Deborah wasn’t impressed! (Picture: BBC)
Deborah Meaden brutally hit back at a Dragons’ Den hopeful who failed to answer her questions after being distracted by two of the other investors.
Deborah joined fellow Dragons Touker Suleyman, Steven Bartlett, Sara Davies and Peter Jones as they returned to the Den for a 20th series.
First to pitch, entrepreneur Lucy brought forward her company Taboo, introducing the Dragons to a durable pill case designed for people who need to take medication frequently.
And while she overcame her nerves to face grillings from all five potential investors, she didn’t quite impress Deborah by failing to give her enough of her attention.
‘Can you concentrate on me please,’ Deborah first asked Lucy, after the hopeful turned to Touker before answering a question.
In response to Deborah asking how much her pill cases cost to manufacture, Lucy turned to Touker and said: ‘I’m going to very quickly Touker, if I may, jump in, because I think you’re going to come to me and say, “I could have made that in a factory for 75p”, and I’m going to say, “Fair enough”.’
Touker had a personal link to Lucy’s product (Picture: BBC)
But as Touker interrupted, Deborah turned the room back to her, saying: ‘Go back to Touker in a minute but as of now I shall follow my line of questioning.’
Answering the next question, Lucy continued: ‘I’ll have hopefully sorted out manufacturing with my good friend Touker here or any of you, and the margins will become a little bit better.’
Then, as Steven and Peter giggled away, Deborah asked the next question, but Lucy, spotting the smirks, turned to Peter and winked.
Lucy was called out for winking at Peter (Picture: BBC)
It seemed to be the last straw for Deborah, who savagely remarked: ‘It would be really helpful if you concentrated on me rather than winking at Peter and answering Touker’s questions.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Lucy gushed as Sara grimaced.
Shortly after, Touker shared his personal link with Lucy’s product, discussing his previous health battles.
‘I am that customer fortunately,’ he told Lucy, continuing: ‘I had a bad illness a few years ago so I’m on blood thinners, hydrocortisone, cholesterol, you name it I take it.’
‘But I’m healthy thank god,’ he added.
Dragons’ Den continues on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.