Dragons' Den entrepreneur who was ‘humiliated’ by Dragons went on to make millions off business idea
Not everyone gets an investment but some still go on to be a roaring success.
An entrepreneur who went onto Dragons' Den in the hopes of securing funding for his dog poop scoop claimed he was 'humiliated' by the investors during his time on the show.
Back in 2017, John Nicholls appeared on the show to try and get £45,000 of funding for a 15 percent stake in HandiScoop, which he said was 'the world's best poop scoop'.
However, he claimed that when he stepped out of the room with no investment Dragons' Den host Evan Davis said he thought 'they were quite hard on you', though John said he didn't regret going on the show.
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In an interview with The Sun, he said that when things went against you on the show 'the Dragons hunt like a pack' and you really feel like it's 'five of them versus one of you'.
In particular, he called out long-time Dragons' Den investor Peter Jones, claiming that the businessman's behaviour put him off during his pitch which he said didn't go so well as he was 'very nervous'.
"When you're pitching he's messing around with things and it's almost like he's trying to put you off, which can be quite intimidating," John claimed of trying to pitch his poop scoop to Jones.
"He had his hands in his face, he rolled his eyes and while everyone else was taking notes he was playing with a sample."
During the episode, Jones told him he was 'trying to wing an investment' while Touker Suleyman called him 'uninvestable'.
In the end, John left Dragons' Den with none of the investment money he'd been looking for, but has since gone on to enjoy success with his HandiScoop product racking up £1.74 million in sales and him shifting over 100,000 of the things.
The poop scoop basically allows you to pick up your pet's droppings and deposit them in a bag without having to put your hands onto the faeces themselves.
John also claimed that there were two exchanges between himself and Jones which apparently didn't make it into the episode.
"He had a bit of a go at me. When I was struggling to remember something, I said ‘I’m sorry but I’m dyslexic’ and he said, ‘So am I', John claimed of one of the interactions.
"Then he had another go and started criticising me. I was explaining how useful my device would be if you had to pick up sloppy poo." he also claimed.
"I asked him how he would scoop it up with a normal bag, which can be messy and not pick it all up, and he shouted, ‘I’d just leave it’.
"I was surprised by his response, he was very aggressive. You don’t think that’s going to happen when you go to pitch.
"It made me realise he would be the last person in the world I would want to be in business with."
Fortunately for John, he's joined the ranks of entrepreneurs who walked away from Dragons' Den empty-handed and still made a success of it.
LADbible have contacted Peter Jones' representatives for comment.
Topics: Dragons Den, TV and Film, Business, Money, Animals
Joe Harker