Dragons’ Den contestant hits out at show’s ‘annoying edit’ after causing chaos with DNA personalised protein shake

A Dragons’ Den contestant caused a commotion on Thursday’s show, after pitching his genetically personalised nutrition shake – and he wasn’t too happy about how the encounter looked in the show’s edit either. 

Entrepreneur Jeremy Poland from Nutri-Genetix (NGX) made a big impression in the den with his unique business proposition and attracted the interested of the dragons, but was unhappy with how one telling comment was portrayed on the programme.

Jeremy went on the programme in a bid to secure £50,000 for a 2.5% share in his business, from Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Souleyman,Tej Lalvani and Sara Davies.

His personalised business model involved customers taking a DNA swab test to better understand their metabolism, and tailor their shakes depending on their nutritional debilitations.

While he wanted to impress all the dragons, it was Vitabiotics CEO Tej Levani who Jeremy particularly had his eye on.

While the pitch went down well, things didn’t get off to the best of starts, with Deborah spilling her shake all over the floor of the den.

Things then took an unexpected twist when Sarah Davis said of the product, in no uncertain terms: ‘It tastes bloody awful.’ 

However, there could be more to the comment than meets the eye.

Explaining what happened on the day, Jeremy told Metro.co.uk: ‘She basically had a taste of it and said that comment, but added that she “never liked the taste of’ protein shakes”. That’s really annoying actually that they cut that out.’

Speaking about Sara’s comment, Jeremy added: ‘Obviously, you don’t want someone to say that, because it’s on national television. But I think that it tastes good.’

He added: ‘The quality of our products versus others that we have tested do taste very good. We’ve got very good feedback from it.’

After Sara declared herself uninterested in the product, Tej quizzed Jeremy on his market research. Despite the fact that he pushed him on the details pretty hard, Jeremy had been expecting a tougher ride. 

‘I was actually expecting more from Tej. I was expecting him to really challenge some of the science. I feel like he probably had a conflict of interest or something, because he didn’t really interrogate me as much as I thought he would.’

Despite their exchange, Tej then declared himself out. After pinning his initial hopes on the dragon, Jeremy admits he was ‘disappointed he didn’t engage a bit more’.

‘I didn’t necessarily think the chance had gone, but it was, it was a bit deflating. Because I think he probably had a conflict of interest for me.’

There were two dragons, though, that did believe in the product. After first offering a 2.5% stake in the business to prospective investors, Jeremy walked away with both Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman on board in exchange for 15% after securing a good deal.

Speaking about his experiences on the show, Jeremy said: ‘I had the pitch so clear in my mind. Because everything had been really chaotic, it was relaxing actually because there was nothing more to do. It was like almost walking into the eye of the storm.’

It comes after last week’s emotional episode, which saw one entrepreneur break down in tears as she revealed she lost her brother just days before the first lockdown in March 2020.

Sharon Keegan entered the den in a bid to secure £100,000 for an 11% share in her business, but struggled to hold back the tears after explaining her story.

Dragons’ Den airs on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE : Dragons’ Den hopeful breaks down in tears as she reveals brother died before lockdown

MORE : Dragons’ Den hopeful bursts into tears after Sara Davies offers investment in emotional scenes