its a mdf core i would say best to prime and paint it will work if you can can get the shell all the way off

So long as you can remove every stick of the foil, you should be able to make this work. In chemistry, they can make anything stick to anything else...with the RIGHT PRODUCT. The floil is peeling which means there was a proble with adhesion somewhere along the line. You will want to make sure this is corrected with the right primer (primers are a form of "binder" that isolate two different types of chemcials AND allows the two to stick to the primer).

With trial and error, you should be able to find the RIGHT binder/primer. If s/he doesn't take the time to test, test, test, you could end up wth a very very big mess.