Dragons' Den star Sara Davies stunned as Deborah Meaden 'barks' stern warning at her

Sara Davies
-Credit:BBC


Sara Davies has claimed that she didn't have the best first day on Dragons' Den due to Deborah Meaden telling her off.

The 40-year-old joined the panel back in 2019, replacing former dragon Jenny Campbell, and has remained on the show ever since.

During the first day of recording, the businesswoman said Deborah, 65, sternly told her not to use the term 'lady' in the studio.

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Puzzled by her words initially, Sara said she soon realised the positive message behind it.

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Quizzed on what she had learned from her fellow dragons, she explained on the High Performance podcast: "We had a street food pitch, it was the very first pitch ever, and so they came in, they pitched and [they] said, 'Do you want to come up and get some food?'

"And Touker (Suleyman), being Touker, jumps up and goes running to go first. And so I shout, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, excuse me, ladies first'."

Recalling Deborah's response, Sara said: "Deborah barked at me, she barked at me and she said, 'Aye, none of that in here, there's no ladies and no gentlemen, we're all dragons, we're all the same'.

Dragons' Den
Sara Davies said Deborah Meaden 'barked' at her on her first day of filming -Credit:BBC

"And I didn't understand at the time what that meant or why that was, I just felt like, oh s**t, day one and Deborah's barked, this is not a good start right."

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Fast forward the years and Sara said her co-star has since taken her "under her wing".

She added: "She's an incredibly powerful woman in business, but she will never let you call her that.

"She's like, 'I'm not a woman in business, I'm just in business.

"'If I start thinking myself as being different and a woman, then I can't stand up against my male counterparts, I'm just in business'."

Sara said from Deborah's words, she's learned that as soon as you put yourself in a category, you're telling yourself you're not as good as others.

She added: "And I think just learning to be... everybody's the same and I'm going to be the best, irrespective of what that is in that class.

"That's the way to constantly keep driving and to be the best that you can be."