Despite high aspirations, the great-grandson of Tarmac’s inventor failed to persuade Dragons’ Den investors Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Peter Jones, Sara Davies, and Steven Bartlett.
Rupert Cattell, an entrepreneur, joined the Den with his invention, a “machine that accomplishes an existing exercise in a radically different way”: the road rower.
The contraption, which appeared to be a rowing machine, actually worked like a bicycle, designed to let individuals get around while exercising.
Rupert showed his contraption, demonstrating how it works, but the Dragons were unimpressed, even though Steven tried the workout himself.
Rupert exposed his entrepreneurial side after demonstrating his enthusiasm for the idea.
‘So what makes you an inventor?’ Touker began, to which Peter replied: ‘So I’ve been an entrepreneur for 40 years.
‘Is it genetic? My great-grandfather was a guy called Edgar Hooley, who invented tarmac.’
‘Oh right,’ an impressed Touker replied.
Rupert went on to explain his background, from a solicitor to selling nurseries, however, after hearing about his great-grandfather, Deborah quizzed the hopeful on why exactly he was looking for an investment.
‘Because I want you,’ Rupert praised, but his candidness didn’t win him any favours.
‘It’s really inconvenient and clunky,’ Steven commented, although he admitted he’d be keen to use the machine for entertainment.
It wasn’t long before Peter turned back to Rupert’s family history, asking him: ‘Your grandfather invented Tarmac, that’s wow… did he monetize that? Is he a billionaire?’
‘No, he ran out of money,’ Rupert replied, leaving Peter stunned.
‘Where he went wrong is he put all of that money into a glove factory,’ but before side-stepping Peter’s next comment: ‘Is there anything that gives you a little bit of lessons of the past that you can bring into the current, in other words, he lost all his money…’
‘I believe in this, I think it’s really good fun and it’s a great product,’ Rupert said, as one by one all the investors pulled out.
As Touker became the last to say no, he commented: ‘Personally, I think it looks like something coming out of a Frankenstein’s workshop.’
Dragons’ Den airs on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One.