Dragons' Den reject now has an estimated worth of £96 million for board game franchise

A former Dragons' Den reject has proven that sometimes they get it wrong.

Back in 2005, Rachel Lowe stepping into the studio to go up before the host of intimidating billionaires in the hopes that she would secure a huge investment to take her venture to the next level.

At the time, she was looking for £75,000 to support her new board game that was based on being a black cab driver.

Rachel got the idea while working as a taxi driver when she was studying law at university.

However, despite already having a deal in place with toy giant Hamley's, as is often the case with the Dragons, none of them wanted any part of it, and refused to part with their cash.

Duncan Bannatyne absolutely slammed her plan, claiming that she would struggle to flog many units with little press interest around the launch.

BBC

And fellow Dragon Rachel Elnaugh agreed, saying she felt it was doomed, especially considering the fact her game would be up against the likes of Monopoly.

And not only were they not wanting to invest, they really weren't impressed with her pitch either.

"We can’t even have a basic business discussion," said US businessman Doug Richard.

"It doesn’t seem like you’ve prepared very well. You remind me of a lamb to the slaughter, in some ways."

But it looks like it's Rachel who has gone on to have the last laugh, as she's proven the doubters wrong and made an absolute fortune.

After the series aired, Hamley's went on to follow through with its deal and launched Destination London.

Rachel went on to capitalise on the game's success, releasing over 20 other versions of it.

Amazon

She's also gone on to expand her business, setting up Rachel Lowe Games & Puzzles, which creates board games and puzzles based on popular television series such as Mr Bean and Friday Night Dinner.

And in 2009, the thriving entrepreneur was awarded an MBE for her services to business.

Oh, and if that wasn't enough, as of 2021, she was said to be worth a cool £96 million.

But it's not the only time the Dragons have missed out on a big thing, though.

Take the time Peter Jones labelled a product ridiculous, which then went on to be a staple in UK stationery stores and rack in £1.2m in sales. Awkward.

Yep, Jones was pretty scathing of husband and wife team Neil and Laura Westwood’s pitch, branding it ‘almost ridiculous’ and adding ‘why would I use this?’.

But use it they did.

Topics: BBC, Deborah Meaden, TV and Film, Dragons Den

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom