FIERY ROMANCE
Dragons’ Den stars’ love lives – from tycoon’s £345m ‘divorce by text’ to mogul’s extreme action to win back glam ex
One of the dragons admits their other half does all the chores in their house
THEY’RE some of the most intimidating people on TV, with the ability to shatter an entrepreneur's dreams in an instant.
But while they come across as hard as nails, Dragons' Den stars Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett, Sara Davies and Touker Suleyman have softer sides off-screen.
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When they’re not ploughing their millions into potentially lucrative investments, the tycoons enjoy relaxing at home with their loved ones like the rest of us.
But while most of them are happily settled with partners, their romantic lives haven't always been plain sailing.
From a staggering £345million divorce to a split over wanting to have children, we take a look at the fiery love lives of the dragons…
Peter Jones
Having set up his first business aged just 16, Peter Jones, 57, is now said to be worth a whopping £500m and is the only original dragon left on the show.
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When the BBC show first aired back in 2005 he was still married to his first wife Caroline.
They wed in 1989, when Peter was just 21 years old, and share two kids - Annabel, 30, and William, 27.
However, they reportedly had a extremely messy divorce in 2008, which saw him end up sleeping on the floor of his office.
His fortunes took a turn for the better in 2011 when he sold his company Phones International Group for £38m.
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He also met his current partner Tara Capp, a successful interior designer. They have never married but have three daughters - Natalia, 21, Isabella, 18, and Tallulah, 17.
Peter helped Tara co-found her own lifestyle e-commerce company Truly, which sells furniture and baby accessories.
He was reportedly furious when his pal Holly Willoughby backed out on a £11m in 2018 to launch her business, to focus on her own ITV and M&S contracts instead.
Peter has confessed he won't be handing over his multi-million pound fortune to his kids, telling : "I want my kids to be polite and respectful, stand on their own two feet.
"In the future if they want to go and do charitable work, then I’ll fund that charitable work. I’ve said that rather than me buying them a house, I’ll give them a contribution on top of what they deliver.
"So if they earn £20,000 a year, I’ll give them a tiny contribution on top. If they decide not to work, they don’t get anything. I want them to do it for themselves.
"My children won’t get large chunks of cash, no. I’ve set up an arrangement which gives them something called match-funding.
"When they finish full-time education and start to work, whatever they earn, they will get the same again. Every year for the rest of their lives the trust will double their income."
Duncan Bannatyne
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While Duncan Bannatyne is no longer on Dragon's Den, having served in his chair from the start until 2014, his love life has been a rollercoaster.
Duncan, who's worth £303m, has been married three times and has six children from his first two - plus two grandchildren by his eldest daughter Hollie.
He was first married to Gail Brodie from 1983, divorcing her in 1994. They are daughters Hollie, Abigail, Jennifer and Eve.
In 2006 Duncan married Joanne McCue and had children Emily and Thomas.
But their marriage ended six years later, with Duncan claiming he received news she was filing for divorce via text while filming the ninth series of Dragons Den.
He told the Daily Mail: "When I stood in that car park, with my fellow Dragons’ Den judge Peter Jones, shaking with disbelief at Joanne’s text message, I knew it was going to be expensive."
When I stood in that car park, with my fellow Dragons’ Den judge Peter Jones, shaking with disbelief at Joanne’s text message, I knew it was going to be expensive
Duncan Bannatyne
And it was, costing him a whopping £345m - because he'd regrettably not signed a pre-nup.
Not long after the divorce was finalised, Duncan, 74, met his third wife Nigora Whitehorn, 43, when he visited the Harley Street dental surgery she was working in.
He said she said fell madly in love straight away and proposed to her two years later. They married in Portugal in 2017.
Nigora has insisted the 30-year age gap doesn’t matter to her, and in January 2020 they confessed they had been trying to start a family.
Duncan told OK!: "I don’t think it’s going to happen. We tried, but I don’t think we are going to have children. We’re not trying to prevent it happening, so if it did, great, but I don’t think it is going to.”
Nigora added: "If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen, but we are not doing anything about it, like IVF, and we are not going to stress about it.”
Deborah Meaden
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Deborah Meaden joined Dragon’s Den all the way back in the third series - and while she's terrifying investors, her doting husband is at home doing the cooking and cleaning.
The 64-year-old, worth £40m, launched her first business at the age of 19 straight out of business school, but it didn’t succeed.
She then bought a franchise for Italian clothing company Stefanel and joined her family business, Weststar Holidays, which is where she met her now-husband Paul in the summer of 1985.
