Dragons’ Den is a fantastic show and it really does take an army of people and lots of hours to pull it all together, starting with a fabulous glam squad to make sure that we all look the part.
I’ve been asked what a typical day on set looks like so here we are!
– 4:45 car picks me up at home
– 7:15 I arrive onsite to get a shower and wash my hair
– By 7:30am-9am I’m in hair and make up
– Next, I have my breakfast and wait for the final preparations to finish
– All Dragons had to be ready for a ‘call time’ (i.e. time on set) for 10am
– Then, we’re filming all day. We aimed to see six pitches per day but what you don’t know is that while each pitch was edited to just under 10 minutes, the actual pitches could take up to two hours to film.
– Finish sometime between 7:30-9pm and go for dinner.
I’m a bit hair obsessed and can appreciate all things hair and makeup. Our hair stylist on set, Sue Marshall, is AMAZING at hair. She used to blow dry it with loads of volume every morning and I absolutely LOVED it!
Next, the fabulous Claire would do my makeup. I’m still not used to getting my hair and make-up done all of the time but it’s a perk that I love! Lots of people have asked me which foundation I use (Armani Luminous Silk for those who are wondering!) and what lipstick (Mac SOAR lip pencil then Laura Mercier gloss over the top!).
Lots of people have wondered why we wear the same clothes in every pitch and no – we didn’t film them all in one day! It’s really important for continuity that we look the same every day because they don’t always show the pitches in the order they were filmed. They try to aim for variety in every episode so we have to look the same all the time, which means only one dress (mine was from a lovely label called Kitri) and I was looking for a wrap dress because I’ve never lost my baby weight from my son Charlie so I needed something a bit less structured and a bit more forgiving.
I’ve also had lots of comments on my Dragons’ Den shoes. The stylist I had there, Kirstie Atwood, picked them out for me and I LOVED them. The one thing that I’ve learnt is that a pair of great heels can make me feel amazing, even when I’m not feeling my best and these, with their baby pink contrasting with golden spikes, certainly did the job in the Den.
