I was on Dragons’ Den – the BBC messed with the narrative and left us standing for three hours, filming was a total blur
A BUSINESSWOMAN who tried her luck on Dragons’ Den has accused producers of the BBC competition of “messing with the narrative” of her pitch and subsequent questioning.
Anna Brightman, 30, featured on the show alongside her brother William to pitch a range of beauty products.
They appeared on the show back in 2018, when the line-up of Dragons at the time included Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Souleyman, Tej Lalvani and Jenny Campbell.
However, Anna had some choice words about how producers edited her appearance when it aired on TV.
In their pitch, the brother-sister duo asked for a £50,000 investment into their beauty brand UpCircle, offering the investing Dragon 2% of the company in exchange.
They faced a setback initially when Peter Jones slammed the idea, however, they were able to turn things in the favour to secure a big investment.
While the pitch successfully obtained investment from Tej Lalvani and Touker Souleyman, watching the episode back left a sour taste in Anna’s mouth.
She told GB News: “When we filmed it the whole thing was such a blur. You’re filled with adrenaline, you come out of there and you go, ‘I don’t know what happened, what was said.’”
According to Anna, while participants remember parts of their pitch, they are left in the dark about what will make the final edit.
Anna added: “They definitely do mess with the narrative. There were snippets that were put in as answers to different questions. Huge portions of what happened are left out. It seems very strange looking back on it.”
Since her time on Dragons’ Den, Anna was featured in Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 list in 2021 – a list honouring a group of 30 businesspeople under 30 who are notable in their areas of expertise.
Meanwhile, UpCircle has continued its mission to maintain a zero-waste beauty range by using upcycled materials to produce their products.
It comes following another entrepreneur admitting he “threw his toys out of the pram” following a tense moment in the Den.