches usually have Cullen opposite to Gift Grub's Roy Keane.

http://www.authorsontheweb.com/features/0303-irish/irish-authors.asp