A Dragon's Den star has claimed she felt the editing of the BBC series is too “harsh” and that some of her conversations were taken out of context.
Anna Brightman and her brother William appeared on the show in 2019 and asked for a £50,000 investment in exchange for two per cent of their company UpCircle – formerly known as Opitat.
Touker Souleyman and Tej Lalvani were left both investing in the company after a gruelling three-hour pitch, but the brother and sister duo later decided to pull out of the investment.
Previously, the show has been slammed by former stars with some claiming that the Dragons’ were unfair and a little harsh in the comments they were giving the budding entrepreneurs.
Brightman recently admitted that whilst she thought that the Dragons’ were sometimes “harsh” with their comments, business owners should be aware of what they were walking into.
Speaking to GB News about having an issue with the way the episode was edited, she explained: “I feel like they are harsh, you know what you are walking into. You sign up for it.
Anna admitted that some of what they were saying was taken out of context in editing
BBC
“I think it would be very rare and naïve to go on the show without doing any research at all or at least watching the programme.
“What I found is, it is TV, so you can’t control the narrative that is spun, as I mentioned you are in there for hours, and that is a big fear for me.
“When we filmed it the whole thing was such a blur, you’re filled with adrenaline, you come out of there and you go I don’t know what happened, what was said.
“You remember certain bits but you don’t know what crop they are going to make and they definitely do mess with the narrative.
Anna noted that business owners should be prepared for 'harsh' comments
BBC
“There were snippets that were put in answers to different questions and when huge portions of what happened are left out it seems very strange looking back on it when you see the 15-minute edit and it doesn’t feel like they happened.
“Of course all of them things factually happened – but they are building a narrative,” before explaining that the Dragon’s start off lovely and then they “dip into relentless criticism”.
Brightman then explained the turn of events when the Dragons “all of a sudden” admit they love the brand and start offering different investments.
“You think well hold on a minute you hated everything we were doing a minute ago but then if you look at it from the Dragon's perspective they are competing with each other.
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Anna noted that the editing of the show was misleading
BBC
“So I think there is a bit of psychology going on with the other dragons. So that is a big element of it as well.”
Despite turning down the investment, Brightman has gone on to be names in Forbes 30 Under 30, with the company launching in 600 stores in America.