The Inheritance - Mart

Mart
Age: 37
Location: Newcastle
Occupation: Development coach

Why did you apply to take part in The Inheritance?
The main reason that I applied was that I don’t ever like life to get stagnant. Just last year, myself and my partner adopted our baby boy and that was honestly one of the hardest two or three years going through that adoption process.

I'm always looking for the next big thing, whether it be in business, my personal life, and I saw this advertised. I thought I'm going to apply for this and see what happens. I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason. So, I just thought, let's just go with it and see how I get on. I like the challenge aspect but ultimately, I'm doing it for my son. Growing up, I always had hand-me-downs and my family weren't well off at all so I'm doing this for him. I just want to give him the life that I never had.

What do you think you're going to bring to this game?
I would like to think I'll bring of positivity, a practical side and a humorous side. I'm a bit of a prankster. I'm always jumping out and scaring people, little things like that. I want to bring in a bit of light heartedness and encourage everyone. It's not the end of the world and I think people will probably appreciate that. Then there's authenticity as well; I want to go into this game with no façade and play it exactly as the person that I am.

Would you call yourself a team player?
Yes, I definitely call myself a team player. However, I'm more of a leader. I like to be the one that delegates all the tasks out rather than someone telling me what to do. I really don't like being told what to do. I think it's probably a thing from my childhood. In school, I was always told off for being a chatterbox, you can't tell, can you?! Ha ha.

What are you like when you're playing games with friends and family. Would you say you’re competitive? 
I'm super competitive every time we play Monopoly as a family. I'm the banker, and I always win, and it's always because I'm sliding the 50s and the 500s out to myself when no one’s looking! There's another game called Confidence. Last Christmas, a question was asked, and I said I'm just going to go to the toilet – as soon as I got in there, I asked Siri on my watch what the correct answer was! Everyone said, wait you took your phone out! I was able to point to it on the other side of the room, they didn’t think of my watch. I think I am quite sly when it comes to games, because I love to win so much, and I'll do whatever it takes to win. I’m quite ruthless, but I do it under the radar.

How are your powers of persuasion? Would you say you’re quite good at influencing others to your way of thinking?
I'm actually reading a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People at the moment. I thought it might be good for this show. I am going to have to form alliances and win friends to keep people on my side but then I'm not going to think twice if I have to screw them over in the final because I've only known them for a few weeks at the end of the day. I just think if it came to a situation where I'd gone through the whole game, say, with one girl or something, and we were besties all the way through, and it came to the crunch there's 100 grand here... well, I'd take the lot in a heartbeat! It’s not personal, we’re all here to win at the end of the day.

If you succeed and walk away with a large amount of money, what do you plan on spending it on?
The majority, I think I will put away into a savings account, or something for my little boy, just knowing that's there if he needs anything in life. I don't want him to be spoiled; I want him to grow up and work hard but I want him to have security. I would also love to go away on our first family holiday. Maybe Disneyland Florida when he’s three or four, just when he can understand what's going on.