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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Stephanie Colderick

Dragons' Den viewers stunned as hopeful returns to BBC show and rejects offers a second time

Facing the dragons on the BBC One entrepreneur show Dragons' Den can be terrifying enough the first time round making it rare for someone to give it another shot. But one man entered the den for the second time and viewers couldn't believe it when he ended up walking away with nothing - despite initially having three offers on the table.

Cally Russell bravely set foot in the den for the second time after first appearing on the show back in 2015 looking for investment for his then business. At the time he rejected long-standing dragon Peter Jones' offer.

Cally explained to the dragons that clothing business, Mallzee, which he pitched eight years ago, was successful but he lost it during the coronavirus pandemic. This time round he was pitching his new online sustainable fashion company, Unfolded, asking for £75,000 for just a 2% stake.

READ MORE: BBC Dragons' Den: Panel slug it out over youngest ever pitcher who's got a famous grandad

At the start of his pitch, Peter jokingly thanked Cally for not accepting his offer in 2015, saying: "Welcome back, I'm sorry that you lost the business. I'm pleased obviously that we didn't invest, we were obviously right not to."

During his latest appearance on Thursday, February 16, Cally valued his new business at £3.75m but after hearing the figures, Touker Suleyman claimed he was "living in cuckoo land" even though he went on to make him an offer which was rejected.

Cally then attempted to negotiate with Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden after both expressed an interest in investing. He wanted both dragons to invest the £75,000 together for a 4% stake each in the business.

Peter asked if it was "a counter offer or a joke" before saying he would not be investing after all and Deborah agreed with her fellow dragon. It meant Cally left without a deal again. He said he was leaving with lessons learned but that it would be his last time in the den.

Viewers were not impressed with Cally's behaviour with one saying: "This guy is going to make the same mistake again. What an eejit. #DragonsDen." A second added: "What a clown. What was he doing there? #dragonsden."

Another said: "#DragonsDen he has a trend for rejecting offers!!" A fourth tweeted: "What’s wrong this guy? Does he just enjoy coming on #Dragonsden for a laugh."

And a fifth said: "Once a bottler Always a bottler Twice he’s had offers on table & rejected them all again."

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