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Dragon's Den take pitch from creators of Camp Wildfire from Sevenoaks

By: Alex Langridge alangridge@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 20:42, 20 January 2022

Updated: 10:33, 21 January 2022

Kent business partners failed to impress the Dragons with their attraction Camp Wildfire.

Co-founders Julia Lowe and Lee Denny were the first up on BBC One's Dragons' Den this evening as they looked to expand their business.

Lee Denny and Julia Lowe on set of Dragon's Den

Despite a strong start with Dragon Deborah Meaden commenting "they would love to do that" and Sara Davies seemingly quite taken by the idea, the duo failed to secure any offers.

Ms Lowe and Mr Denny initially asked for a £75,000 investment with a 5% stakehold in their business model.

After explaining their adult activity-based festival weekends the Dragons started nailing down into the couple's profits and financial losses in which Mr Denny admitted to not knowing this year's sheets.

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He said: "It has been a really tough year."

But this explanation did not satisfy Peter Jones who told the pair from Sevenoaks that every year they have got to be all over their numbers.

Deborah, the couple's favourite Dragon, agreed saying they seemed to have a shaky grasp on their finances.

The couple have run the business in Sevenoaks since 2015

Peter added he did not see this as a business and was the first one to put down his pen and paper saying he was out.

He was swiftly followed by Touker Suleyman, Steven Bartlett and Sara despite earlier admitting she would want to attend one of the popular festivals.

Despite the blow, things started looking up after Deborah said: "I really like it. I can clearly see what we can could do with this."

She offered an initial 25% stakeholder while funding the full £75,000 investment but the couple declined asking for 20% with a roll back to 5% after a few years.

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After a discussion they agreed to the initial 20% but Deborah "nearly fell off [her] chair" after the first counter-offer. She swiftly withdrew the offer.

Camp Wildfire took to the screen to face Dragon's Den

Mr Denny and Ms Lowe said ahead of the show: "We’re enormously proud of what we’ve achieved so far and really excited about our appearance on Dragons’ Den this week.

"The whole process of appearing in the Den was absolutely incredible and we can’t wait to see our episode."

Established in 2015, Camp Wildfire is advertised as an adventure camp for adults. It is located in the Heritage Pine forest in Sevenoaks.

They offer a myriad of different activities during the day including quad biking and tree climbing. At night the camp resorts to a more festival vibe with live music and dancing until the early hours of the morning.

Mr Denny and Ms Lowe said: “We created Camp Wildfire as a solution to the ever-growing request from adults to do more with their weekend than a contemporary music festival can offer."

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The two budding entrepreneurs have also set up accompanying event, Camp Kindling, aimed as a more family oriented get-away from city life.

They faced Dragons Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones and Steven Bartlett, as part of the latest series of BBC One’s Dragons’ Den.

The show aired on Thursday, January 20 at 8pm.

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