Paul was working at Weststar during his university break, and sparks flew immediately, but the couple split for a brief period due to Deborah's reluctance to start a family.
But, after Deborah went on a trip to Venezuela, things changed for the pair and they got back together, eventually marrying in 1993.
The couple don’t have any children, but they have A LOT of animals in their incredible 10-bed Somerset farmhouse, including six horses, five sheep, six ducks, three geese, 10 chickens, three pigs, three dogs and two cats.
Deborah has said: “I don't like anything with too much dependency... Children are very dependent, which is probably why we never had them."
I don't like anything with too much dependency... Children are very dependent, which is probably why we never had them
Deborah Meaden
Deborah has confessed it’s Paul who’s in charge of the chores in their house, telling the Telegraph in 2011: “I hate cleaning so as a student I used to work in a bar at night in order to pay someone to clean my flat. I’ve never told anyone that
"I still don’t do any domestic chores; my husband Paul is in charge. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”
She added her husband is a “fantastic cook”.
Deborah took part in Strictly in 2013, and when it sparked a love of dancing Paul secretly took lessons so they could enjoy it together. Aww!
Sara Davies
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Before Steven Bartlett joined the show, Sara Davies was the youngest ever dragon when she joined the series in 2019 aged 35.
The 39-year-old, worth £37m, did everything relatively young, including meeting husband Simon when they were teenagers.
She told OK! magazine: "I was 15 and Simon was 19. So it was quite the scandal at the time, I can tell you! He was the star of our local cricket team and I remember him coming over and asking for my number.
"I was like, 'Oh my God!' He was my first boyfriend and I was his first girlfriend."
Sara founded her crafting company, Crafter’s Companion, from her bedroom at university.
He was my first boyfriend and I was his first girlfriend
Sara Davies on husband Simon
But she’s credited Simon, whom she married in 2007, for helping her co-found it and turn it into the thriving business it now is, with a turnover of £38.3m a year.
Sara and Simon live in Teeside, with their two children, Oliver, seven, and Charlie, four - but they don’t always agree on how to raise their kids, especially when it comes to money.
Sara said on Loose Women: "My husband Simon wants to give the kids the things we could not have - but I want them to have the experiences we did have.”
However, it seems her sons have already picked up some of her astute business skills.
She told the Mirror in 2022: “My six-year-old son will help out at the shop, which my sister owns, and she’ll have him doing the same thing that I was back then.
"With a bit of inflation he will get a couple of quid. My boys can negotiate much better than I can.”
Steven Bartlett
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Steven Bartlett is the newest dragon, having joined the show in 2021.
The 31-year-old Diary of a CEO podcast host first met his French influencer girlfriend Melanie Vaz Lopez in 2016, on Instagram of all places.
Reiki master Melanie, from Bordeaux, runs a beauty and well-being business and has her own raw and vegan recipe book.
She also has a sports and nutrition guide called Booty Academy, plus an impressive 133,000 followers on Instagram.
Melanie and Steven were together for a year before they split in 2017, because his work schedule meant he couldn’t commit to her between “seven in the morning and nine o’ clock at night”.
Realising he'd been foolish, in February 2022 he made the elaborate gesture of flying to Bali to win her back.
After spending four days on the tropical island together, Melanie fell for him all over again and the pair have been together ever since.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Steven told how his relationship is his greatest achievement, especially as he never thought he’d find love due to his parents’ “toxic” relationship.
He said: “Getting myself into a loving relationship with a wonderful woman has totally been my greatest achievement.
“I wasn't sure if that was going to be possible for me, because what I learned about love at a young age was not very good. It was quite toxic... I kind of avoided relationships until I was about 25.
"But after doing a lot of work, I eventually found someone that I fell in love with and I've been mature enough to keep that relationship strong and grow with it.
“I think that's what I'm most proud of, because it's probably the hardest thing."
Steven has confessed he would like to get married and start a family, telling : “I do want to have six children. Well, six is maybe a lot, I think four would be a good number.”
Touker Suleyman
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Touker Suleyman, 70, has been investing on Dragons’ Den since 2015.
In 2015, The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his fortune in excess of £200m thanks to his fashion and retail empire.
He used part of his wealth to build what has been described as a "James Bond-style" house in south London, reportedly worth £20m, which he has rented out to A-listers including David and Victoria Beckham.
Not much is known about Touker’s love life, as he’s very private, but he does have two stunning daughters - Taya, 21, and Tashia, 25.
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Little is known about their mother.
His eldest has definitely inherited his sartorial eye - she is a fashion stylist whose work has appeared in Vogue.
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