Hot, Hot, HOT Show: Dragons’ Den

Hot, Hot, HOT Show: Dragons’ Den by Roxanne McDonald

Between the firebrands needing financing and the five fire-breathing “dragons” testing before they invest, BBC’s “Dragons’ Den” is one sizzling reality TV show.

FOX Reality has outdone itself…again. It has brought a most engaging BBC reality TV show to American viewers—the John Hesling production, “Dragons’ Den.” The actual “dragons’ den” is a warehouse attic of minimalist decor, wherein sit (each at a simple cocktail table with a drink and a pile of pounds) the five dragons—Rachel Elnaugh, Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Simon Woodruff, and Doug Richard (or in other episodes, Theo Paphitis, Richard Farleigh, and/or Deborah Meaden)—

wealthy investors sitting for promotional pitches of designers. BBC’s appointed economics editor Evan Davis hosts, narrates, and conducts the exit interviews.

The necessary elements of the pitch are of course a marketable/market-worthy product, but also a convincing promotional presentation. Here’s where the personality dynamics and reality TV intrigue come in, for many of the pitch-men and –women are nervous, inept at selling their ideas, thin-skinned, or emotionally bankrupt.

One woman tries to get 125k pounds to back a recyclable cardboard seat/umbrella/table contraption that one can fold out, use at a concert or car race, then “toss in the bin”. But not only does the woman insist on the product’s capabilities as unrealistic (that, for instance, it is “completely wind-resistant) she is so defensive that by the time it is Rachel Elnaugh’s turn to shoot fire across the room, she just out and out tells the woman that she is unlikable and therefore unbackable. For most of the moguls, so is her product—which she leaves on the floor and which Peter Jones (I think, or Doug Richard) approaches, puts a single finger to, and pushes over.

The neophyte advertisers get dry-mouthed, stuttery, and near fainting. Or they get easily wounded and near tears. Or they forge on, ingratiate themselves, answer the quickfire questioning, and get investors.

Substantial products are undersold, and tacky items are overembellished, are, as Doug Richard says to one, “heroically” oversold. Here are some of the products pitched in the two shows I have had the absolute delight of being riveted by:
Dog de-smelling mat
Latex sleeve/boot for athletic shoe
Webbed paddle
Art for art’s sake (artist hoped for patronage)
Hair extension thingies as fashion accessories
Post-tat-removal scab healing system
Travel toy which answers “When are we going to get there?”

And while the dragons are delightfully British (save the California transplant, Richard)—their pronunciation of Standard English/Queen’s English delightfully melodic, they are not Simon Cowell replicants. They are intimidating, but as dismissive as they can be when a presenter is unappealing in his or her pitch they are all attentive, informational, and dignified. Dragons, but dignified dragons who allow, usually, the presenters to walk away without having their dignity torched…only maybe slightly scorched.

What an intelligent, classy, and interesting show (which boasts an equally engaging website (Dragons’ Den)…. So engrossing, so compelling, that this Seinfeld fiend actually switched off from Seinfeld to watch.

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