The new Dragon shows his teeth! Steven Bartlett, 29, shuts down Touker Suleyman in ‘awkward’ clash over a £50,000 investment – a week after he took on veteran Peter Jones
- Steven Bartlett, 29, took on Touker Suleyman in last night’s Dragons’ Den
- Pair clashed after Suleyman offered to split an investment in a pet product firm
- Bartlett said he ‘didn’t need’ the veteran and his offer was ‘rejected’
- Comes a week after he took a swipe at longest-serving Dragon Peter Jones
Dragons’ Den’s fiery new fan favourite Steven Bartlett clashed with veteran Touker Suleyman in last night’s episode, a week after taking a swipe at Peter Jones.
Social media marketing CEO Steven, who at just 29 is the youngest Dragon the programme has ever seen, was praised by viewers after he went head-to-head with Suleyman, 68, while trying to invest in a pet accessories company.
Fashion retail entrepreneur Suleyman offered to split a £50,000 stake in Piddle Patch, a mobile dog toilet training product, but was interrupted by Bartlett who said: ‘Absolutely not. We don’t need you.’
The moment left viewers cringing, with one tweeting: ‘That wasn’t even remotely jovial that was just uncomfortable to watch.’
Fashion retail entrepreneur Suleyman offered to split a £50,000 stake in Piddle Patch, a mobile dog toilet training product, but was interrupted by Bartlett. Above, Touker’s reaction
Dragons’ Den’s fiery new fan favourite Steven Bartlett, pictured, clashed with veteran Touker Suleyman in last night’s episode, a week after taking a swipe at Peter Jones
Social media marketing CEO Steven was praised by viewers after he went head-to-head with Suleyman, 68, while trying to invest in a pet accessories company. Pictured, Rebecca, CEO of Piddle Patch, at the centre of the row
The moment left some viewers cringing but others enjoyed the conflict between them
Another posted: ‘Fantastic and great to see some heat in the den! Has Pablo got his Piddle Patch.’
A third wrote: ‘Absolutely loving Steve Bartlett on Dragon’s Den, what a breath of fresh air he is.
However others thought Steven was being ‘rude’ and noted there seemed to be no camaraderie between the two.
It hints at a wider feud between the two businessmen, which heats up later in the series.
Meanwhile a preview for an upcoming episode shows Bartlett and Suleyman getting into a fiery on-screen row, with the two men raising their voices at each other.
Last week Suleyman undercut Peter Jones, 55, in a negotiation and accused him of ‘sucking the blood’ out of a business.
Touker, Sara Davies, Deborah Meaden, Steven and Peter Jones on last night’s Dragons’ Den
Some said Steve was a breath of Fresh air for Dragon’s Den, but others said the heated exchange made them feel uncomfortable
Last night, Steven and Touker clashed over Piddle Patch, a fresh grass patch toilet for puppies and dogs.
Founder and CEO Rebecca explained the Piddle Patch could be used by owners wanting to toilet train their dogs, or by owners living in high-rise buildings who might find it difficult to take their pet up and down stairs to relieve itself.
She was initially seeking a £50,000 investment in return for a 10 per cent stake in her company.
The only Dragon not impressed by the idea was Peter, who thought the £32.50 product was overpriced and impractical because it did not provide the owner with an easy way to clean off ‘a really big poo’.
‘I’ve got to lift it all up?,’ he asked, incredulously. ‘I don’t think it’s practical because if you’re in that situation [where you’re in a high-rise], your dog is going to poo and not just wee, and then you’ve got a right old mess to clear up.’
Jones described the price tag as ‘crazy’, adding: ‘Basically, your invention, it costs more to manage what comes out of the dog than what goes in it.
‘Your market is so tiny, it’s people that love their pets too much and have more money than sense. But it’s not a business opportunity, so for that reason, I’m out.’
Last night’s clash hints at a wider feud between the two businessmen, which heats up later in the series. A preview of a later episode (pictured) reveals how the Dragons’ clash again
The pair get heated later in the series, with Bartlett raising his voice at Suleyman
However the remaining Dragons were interested in the business idea, particularly Bartlett, who lives in an apartment.
‘I completely understand this because I’ve got this problem. I’m the only Dragon here that lives on the top floor of an apartment with a balcony.
‘We take our dog out twice a day but that doesn’t stop my dog needing to go at 1am in the morning sometimes. I completely get it and I need one.’
Suleyman, who has recently bought a puppy, also liked the idea.
By the end of the negotiations, Bartlett, Suleyman, Deborah Meaden and Sara Davies were all ready to make offers to Rebecca.
Meaden said: ‘There’s lots I love about this. The sustainability side, that’s really what interests me because it drives me mad, the waste that goes on those [throwaway] training mats.’
Steven was praised after his ‘ruthless undercut’ of Peter Jones – who asked for a huge 20 per cent of a business described as ‘Vivino for cheese’ on last week’s episode
Meaden offered all of the money for 30 per cent of the business, Bartlett offered her £50,000 for 25 per cent of her business, while Suleyman offered £50,000 for 25 per cent.
