Entertainment
Descendant of Tarmac inventor fails to impress Dragons’ Den investors with product ‘that looks like it came from Frankenstein’s workshop’-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro
Touker compared the product to something out of Frankenstein’s workshop.
Rupert didn’t find success in the Den (Picture: BBC)
The great-grandson of the man who invented Tarmac failed to impress Dragons’ Den investors Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Peter Jones, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett, despite high hopes.
Entrepreneur Rupert Cattell entered the Den with his invention, a ‘machine that does an existing exercise in a completely different way’: the road rower.
The machine, a rowing machine by look, actually worked like a bicycle, designed to help people get around while exercising.
Demonstrating how it works, Rupert showcased his machine – but the Dragons’ still weren’t too impressed, although Steven had a go at the exercise himself.
After Rupert showed his passion for the project, he then revealed where his entrepreneur-side actually came from.
‘So what makes you an inventor?’ Touker began, to which Peter replied: ‘So I’ve been an entrepreneur for 40 years.
Despite thinking it could be fun, Steven declined investing (Picture: BBC Studios)
Rupert has been an entrepreneur for four decades (Picture: BBC)
‘Is it genetic? My great-grandfather was a guy called Edgar Hooley, who invented tarmac.’
‘Oh right,’ an impressed Touker replied.
Touker Suleyman savagely called it something out of ‘Frankenstein’s workshop’ (Picture: BBC)
Rupert went on to explain his background, from a solicitor to selling nurseries, however, after hearing about his great-grandfather, Deborah quizzed the hopeful on why exactly he was looking for an investment.
‘Because I want you,’ Rupert praised, but his candidness didn’t win him any favours.
‘It’s really inconvenient and clunky,’ Steven commented, although he admitted he’d be keen to use the machine for entertainment.
Peter Jones was more impressed about Rupert’s family history (Picture: BBC)
It wasn’t long before Peter turned back to Rupert’s family history, asking him: ‘Your grandfather invented Tarmac, that’s wow… did he monetize that? Is he a billionaire?’
‘No, he ran out of money,’ Rupert replied, leaving Peter stunned.
‘Where he went wrong is he put all of that money into a glove factory,’ but before side-stepping Peter’s next comment: ‘Is there anything that gives you a little bit of lessons of the past that you can bring into the current, in other words, he lost all his money…’
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‘I believe in this, I think it’s really good fun and it’s a great product,’ Rupert said, as one by one all the investors pulled out.
As Touker became the last to say no, he commented: ‘Personally, I think it looks like something coming out of a Frankenstein’s workshop.’
Dragons’ Den airs on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One.
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