Dragons' Den Part 2 - Pitch Day!

I went up to Manchester the night before my filming day and took myself out for a run, then a solo tapas and a beer, which was very pleasant! I also recee’ed my route for the next day. I felt strangely calm and just really ready for the den. On the morning itself I got up and had a big breakfast as I didn’t know when I’d get the opportunity to eat again.

I then made my way over to the studio and went for a 5km run. I find public speaking so much easier after I’ve done some hard exercise. It sort of burns off the excess energy/adrenalin which is really helpful and I don’t get any nervous symptoms like my voice shaking or me shaking! I feel very confident after sport, so it sets me up well.

I went into the studio and started setting up my table, with lots of help from the wonderful production team. They know what works on camera and they transformed my table.

Then it was into hair and make up, the make up lady (whose name I have forgotten but she was just wonderful and made me feel super confident) made me look so much better than I could have managed, she was just incredible. She really helped put me at ease as well.
Feeling confident about the way I looked was key to performing well, so I will be forever grateful to her!

I then did some short interviews to camera, the bits you see before you walk in. I really enjoyed doing that and was then told to go and wait in my dressing room. I was told I would probably be a few hours, I had a mouthful of my lunch (a quiche!) and that was it, I got called!

I was then brought into the studio area and told to wait outside the lift and then once the doors opened go in… the doors then opened and there were 5 dragons sat in front of me! You’re then told to walk to a cross on the floor and start your pitch. No one says for you to start, no one says action or anything like that, you just need to start talking.

No notes are allowed at all, nothing on your hands, and everything from then on in is reliant on how much you have learnt and can remember! So I took a big breath and started my pitch.