Davies eventually lowered her offer from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, to match the remaining Dragons.
Trying to strike a deal, Suleyman offered to split the investment with Bartlett, who had impressed Rebecca with his promises of marketing the product on social media.
‘If Steven wants to share marketing the product,’ he started saying, but Steven interrupted, pointing at Suleyman and hitting back: ‘Absolutely not. We don’t need you.’
Dragon’s Den’s latest entrepreneur Steven Bartlett, 29, is the founder and former CEO of The Social Chain, a social media marketing agency and the BBC One show’s youngest ever Dragon
It prompted Suleyman to raise his hand and say ‘fine, I will detract that’.
Determined to get the last word, Bartlett added: ‘It was declined’.
Last week Steven accused Peter, 55, of ‘sucking the blood’ out of the business after he offered to invest £150,000 in a cheese app company for a whopping 20 per cent share, before jumping in himself with a ‘fair’ deal of 7.5 per cent.
The social media entrepreneur also clashed with fashion retail guru Touker, who is thought to be worth £200million in a series of clips previewing what viewers could expect from the 19th series of the show.
The heated exchange saw Touker ask: ‘What do you know about business?’ to which Steven responded: ‘I’ve built a £300 million pound business at 28 years old.’
Dragon’s Den’s new entrepreneur, Steven Bartlett, 29, reveals how he went from being a ‘broke, lonely drop-out from a bankrupt family’ – who tried and failed to pitch on the show at 18 – to amassing a £300M fortune
The new series of Dragon’s Den welcomed its youngest ever dragon – a millionaire yet to hit 30, who’s written books on how to find success in life and love – when it returned to screens on BBC One last week.
Steven Bartlett, 29, joined Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies on the panel of the business reality show, which sees entrepreneurs decide whether to invest or not in ideas pitched to them.
His place in the lair is a far cry from his first brush with the programme, shortly after he dropped out of university ten years ago, when he applied to pitch to the dragons but was turned down.
Describing how he feared he’d never make a success of his life after quitting his course at Manchester Metropolitan University, Bartlett, who’s currently single, wrote in his book Happy Sexy Millionaire, which was published earlier this year, that at the time he was a ‘broke, lonely, insecure university drop-out from a bankrupt family.’
Steven Bartlett, 29, will replace Tej Lalvani on the latest series of Dragon’s Den, which is back on screens on January 6th; the CEO of social media marketing agency The Social Chain is worth £300 million
The businessman, who admits he felt like a ‘broke, lonely drop-out’ after quitting university aged 18 will join, from left, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies, Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones on the latest series
Bartlett, now CEO of social media marketing agency The Social Chain – currently valued at £300million – was officially be anointed as a new dragon when the new series aired on January 6th.
Tweeting last week, Bartlett, who set up his company from his Manchester bedroom after dropping out of university at 22, wrote: ‘10 years ago at 18 years old, I applied to pitch to the Dragons. 10 years later at 28 years old I have the honour of sitting amongst them.’
The young entrepreneur, born in Botswana and brought up in Plymouth, has replaced Tej Lalvani, 46, on the show. After quitting university, he started Wallpark, a platform for students before setting up Social Chain and Media Chain – brands that have worked with names including Apple, Amazon and Coca-Cola.
Ahead of filming, he told BBC Radio 1Xtra’s If You Don’t Know podcast, that he was determined to join the panel as there ‘has not been a young, black man on the show’ and he wanted to be a role model for others.
He said: ‘Much of the reason for me wanting to be a Dragon and wanting to do the show is because I know the show is a big platform and I am not represented on that show as an entrepreneur. There’s not been a young, black man on that show.
‘I feel like I have a responsibility to do this because it will show 12-year-old Steve, or other 12 year old Steve’s, that they too can be business people.
The new series sees the young businessman unafraid to voice his opinions, leading co-dragon Touker Suleyman to ask ‘what do you know about business?’
The new dragon pictured during filming of the latest series – the 19th – of Dragon’s Den
Read all about it: Steven is also driven by a desire to appeal to the ‘underrepresented’ and encourage and enable people to thrive in the business world
‘To see someone like me on the show as well that’s not going to wear a suit, and that is into all the same things you’re into – like hip-hop music, jollof rice, Manchester United and whatever else it is – I think is an enabler.
‘Because role models are most powerful when you can relate to the path they’ve walked.
Steven is also driven by a desire to appeal to the ‘underrepresented’ and encourage and enable people to thrive in the business world.
He said: ‘If you type in “CEO” on Google, what you see is white men in suits. I’m not against white men in suits, but I am against leaving talent off the field because they don’t feel included.
‘And so by being a black man in a snapback, I will appeal to other black men, and women, in snapbacks. Or anybody that comes from an underrepresented background, and I will let them know that they can sit at the table.
