Tensions were running high in the BBC’s Dragons’ Den studio after Dragons Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman ended up trading verbal blows whilst fighting over a contestant’s business.
Entrepreneur Jack Niber, the CEO of sugar-free company PureSweet, came into the BBC Den on Thursday night (27 May) asking for £75,000 from the panel in return for a 5% stake in his business.
His main product is PureSweet Zero – which is a natural sweetener that “looks and tastes like sugar but has zero calories and harbours no bittersweet aftertaste like many other sweeteners do”.
Despite admitting he was nervous, the contestant managed to impress the Dragons with his numbers after telling them his company has turned an over £1.5 million profit and is on course to turn a whopping £1.4 million over this year alone.
But when Dragons Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman both expressed interest in taking a part of Jack’s business – things got rather heated between the two investors in the studio with Peter savagely shutting Touker down.
(Image: BBC)
Making his case to Jack, Touker had said he could “definitely help” the entrepreneur, saying he has distributors all over the world, and that he has accounts open “everywhere” including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda.
The investor was feeling confident as he offered him all of the money for a 10% stake in the sugar-free business – claiming he has a “little black book” with accounts open in “all the retailers”.
But Peter Jones, who helped propelled Reggae Reggae Sauce into stardom on the show back in 2007, wasn’t having any of it and proceeded to cut his fellow investor off sharply by asking: “What food brands have you got in retail?”
Touker, who is a titan fashion retail entrepreneur, was clearly taken aback with Peter, replying: “Peter, with all due respect, if you’re a shrewd businessman you can adapt to any…” before waving his hand in the air in protest, saying” I disagree with you”.
(Image: BBC)
With Touker sitting back in his chair, Peter continued his pitch to Jack saying: “When it comes to food [business] across a wide range, nobody has done more [than him].”
Touker said: “I think we can all do that. I’ve got an amazing team that support all my investments.”
Peter then made a food-retailer jibe at Touker’s pitch, saying: “And all I’d say Jack, in the time that it took Touker to say that I would have got you into Sainsbury’s”.
(Image: BBC)
Admitting that Peter Jones is his favourite Dragon, the entrepreneur managed to bag himself two Dragons like he wanted when Peter Jones said he was “very happy” to make a 50/50 split with fellow Dragon Tej – with each of them getting 5% of the sweets business each.
Peter added that he “believes” in the brand and thinks the business “will be very very successful”.
Jack left the Den with £75,000 – all the money he was asking for – and his two new Dragon partners – Peter and Tej Lalvani.
It has also been reported that 28-year-old social media marketing star Steven Bartlett will be joining the BBC business Den for next year’s series which starts filming this summer – making him the youngest Dragon in history.
Dragons’ Den airs on Thursday nights at 8pm.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
