The fiancée of The Apprentice winner Steve Rayner has spoken for the first time about standing by him through years of alcohol and gambling addiction.

Rayner, who is originally from England but lives in Cork, conquered his addictions and last week won the popular TV3 show and a €100,000-a-year job with Bill Cullen.

Eibhlin Crowley said she decided to stick by the 30-year-old through thick and thin despite many difficulties in the past.

"Steve and I made each other a promise when things were at their worst that something good would come of everything, and now it has."

Crowley said she is "relieved that everything is now out in the open" and has urged young people to learn from Rayner's experiences.

"People might say I'm a stand by your man type figure, but I stuck with Steve through everything. Back then when all that was happening, it was out of the blue, and it's so easy to slip into these things. I don't think anyone really knows how prevalent alcoholism and problems like gambling are, or how dangerous it can be on the person and their family."

Although he has not had a drink in two-and-a-half years, Crowley said she was shocked when Rayner's drink and gambling problems were revealed on the show.

"I didn't expect it to be all over the papers, but by the end of the night I realised I was never prouder of Steve than I am now."

The couple, who currently live in Skibbereen with their daughter and Eibhlín's older son, have also told of how they kept a diary of all the events right up until the end of the hit show.

"Myself, my son and daughter and Steve have been keeping a diary of all our progress up until now so that we'll never forget all of this. We've written a page every night so we can see how far we've come," said Crowley.

The pair were also separated for two months while Rayner went into secret recordings for the show. "My son could not understand where Steve was gone. He would be saying 'Mam, why is he not calling? Where is he gone?' as Steve could only call for 10 minutes once a week. I learnt to treat those 10 minutes as absolutely precious,".

Rayner starts officially with his new boss Bill Cullen in January, and will miss his daughter's first birthday as he moves to Dublin for the job. The pair are set to marry in the summer.

Rayner has, meanwhile, said he felt like he had "won an Olympic medal without the bonus of being able to tell anyone".

"When it was coming up to the final moments both Stephen and I just wanted to be put out of our misery. When I was told, it was totally surreal," said Crowley.

"Myself and Eibhlín just got back to Skibbereen on Wednesday, and as things have been tough on her too, we are looking forward to just settling down to a quiet Christmas before I head off again in the new year. We are working on some great projects in 2010."