Inspiring: Speaking on BBC Radio 1Xtra’s If You Don’t Know podcast, Botswana-born Steven said he was determined to join the panel as there ‘has not been a young, black man on the show’ and he wanted to be a role model for others
Bartlett, pictured on This Morning earlier this year, says his success is down to a positive confidence cycle – where trying something new propels you to keep going. He said: ‘What’s happened with me since I was very young, is my self belief has compounded positively upwards. I tried something, “omg I did it, and didn’t die! I’m gonna try something else”.
‘That’s why I felt a sense of responsibility. It felt like this wasn’t really about me, it was about enabling a lot of people like me.
‘You don’t have to wear a suit, you don’t have to pretend to be someone else, you can just be yourself and sit there.
‘I’ve never worn a suit in business. There’s not been a day at Social Chain where I wore a suit, not one day in almost a decade, where I went to a meeting, a pitch, to meet an investor, where I wore a suit.
‘So why would I then change for TV? I’m trying to represent the real modern world of business and the real world of entrepreneurs and that’s not suited and booted for the majority.
‘It’s the internet, social media, it’s wearing whatever you want. Right now it’s like working at home. Imagining going on Dragon’s Den wearing a suit when 80% of the world are remote working in their boxer shorts.’
Discussing his age and going onto the panel alongside fellow older multi-millionaires Touker Suleyman, 67, Sara Davies, 37, Deborah Meaden, 62, and Peter Jones, 55, he said: ‘The other thing with going on that show, especially with the age component, is to feel “happy to be here”.
‘There is such a thing as respecting an opportunity more than you respect yourself. People do that when they get jobs and they don’t speak up, or they just want to blend in.
Goodbye: Former dragon Tej Lalvani announced in January that he would not be returning for the show’s 19th season and stepped away from the Den following a four-year stint. Right: the young pretender; Steven Bartlett will take his place in the 19th series
‘It’s like “happy to be here syndrome” – where you never saw yourself this high, so you’re just trying to hold on to it. Whereas if you saw yourself higher, when you get there you’re still striving, you don’t feel like you’ve punched above your weight.
‘You can have “happy to be here syndrome” where you just wanna, you don’t wanna do anything that might risk the position you’ve reached. And you’re just holding on thinking “oh my god I can’t believe I’m here”.
‘And that comes from the immigrant mindset and also, me not seeing another Dragon like me on the show, is going to give me a bit of “happy to be here syndrome”. And I know that I’ve got to counteract that.
Steven also gave his tips for succeeding in business, citing the importance of ‘quitting’ before taking a leap of faith.
Dragons’ Den has been delivering high-stakes TV drama since 2005 and for its 18th series moved from BBC2 to BBC1
He said: ‘Everyone glamourises starting… but you usually have to quit something before you start. The quitting part is actually the really hard part. Letting go of the branch and falling is much harder than grabbing on to a branch for me.
‘People don’t talk about the art of quitting and how pivotal that will be, probably even more important for you to become a success.
‘Everyone says this in my DMs. It’s like “I just don’t know where to start”. And the truth is, that is a mental Mount Everest that we choose to put in front of ourselves. Today, instead of trying to move Mount Everest, pick up one stone and move it out the way. Think of the name of your business today.
‘There’s not a perfect place to start – in fact when you’re starting a business you have a list of 100 things that need to be done now. When you’re starting you have name, website, etc… all at the same time. So just pick one of them and make a start on that today. That is the truth. You just need to start.’
‘What’s happened with me since I was very young, is my self belief has compounded positively upwards. I tried something, “omg I did it, and didn’t die! I’m gonna try something else”. And when you get in that positive confidence cycle… then you get to a point where you start to believe there’s not many things you can’t do.
‘Not taking life too seriously is one of the most important coping mechanisms anyone can have when you go into a high, intense, chaotic situation.
The BBC show sees budding entrepreneurs given three minutes to pitch their ideas to five multi-millionaires in the hope of securing financial backing.
This year Steven released a book titled Happy Sexy Millionaire and he also hosts a podcast called The Diary Of A CEO. Steven said he is ‘honoured’ to be appearing on a show he has watched since he was just 12, Metro reports.
Tej announced in January that he would not be returning for the show’s 19th season, and would be stepping away after four years on board.
Tej, who serves as CEO of the UK’s largest vitamin company Vitabiotics and has an estimated net worth of £390million according to the Sunday Times Rich List, joined the show in 2017.
He said of his decision: ‘I’m truly excited for the upcoming series of Dragons’ Den, which looks set to be one of the best.
‘However after an incredibly enjoyable four years as a Dragon I have decided that this next series will be my last.
‘My commitment to the international growth and expansion of my core business and the numerous investments over the years sadly means I will be unable to dedicate the necessary time moving forward.’
Dragons’ Den has been delivering high-stakes TV drama since 2005 and for its 18th series moved from BBC2 to BBC1.
The last series was filmed in 2020 after the introduction of fresh guidelines allowing TV production to resume during the pandemic.
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