viewers have been left gobsmacked after entrepreneurs attempted to gain investment for their travel company.
They weren’t pitching any old holiday though, but actually introducing
In a bid to open up space travel to holiday-goers, hopefuls Barry Shanks and Dave Doughty entered the Den asking for £75,000 for their ‘exciting new product’ Rocket Breaks.
They promised to send people to space in the same way celebrities take private jets across the world.
There’s a catch though – it’s not happening any time soon, and certainly not as cheap as a weekend in Ibiza.
After gifting the Dragons with toys showing what they’d look like in astronaut suits, the duo went on to explain that they were selling tickets for space travel in 2027.
The ‘bespoke’ trips, which include ‘a hot air balloon style experience in a pressurized capsule’ with cocktails, would cost £125,000 with a fully refundable deposit (until being given the date of launch) of £25,000 to reserve a seat.
Explaining what these ‘balloons’ would look like, Dave said: ‘Imagine it being like the lounge in The Dorchester, and it has seating that moves in different directions so you can get different views. It has a bar, it has Wifi, and it goes up at 15mph until you get the curvature of the Earth.’
Comparing it to tourists booking safari holidays through an agent in a bid to convince them, the entrepreneurs hoped to gain not only investment from the Dragons, but their celebrity contacts too.
‘They want our black books so that they can sell their space tickets,’ Sara Davies commented.
‘You’re looking for us to introduce you to rich people?’ probed.
Dave and Barry were ultimately left to accept defeat after admitting they had no bookings so far, and no investment from any of the Dragons.
And viewers weren’t convinced either.
‘This is a load of crap. Paying £20k deposit for a space travel expedition that will not happen in your lifetime!’ viewer Caroline fumed on X.
Anna penned: ‘Looks like they’re flogging the Willy Wonka experience of space travel…’
Keith added: ‘Why stop at trying to sell non-existing space tourism? Why not offer time travel or shape-shifting? Might as well get in first!’
‘Struggled to even understand what it was about! Sounds a bit bonkers to me but what do I know,’ Retz wrote.
Dragons’ Den airs Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
