Contestants on Dragons’ Den hope for financial investment, exposure, and success.
However, one woman got far more than she bargained for when she found her son’s half-sibling as a result of appearing on the show.
Last year, Zoe Chapman, 39, appeared on Dragons’ Den in an effort to cash in £50,000 for her award-winning product, Kiddiwhizz, a unisex compact toilet.
During the show, Zoe revealed the idea for the invention came to her when she found herself looking after both her young son and father, who heartbreakingly required end-of-life care.
Both required a handheld portable toilet and despite her best efforts, she struggled to find one.
Contestants on Dragons’ Den hope for financial investment, exposure, and success. However, for one woman she got far more than she bargained for as she found her son’s half-sibling
Last year, Zoe Chapman, 39, appeared on Dragons’ Den in an effort to cash in £50,000 for her award-winning product, Kiddiwhizz, a unisex compact toilet
During the show, Zoe revealed the invention came to her when she found herself looking after both her young son and father, who heartbreakingly required end-of-life care
At the time, Zoe was too busy to create the product herself, however, years later, following the death of her father and shortly before the 2020 global lockdown, she underwent spinal surgery and asked herself what it was she wished she had always done.
In 2021, Zoe created a portable toilet and quickly went on to win awards for her incredible invention.
And in 2022, she caught the attention of Dragons’ Den producers, who liked the story behind her business and asked her to apply for their show.
In 2023 she appeared on the show, and the series of events that came after changed her life forever.
Speaking to The Independent, Zoe recalled the weeks after her appearance, admitting the show ‘saved my business and changed everything for me.’
She said: ‘The show aired earlier this year, and that’s when I started doing interviews. From there, an online group for single mums called Frolo asked me to write a blog post on my experience.’
Her blog post gained a lot of attention, and a woman named Jess immediately emailed Zoe something that left the single mum wondering if she was ‘delusional’.
In Jess’ email, she wrote: ‘I know this is going to sound really weird, but I’ve seen your story, and I think our children have the same dad.’
Speaking to The Independent, Zoe recalled the weeks after her appearance, admitting the show ‘saved my business and changed everything for me’ after a woman named Jess sent her an email that left her wondering if she was ‘delusional’
In Jess’s email, she revealed: ‘I know this is going to sound really weird, but I’ve seen your story, and I think our children have the same dad’
The businesswoman told the publication that she fell pregnant when she was 27 with a man she initially believed was treating her ‘properly’ but soon became ‘domineering’ and ‘obsessive’.
She said after seeing the ‘red flags’ she left the man but was already pregnant
with his child.
Zoe revealed to the publication that the man demanded her to have an abortion, however, she wanted a baby, so the pair ultimately broke up, and he had nothing to do with her son.
Jess told Zoe that she has a three-year-old daughter, and while Zoe was initially confused by the message, as soon as the woman said the name of their children’s father, she knew it was true, and the women organised to meet.
She told the publication: ‘When she read my story, she said the similarities stood out to her straight away.’
‘My son’s father had done exactly the same thing to her. He’d told Jess he wanted her to get an abortion and used my son as an example of a child he already had and didn’t look after. She said there were even more of us.’
Zoe revealed they introduced their children shortly after meeting and the kids were ‘obsessed with each other’ and while they have different ethnicities, ‘you would assume’ the pair were related.
Since realising their children were related, the brother and sister have met multiple times, and Zoe confessed how grateful she was as she said that she ‘would have never found out’ if it wasn’t for Dragons’ Den.
