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How to get on the new season of Dragons’ Den to pitch your business idea

If you've got a great business idea to put to the Dragons' Den venture capitalists, here's how you can apply to take your place in the Den.

The Manc The Manc - 30th August 2021

The latest season of Dragon’s Den has just finished airing and applications to appear on the show have already re-opened.

The new season of the hit BBC show will introduce Manchester-based entrepreneur Steven Bartlett as the new dragon, replacing Tej Lalvani, chief executive of vitamin company Vitabiotics, who announced his departure earlier this year.

Alongside Steven are returning moguls Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies, who will all be eager to invest during what is being pipped as the most competitive lineup of dragons ever.

The den // BBC

Hosted by Evan Davis, the business show allows budding entrepreneurs to pitch their new business ideas and product innovations to the previously mentioned lineup of investors – and applications to be a contestant for what will be its nineteenth series are now open.

As part of the process, you must provide details about how much investment you are looking for and an ‘Executive Summary’ about your business.

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The application form says: “In the Executive Summary, you have the chance to sell yourself and your idea, and give a clear and comprehensive outline of your business or product. What problem does your idea solve?

Steve Bartlett becomes youngest BBC Dragon - BusinessCloud
Steven Bartlett is the founder of international social media agency Social Chain // BusinessCloud

“What stage are you at with patent or copyright protection? Where are you up to with prototyping or testing? Describe sales, if your business is trading.”

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Applications, open to those aged 18 or over, will be put forward to be shortlisted for inclusion in the programme.

To submit your business, fill out the form online here.

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Manchester ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A new survey has ranked Manchester among the worst cities in the UK when it comes to throwing away leftover food at Christmas.

If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that a lot of food gets consumed during Christmas time, but unfortunately, what then comes along with that, is a lot of food getting thrown away too – with a new study revealing that British families are expected to bin nearly £300 million worth of festive food this year alone.

And sadly, Manchester has been named one of the top festive food waste hotspots.

Ahead of the festive season, leading electricals retailer, AO.com, is on a mission to help Brits cut back on their food waste, as 54% of Mancs have admitted to chucking out leftovers.

The survey found that, on average, a British family spends £136 on their Christmas food shopping, but 11% of that goes to waste.

This equates to a whopping £292,822,360 in Christmas food waste in total this year.

With almost 78% of survey respondents saying they would prefer to have their meals at home during the Christmas period, rather than dining out, the research uncovered that a quarter of Brits often throw away their Brussels sprouts, while one in 10 even admitted to binning everyone’s festive favourite, pigs in blankets.

Manchester has ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas / Credit: Freepik | Flickr

Other northern cities ranking alongside Manchester in the not-so-coveted list of highest festive food waste offenders include Newcastle and Sheffield.

The capitals of London, Edinburgh, and Belfast also feature.

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The news that Manchester has been named a festive food waste capital comes after a shocking study, also by AO, revealed back in August that Mancs throw away more than £1,000 of ‘freezable’ food every year too.

Featured Image – gpointstudio (via Freepik)

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Tyson Fury says he hasn’t spoken to his wife in ‘three months’ whilst preparing for Usyk rematch

Danny Jones Danny Jones Tyson Fury hasn't spoke to his wife Paris for three months preparing for Usyk 2 rematch

Tyson Fury says hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris for three whole months while preparing for the much-anticipated Oleksandr Usyk rematch.

The Manc fighter is set to face the Ukrainian counterpart in the ‘Undisputed’ sequel, simply dubbed Fury vs Usyk 2, which will result in one unified heavyweight champion of the world.

Usyk’s victory over the Wythenshawe-born boxer back in May saw him take that title for the first time since 1999 (the only man to have done so in the four-belt era) but with the rematch nearly upon us, Fury could be set to steal that title away from him.

With that in mind, the pressure has clearly been on ever since he lost the first bout and, according to Tyson himself, he hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris Fury for virtually a quarter of a year as part of his immensely strict training camp.

Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the match this weekend, he claimed: “I haven’t spoke to Paris in three months – not a word. [I’ve] not spoke to anyone, I haven’t been on my phone.”

Explaining that he simply removed all distractions to get his head in the right space ahead of the title decider, ‘The Gypsy King’ has been known to isolate himself from the rest of the world before a big fight in the past, but cutting contact with your spouse of 10 years and partner for nearly two decades is wild.

The 36-year-old went on to detail that in order to give himself the best shot at winning, he couldn’t keep switching between “beast mode to dad mode to wife mode” and so on.

In separate interviews with other outlets ahead of the highly-awaited rematch, Fury has made various other big claims about what boxing fans can expect from his own performance, including an admission that he needs to be “more focused this time and not do as much showboating” in the ring.

Nevertheless, he also assured the media that he isn’t a quitter and has promised he will not just “f*** up” his 37-year-old opponent but “retire” him. Usyk, on the other hand, has warned he will be a different challenge than the last time the two faced each other, predicting a knockout victory too.

Having downed Tyson more than once the last time around, he’s understandably confident of his chances.

Bold words from the pair of them, indeed, but this is all just part and parcel of the usual pre-fight build-up; all we really know is that Usyk won the previous face-off and Fury is the one with the point to prove.

While younger brother Tommy Fury recently had to pull out of his scheduled fight against Darren Till, during which tensions seriously boiled over during the first press conference, it looks as though there is no risk of more cancellations and any more ‘will they won’t they?’ antics between these two at least.

The rematch, or ‘Fury vs Usyk 2: Undisputed’ to give use its full title (the latest in Saudi Arabia’s growing fight scene and live sports programming as part of Riyadh Season) takes place this Saturday, 21 December, with the two set to clash once again from 10:25 GMT.

Who do you think will emerge victorious from this one and, more importantly, when do you think we’ll see the third and ‘final’ fight when they inevitably demand a trilogy?…

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — paul62_2017 (via Flickr)/Netflix (via screenshot)

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