Dragons Den Review and Duncan Bannatyne

So we were introduced to a new series of the popular bbc “business” programme dragons den last night but the wife and I were more intrigued on what has happened to Duncan Bannatyne’s hair….

The Dragons Den programme now in its 7th series here in the UK followed the same format we have come used to except for new opening credits with all the dragons lining up against an old factory looking as though they are about to be shot. So we found out how successful these people are now (although we don’t know how they are doing in the recession) and then it was on with the programme with Ewan reading and dubbing on his script to the programme with annoying music and cuts to people nodding filling the programme.

If you have watched it before like us we do already know the following:

- yes, we know that under the rules of the den the person asking for the money needs the full amount or they go away with nothing (although I wonder if some of the participants got deals afterwards in any case ?)

- yes, we know that hardly anyone going into the den knows their sales, profits and margins for the past and into the future

- yes, we know it’s a made for tv programme so there may be some not to be taken so seriously people on the programme and others just there for some publicity (although that has done wonders for a certain Chinese Girl who sells car leasing on her website….)

So we sat through the first presentation for an inventor who wanted some of his ideas to become reality and looking at them I guess the BBC cut the good bits because he had this great chimney pot that churned out electricity from the wind for free – enough to power everything in the house and yet no one looked at that so be prepared to see something similar in the shops very soon. He got his money and it was an investment in the person himself (and yet what business is not about people) ? so well done James Caan who seems to have given up his recruitment activities and now manages an investment fund.

Next was someone who had low carbon patio heaters – my wife thought this was a great idea although the prices he was suggesting seems a little high. In the cold of winter and in the smoking shelters most people use gas powered heaters where most of the heat simply disappears into the sky and these gadgets had lights built in as well. The guy had a great product but was not willing to give away too much. The dragons wanted 49% of his company but he only wanted to give out 35% — trouble is if I had a business where well known entrepreneurs had a half I would rather have the other half of something worth say £10 million that 100% of nothing. I bet someone will copy the idea and he won’t have the marketing muscle to compete.

But there was something else going on in the programme which caught our eyes and we couldn’t quite work it out and that was Duncan Bannatyne’s hair line which seems to have changed somewhat.

Going onto Google images search reveals the original image on the left from a few years ago… which is the picture of Duncan B that we all know from Dragon’s Den…. then searching onwards brought us the current picture that you can see below…

The old Duncan was maturing gracefully and now the new Duncan seems to have had some magic  taken place.

Nothing was mentioned on the programme but it made for interesting viewing !

Posted in Business | 3 Comments »

3 Comments - have your say

1. Duane Jackson Says:

   I noticed the hair too – very distracting. You might want to spell his surname properly though!

   I was also surprised at the lack of comment about the chimney stack. It was the obvious one of the many inventions that seemed to have some merit.

2. peter Says:

   Thanks Duane – changed the spelling – duh !

   I finished watching the programme last night to see the call minder invention – great idea but £97 seems a tad over priced (and as they said as it’s not integrated it’s just another gadget cluttering up next to the phone, wireless router, broadband hub….)

3. David Morson Says:

   I had also noticed the some change in the hair but I was not sure that it may be my doubt but it turned into reality when I visited a site modelsdir.com found a real change in his previous and latest pictures.

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