TV show loser has last laugh

SHE ventured into the Dragon's Den and got a roasting. Now it seems entrepreneur Rachel Lowe will have the last laugh in her own toy story.

Lowe, 27, used her experience as a taxi driver to invent Destination London, a board game in which players assume the role of cabbies in the capital. The aim of the game is to race around the city visiting tourist attractions, collecting fares and avoiding hazards such as traffic lights. The winner is the player who collects the most fares.

The mother of two, now in the final year of a law degree at Portsmouth University, started up with cash won in a business enterprise competition. She managed to get the game advertised in one of the world's most prestigious toy stores, Hamley's in central London, and had interest from several big retailers who wanted to stock it.

So when she applied to appear on BBC2's The Dragon's Den - dubbed 'Pop Idol for entrepreneurs' - she thought the only way was up.

In the programme, budding entrepreneurs pitch their business idea to a panel of tough-talking experts including ice cream seller-turned health clubs multi-millionaire Duncan Bannatyne and Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe.

If the pitcher can convince one or more of the Dragons that their idea is a flier, they win the cash they need to get started, usually in return for a stake in the company.

So far the Dragons have invested in a black truffle farm in France, a piece of furniture that is a cross between a hammock and a bean bag and a multimedia umbrella vending machine.

But they were far less generous to Lowe. When she faced them, her pitch was met, she says, with needless aggression and unfair vitriol.

The entrepreneur says her business plan - including figures that underpinned the venture - was grabbed from her by one of the programme's producers at the last minute, leaving her to face the panel without vital information to hand.

Around 1.5m viewers who watched the programme, which was transmitted this week, saw Lowe manage to keep her cool as the panel grilled her in their trademark confrontational style over her marketing strategy and faltering over figures. Back stage it was a different story.

Lowe said: 'It was a very traumatic experience. From the moment they took my plan away I knew I was doomed as figures have never been my forte. I cope quite nicely with my calculator but have never needed to know an entire spreadsheet of numbers from memory. I was in tears after they tore into me.'

This week Lowe, who is pitching her game at the British Toy Fair, hit out at the panel. 'I want to make them look stupid,' she said. 'The judges are just a bunch of Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne wannabes.'

The signs are that the Dragons have missed a trick. Destination London is now the number one selling game in Hamleys - more popular even than Monopoly, whose owner, US toy behemoth Hasbro, is bringing out a new version that includes famous London tourist attractions for the first time in its 70-year history.

This is no coincidence, according to Lowe. 'It seems funny to me that Hasbro has quickly put together this new prototype in time for the British Toy Fair, just as Destination London outsells Monopoly in Hamleys. I can't believe that such a big company is taking me on.

'All I can say to Hasbro is: 'bring it on'.'

Lowe can afford to be bullish, with her game on sale in the High Street giant WH Smith, with Woolworth, Argos and other major retailers showing interest. It has sold 5,000 units and Lowe has trademarked editions for Europe and the US. Plans are afoot for computer and mobile phone versions.

Was there any upside to her trial by fire? 'It has definitely made me tougher and more confident. Being slated gave me the drive and ambition to succeed.'

There is one further benefit. 'I'm glad I didn't win Dragon's Den - for one thing, the money they were offering in return for a stake is laughable, compared to the level I am operating at now.'