Guy struggles through pitch on Dragons Den

I think the differences between the UK's Dragons Den and the US' Shark Tank show some fundamental differences between what British viewers want to see from this type of show, and what Americans want to see.

Dragon's Den seems to revolve around cringe.

  • The pitches take place in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. Presenters need to lug their materials up / down a set of metal stairs.
  • Presenters have to supply their own materials, including decorations, electronics used for display purposes, etc. Due to lack of resources of these small business owners, this tends to result in simple, unimpressive visuals to go alone with their products.
  • Dragon's Den seems to intentionally choose the worst pitches to show on TV. For example, they periodically show entrepreneurs who pitch board game ideas, even though I don't think I've ever seen a Dragon show any interest at all in investing in a board game.
  • Dragon's Den episodes include a montage of clips from particularly bad investors. It's like having 4-5 full-length cringe presentations isn't enough, so they threw in some bonus quick cringe.

Shark Tank, on the other hand, seems to be focused on proving that the American Dream is still alive and well.

  • Most of the entrepreneurs shown have impressive products and/or interesting backgrounds.
  • Presentations take place in a "penthouse office".
  • Each show includes 2-3 video introductions that talk about the upcoming presenter's humble beginnings and good ole American spirit.
  • Presenters are clearly given extra resources to make their presentation look as good as possible. They're presentations look good enough to bring to a large-scale trade show.
  • One of the highlights of the show is when an entrepreneur has a business so impressive that multiple Sharks want to invest, and then they battle for it.
  • Each episode has 1-2 updates that show how well previous, successful entrepreneurs are doing. "Thanks to the investment I got from Shark Tank, I went from $10,000 in annual sales to $1,000,000 in sales! Thank you, Shark Tank!"

I think both the British and the Americans enjoy watching people fail spectacularly. Schadenfreude, and all that. But when it comes to Dragon's Den / Shark Tank, Brits mostly want to see entrepreneurs fail, while Americans mostly want to see entrepreneurs succeed.

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