The 28-year-old is the youngest Dragon in the series' history...
Dragons' Den has confirmed that 28-year-old entrepreneur and Sunday Times best-selling author Steven Bartlett is set to join the series, following the departure of Tej Lalvani.
Steven will join existing Dragons Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies for the 19th series of the BBC programme.
He is the founder and former CEO of social media marketing agency The Social Chain which he set up from a bedroom in Manchester. After dropping out of University at the age of 22 he set up the group’s two flagship companies, Social Chain and Media Chain. Following this, he took is company company public at 27, and it has a current market valuation of over £300m.
Speaking about his new role, Steven Bartlett says: “I’ve been watching Dragons’ Den since I was 12 years old - it was my first window into the real world of business and investing. It’s a tremendous honour to join the Den, hopefully representing a new generation of entrepreneurs, inspiring young and specifically under-represented entrepreneurs to follow in my footsteps.”
In addition to this, Tej Lalvani congratulated Steven on social media describing him as "someone who'll add lots of value" to the panel.
Steven will join the Dragons in the new series, which will begin filming in the Summer. The 18th series is currently airing on BBC1 with episodes available to stream via iPlayer.
Sarah Clay, the BBC’s Commissioning Editor of Entertainment adds: “As well as being our youngest ever Dragon, Steven’s unique approach to business will bring a whole new dynamic to the Den. He brings a wealth of experience from the social media, technological and brand building worlds. I’m so excited to see him in the next series.”
An exact air date for series 19 has not yet been confirmed, but they are accepting applicants. Anyone interested in applying for Dragons Den are encouraged to follow this link. Due to the high number of applicants, only those people who are shortlisted will be contacted.
