EXCLUSIVE: Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden has opened up about initially rejecting the BBC business show three times before becoming one of its longest-serving Dragons over 20 years
She’s been investing her millions in Dragons’ Den entrepreneurs for 20 years, but Deborah Meaden initially turned down the hit BBC business series – three times.
Deborah, who is worth an estimated £40million, joined Dragons’ Den back in 2006 replacing Rachel Elnaugh, who took part in the first two series.
“I keep thinking I’m not old enough to have been on Dragons’ Den for 20 years,” says Deborah, 67. “People say to me, ‘I used to watch you when I was a little boy!’”
Initially, Deborah feared being famous. She says, “I’d seen the first two series and I loved it, but when they asked me, I turned it down, three times. I thought, ‘No, thank you very much. I’ve built a very nice life and it’s private.’”
“I was worried about that. But a brilliant producer called Helen Buller convinced me it was the right thing to do. Thank goodness she did because I absolutely love it. But, honestly, I thought, ‘I’ll do it for a couple of years and then move on.’ And here I am, 20 years later, still loving it.”
Over the past two decades, Deborah has found that fame has its upsides. “It’s a very interesting kind of fame,” she says. “It’s not based on the way you look, the way you sing, the way you dance, it’s based on business. It’s fame that is for people who are interested in business, so usually they come up and say, ‘Oh, I’ve got an idea,’ or ‘I’ve been watching you since I was a child,’ so it’s the kind of fame I like. They want to chat to you about something that you really care about.”
Deborah loves to travel, and even gets recognised in remote locations on the other side of the world. “I was in north-west Australia, which is about as remote as anything,” explains Deborah. “We’d just driven the Gibb River Road, parked the car and walked into a tiny little airport and I could see this woman looking at me and she came up and said, ‘You look ever so like that woman off Dragons’ Den,’ in her broad Australian accent. And I nearly got away with it, but I then said, ‘Oh, do I?’ And as soon as I spoke, she said, ‘You are that woman off Dragons’ Den!’
“There is literally nowhere in the world that I can go. But I don’t mind, it’s a very nice kind of fame. It’s people who just want to talk about their business or their ideas or opportunities and that’s great.”
Having appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, The Great British Bake Off, Celebrity Gogglebox, The Crystal Maze and Taskmaster, it’s fair to say that Deborah has embraced fame. Next up, she’d like a go at The Celebrity Traitors. “Oh, I’d quite like to do that,” smiles Deborah. “I’d love it. Strictly was amazing, Bake Off was amazing… but Traitors is definitely, definitely on my list.”
In the first series of The Celebrity Traitors UK, 19 stars took part, with 16 Faithfuls and three Traitors. Host Claudia Winkleman made comedian Alan Carr a Traitor and when the Faithfuls failed to banish him, he won. But after watching the first series, Deborah has decided she’d prefer to be a Faithful rather than a Traitor.
“Alan Carr must have felt so bad, I don’t want to do that,” she says.
In the new series of Dragons’ Den, there are two more female Dragons. Beauty entrepreneurs Susie Ma and Jenna Meek return to the show, having previously appeared as guest Dragons.
Susie, 37, originally found fame on The Apprentice and then launched her Tropic Skincare business, and Jenna, 33, co-founded the REFY cosmetics brand in 2020. It’s the first time there have been three women in the Den, and Deborah loved it.
“First of all, I love guest Dragons because they change the dynamic,” she says. “If you sit for a long time with the same group of people, you know what they’re going to say and you can guess what they’re going to offer, but you put new people in there and suddenly everybody lifts their game. Jenna and Susie have got business experience in spades because they have built their businesses from scratch. I’ve learned a lot. It’s really good to have people who are experts in their field and to have three women in the Den.”
This series, regulars Peter Jones, 60, and Steven Bartlett, 33, complete the current line-up, and Touker Suleyman, 73, who announced in June he was leaving the show, appears in his final episodes. In episode one, Peter and Stephen team up against the three women with a counteroffer. “I saw them in that first episode, they felt it,” says Deborah. “They felt like they had to come together to try and compete. I like Susie and Jenna. They’re good.”
In the opening episode, hopeful entrepreneurs present their pitches for things such as traditional sweet stores, powdered shampoos, spice blends and travel solutions, adding some flair to their presentations by dressing up and using props.
For Deborah, this series is one of the best. “I say it gets better every year, but it does,” she smiles. “I’m never going to just sit there. I’m not interested in being ‘famous’. I’m not interested in being on television for the sake of it. What I am interested in is the fact that Dragons’ Den manages to find some amazing entrepreneurs, whether they’re good, bad, crazy or off the planet. It’s ideas and creativity and energy and I will sit down in that chair and as long as I still get that feeling – I love it.”
Dragons’ Den, Thursday 20 August, 8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
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