Dragons’ Den fans cringe at ‘painfully uncomfortable’ pitch as entrepreneur ARGUES with Peter Jones
DRAGONS’ Den fans have been left cringing at a “painfully uncomfortable” pitch in the boardroom.
A hopeful was seen ARGUING with Peter Jones after failing to come up with the correct numbers about his business.
Richard Johnson headed to the boardroom to pitch his street food awards business to the five dragons.
The former journalist revealed he had started up the Street Food Awards – across the UK, Europe and America.
As well as writing a book about street food, Richard had taken part in BBC food show Kill It, Cook It, Eat It.
However, he was looking for a Dragon to help him out with sponsorship contacts after suffering through the pandemic.
As he explained his business to the Dragons, they were initially impressed with his street food initiative.
However, things quickly went downhill when Richard was asked to break down the numbers for Peter, 56.
The businessman started to flail, and admitted he had initially got the numbers wrong during his explanation.
“How much money has the awards businesses generated?” Peter asked, to which Richard replied: “In 2020, the turnover was £367,000.”
“And the gross profit on that?” Peter pushed, to which Richard stumbled: “Um, £200,000 – uh, it’s £210,000 net profit.
“Sorry, I’d only learnt the net profit. My brain doesn’t work very well with…” before he was interrupted by Peter.
“What, with numbers?” the Dragon scathed, to which Richard hit back: “No, it works very well with numbers but not in a particular order so I’m just trying…”
After revealing they faced huge losses during the Coronavirus pandemic, Peter said: “I get what the pandemic did, but I’m trying to get a handle of what you’ve got now.”
The pair continued to battle it out further as Richard was quizzed by Sara Davies on the “plan” for his business.
“I’m trying to work out if you’ve got a business, and I’m trying to work out, what is the business?” Peter hit out.
“Richard, this is painful,” he went on, to which Richard argued: “If you don’t get that street food is exciting, and if you don’t get it…”
“No, what I don’t get is your business,” Peter concluded, before opting out, saying: “Richard, I think that this is awful.
“From a business perspective, you have not got a clue.”
Fans at home were left cringing at the scenes, and took to Twitter to bash the pitch as “painfully uncomfortable”.
“This has got to be one of the worst pitches ever,” one wrote, as another said: “This is so painful to watch.”
“He’s not even sure of what he’s asking for,” a third said, while a fourth added: “This pitch is very uncomfortable.”
Dragons’ Den continues next Thursday at 8pm on BBC One