Hilary Devey certainly caused a stir on ‘Dragon’s Den’ last night.
The new investor, who replaces James Caan for the new series, was still trending on Twitter this morning as viewers reacted to her barnstorming debut on the show.
Hard-as-nails Devey may not have invested any cash in this episode, but she was still talk of water coolers around the country thanks to her gravelly voice, no-nonsense attitude and those shoulder pads.
Her unique look also had TV critics scrabbling for colourful comparisons. The Metro went with: “a woman with a style that channelled Cleopatra reincarnated as a drag queen”, while the Mirror’s Jim Shelley thought she was “The Den’s answer to Bette Davis… a glamorous scarecrow fashioned from two brooms,a wig, lashings of lipstick.pearls and some Alexander Mc Queen.
The Guardian also went for the drag queen comparison, only with a touch of Cruella de Vil thrown in. All agreed though she was great value.
On Twitter ex-News of the World TV critic Ian Hyland said, somewhat harshly: “One word to describe Hilary Devey: Frank. Her manner and also, I suspect, her real name.”
The Radio Times were much nicer, though, tweeting: “All the talk in the office this morning is of new Dragon… we think she was great!”
One viewer, rachel0808, said: “It's safe to say I was suitably terrified by Hilary Devey's shoulder pads on ‘Dragon's Den’ last night. I almost couldn't watch. Almost.”
Devey certainly gave viewers a lot to talk about on last night’s show. One highlight was a fearsome dressing delivered to a spa chair entrepreneur who forgot his figures.
"You would make my foot itch, mate," she tells him. "I'm not amused, I'm angry, I'm out."
She also coined a bizarre new phrase while debating the merits of an ‘anti-splashback’ toilet contraption with Deborah Meaden. “Where’s there’s muck, there’s luck” she said, cryptically.
Hilary is the first new Dragon in the show for four series, and made her millions flogging pallets (as in the haulage crates).
Before arriving at the ‘Den’, viewers got a taste of her unique charms on ‘The Business Inspector’ and ‘The Secret Millionaire’.
Here’s hoping for more of the same in next week’s show.
