I was on Dragons’ Den and was offered £50,000 – and here’s what really goes on behind the scenes

The Dragons’ Den contestant, who walked away with a big investment from Sara Davies in last night’s episode, has revealed what goes on behind the scenes of the long-running BC show.

Alex Street, from Derbyshire, pitched his football shirt business to Dragons Davies, Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett, Deborah Meaden and Touker Suleyman in the hope of securing a round of funding.

In the end, he walked away with £50,000 from Davies after she assumed her sons would love a Mystery Jersey subscription box and decided to invest in Alex’s business – despite a major stumbling block.

In an interview with FEMAIL, the father-of-two, whose business pays tribute to his father, recalled that he kept the deal a secret for months as he revisited his time in the infamous den.

Alex appeared on Thursday night’s episode of the long-running reality series, which sees entrepreneurs from across the UK pitch their startups to some of the UK’s best-known investors in the hope of securing a round of funding.

The AFC Wimbeldon supporter, who buys and sells unique football shirts in monthly ‘mystery boxes’ worth £29.99, ultimately pocketed £50,000 from Davies, 40, for a 10 per cent stake in the Mystery Jersey Company.

“I’ve had to keep this massive secret for so long,” he enthused. ‘And it has been really tricky and difficult. But I’m almost relieved that it’s out there now and we can move on!’

Explaining that there is usually a long gap between filming episodes of the show and their release, Alex explained that he pitched Dragons ‘five or six months ago’.

Since the entrepreneurial reality show first premiered in 2005, the cave has ‘travelled’ across the country – including filming locations in London, Glasgow and most recently Manchester.

After submitting his ‘audition’ video, which is essentially a version of what will be the final pitch, Alex was asked to arrive at Old Granada Studios – where the show has been filmed since 2018.

However, contestants will usually find themselves waiting several hours before coming face-to-face with the dragons – time spent getting ready for the camera and practicing their pitches.

“The makeup lady was brilliant, Debbie she was wonderful with me,” added Alex. ‘I looked like I had a really nice tan and she was really calming and soothing.’

However, after several runs with members of the production team, Alex was ‘knackered’ before he even entered the cave.

‘You can imagine the nerves are building and the pressure is on.’

Alex credited the years he spent watching Dragons’ Den with shaping his strategy for the show, noting how people can get ‘overwhelmed by the whole situation’.

“People come across as so articulate — there are some great entrepreneurs out there who are very articulate, and I know I’m not one of them,” he said.

So Alex decided to ‘shoot from the hip and just be myself’ – including openly admitting that he didn’t know the answer to several key questions about his business, such as the customer retention rate or how many new customers sign up each month.

Davies told Alex he had made a ‘dog’s dinner’ of his numbers but decided to take a chance and back the founder with her investment.

Reacting to the loss, Alex said being inside the cave is ‘such a pressured situation’ that he was proud to get ‘the first new numbers out’, adding that last night’s episode marked the first time he had pitched to investors.

He described the experience as an ’emotional roller coaster’ that lasted over an hour, with the final edit taking just under 15 minutes.

Alex also added that although all the Dragons were ‘so insightful’ and ‘gave me some fantastic advice’, he ‘pulled’ towards Davies.

‘She could see I was stumbling a bit and she said to me, “Keep going, you’ve got this.”

‘And it was so lovely and made me feel really warm inside.’

Alex eventually walked away with a £50,000 investment from the owner of Crafter’s Companion in exchange for 10 per cent of the Mystery Jersey Company, as long as she made her money back in 18 months.

After the show was filmed, Davies’ team got back in touch with Alex and his team at Mystery Jersey Company, headquartered in Derbyshire, to get the ball rolling on their deal.

Throughout, the only person who knew about the offer other than Alex was company co-founder Jaime King; the rest of the staff and even his family found out about Davies’ investment at a watch party he hosted last night.

“Even my daughter didn’t know!” he shared.

The production team will typically return a week before the episode’s release date, giving entrepreneurs just in time to prepare for what is usually a rush of orders or increased interest from potential customers.

“The week leading up to that you’re busy,” Alex continued. ‘You try to get things ready, get your stock ready, make sure your socials are good and be mentally prepared for what may come.’

Since Alex’s episode, the company’s website has already been spruced up with a banner announcing that the Mystery Jersey Company is Dragons’ Den approved.

Alex has also been invited to a retreat hosted by Davies, where he connected with previous participants who had also secured an investment from the British businesswoman.

He recalled “befriending” Derry Green, who appeared on Dragons’ Den last year, when he set up his Skelmersdale-based tourism company.

Alex praised the founder of The Secret Garden Glamping and credited Derry for ‘calming him through this whole process’ because it can be ‘nerve-wracking when you put yourself out there’.

Currently, the team at Mystery Jersey Company are enjoying the newfound attention as they work through all their new orders with a focus on providing ‘the best customer service we can’.

Asked if he knew how many website visitors had landed on their page, Alex joked: ‘You’ve even let me know now with a numbers question.’