Paphitis: 'People need hopes crushed'

Rex Features

Theo Paphitis has said that some of the entrants on Dragons' Den need to have their hopes "crushed".

The panellist told thelondonpaper that he had heard a number of bad pitches on the show, including a woman who had spent £200,000 developing a plastic sucker for shower heads.

Paphitis said: "I do things I like. We don't just invest because we think it's going to make the most money. We know some things we invest in aren't going to succeed but we just want to give them a chance.

"Nobody specifically wants to crush people's hopes, but some people need their hopes crushed!"

He added that the Dragons get paid an appearance fee for their work on the show, but said that this money is donated to charity.