Dragons Den and the curious incident of the bed sheet in the night time

Series 6 of Dragons’ Den kicked off last night on BBC2. The usual eclectic selection of wannabe entrepreneur’s turned up and didn’t disappoint in making 60 minutes of decent entertainment. The multi-millionaire investors were there in all their smug glory, ready with their well rehearsed put downs and witticisms.

Among the contenders in this weeks show:

• A band looking for funding for their next album (which they got)
• An events company run by a really young team that I was delighted to see getting funded
• A company with a machine that manufacturers water out of air which, apparantly, tasted disguting. They didn’t get funding. There is a place in sales person hell for the guy making the pitch though. He was straight out of the “hammer them until they submit” school of sales. His background? Selling vacuum cleaners door to door and, ice to eskimos I wouldn’t wonder.

But then we had what surely must be one of THE most lunatic ideas ever. A look at the graphic above will give you a clue. The pitch was conducted by a couple in a bed, peeking their heads over a duvet.

Their idea? Produce a bed sheet with a “layline” down the middle. According to these two inventors, the most challenging aspect of any relationship where two people share a bed is body creep. The mark on the sheet would indicate the point of no return. If an arse cheek were so much to stray across this line, you’d have proof your partner was encroaching on your territory. Marital and bedtime bliss would be just a bedsheet away, if only the investors shared their vision. Needless to say they didn’t and sanity prevailed. Those Dragons sure do know a thing or two.

More mad ideas are guaranteed to come over the next few weeks. It’s as good as it gets when it comes to comedy on a Monday at the moment, so you’d want to tune in. BBC2 – 9PM, Mondays.

Photo by Kai Hendry and modified under a CC License