DRAGONS’ Den star Sara Davies has revealed that the tension between the warring investors is very much the real deal.
In fact, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant , 38, adds that none of the tycoons are “good enough actors” to fake it to create drama on the hit BBC show, as she reveals what happens behind the scenes that viewers don’t see on screen.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, crafting queen Sara – who is worth a whopping £35million thanks to the success of her business Crafter’s Companion – says: “It is real tension and the clashes are real. What you see on TV is real life, and it’s exactly as it is happening.
“I always think of Dragons’ Den more like a documentary than a TV show as none of us can act.”
To prove her point, Sara lets slip a little known secret about the show that never makes it to air – producers often make her and her fellow Dragons- Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett, Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman – do multiple takes of their killer lines.
Sara, who was awarded an MBE in 2016, reveals: “Sometimes we talk over each other during filming, or we get something wrong, so the producers will ask us to do a key line again.
“They will say things like, ‘You had a little bit more drive and energy when you did it like this’ but we are all rubbish at redoing the lines because we aren’t actors, so it will take it three or four gos to re-do it.
“It just makes us feel like a fish out of water as we are so uncomfortable at [performing], even if it’s just repeating one line.”
While the tension between the entrepreneurs may be authentic, Sara insists any battles that arise don’t leave the set.
“In business, you have got to learn to leave the negotiations in the boardroom,” she stresses. “I especially know this as I work with my husband [her business partner Simon Davies] and we can really come to loggerheads over business decisions as we are wired very differently, so we learn to leave it in the boardroom.
“It’s the same with the Dragons – it’s incredible how we can literally be at war in the den and then fine in the green room afterwards.
“But at end of the day most of us have already got business relationships because we are working together on investments we have made. So you can’t fall out with somebody in the den as you are working with them outside of the show.”
So tight knit are they off camera, Sara has even been trying to persuade Steven to follow in her dancing footsteps on this year’s Strictly.
“Do you know, I have tried!” she laughs. “People are always saying, ‘Now Sara has done Strictly, do you think she will talk Steven into it?’ Well, you never know. He is really into his music so I am sure the guy has got a bit of rhythm. You never know what is coming down the line.”
Away from TV and running a multi-million pound business, Sara and her husband are kept busy raising her two sons Oliver, eight, and Charlie, five.
Does she think they will inherit her entrepreneurial spirit and end up becoming future Dragons?
“I just want my kids to be passionate about what they do as what I am about what I do,” she explains. “I want them to enjoy their career choices as much as I do mine so I am not going to push them into business.”
That said, Sara – who started her business from her bedroom while still at university – has been introducing her boys to one of her all time favourite games: Monopoly.
And the County Durham-born star recently partnered with the iconic game for the launch of My First Monopoly, aimed at future tycoons.
“I used to love Monopoly when I was a kid but my kids are five and eight now , so I assumed it would be a good few years before we could play it.
“The great thing about My First Monopoly is that it’s aimed at kids the same age as mine, and doesn’t just teach them maths and counting, it teaches them to be savvy with strategy.”
Does the successful business mogul let her boys win, or is she as competitive with them as she is in the den?
“I never let the kids win!” she laughs. “It’s funny because my five year old won three games on the trot the other day and my eight year old threw a strop.
“That reminded me of myself as a kid. I always wanted to win!”
