Dragons’ Den contestants expect financial investment, exposure and success.
However, one woman got much more than she bargained for when she found her son’s half-brother as a result of appearing on the show.
Last year, Zoe Chapman, 39, appeared on Dragons’ Den in an effort to win £50,000 for her award-winning product, Kiddiwhizz, a unisex compact toilet.
During the show, Zoe revealed that the idea for the invention came to her when she found herself caring for her young son and his father, who both heartbreakingly needed end-of-life care.
They both needed a portable toilet, and despite her best efforts, she had a hard time finding one.
Dragons’ Den contestants expect financial investment, exposure and success. However, one woman got much more than she bargained for when she found her son’s half-brother.
Last year, Zoe Chapman, 39, appeared on Dragons’ Den in an effort to win £50,000 for her award-winning product, Kiddiwhizz, a unisex compact toilet.
During the show, Zoe revealed that the invention came to her when she found herself caring for her young son and his father, who both heartbreakingly needed 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 global lockdown of 2020, she underwent spinal surgery and wondered what she wished she had always done.
In 2021, Zoe created a portable toilet and quickly won awards for her incredible invention.
And in 2022, she caught the attention of the producers of Dragons’ Den, 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 followed changed her life forever.
Speaking to The Independent, Zoe recalled the weeks following her appearance and admitted 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 mothers called Frolo asked me to write a blog post about my experience.”
Her blog post received a lot of attention and a woman named Jess immediately sent Zoe an email that left the single mother wondering if she was “delusional.”
In Jess’s email, she wrote: ‘I know this is going to sound really weird, but I’ve seen your story and I think our kids have the same father.’
Speaking to The Independent, Zoe recalled the weeks after her appearance and admitted the show “saved my business and changed everything for me” after a woman called 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 kids have the same father.’
The businesswoman told the publication that she became pregnant when she was 27 by a man who she initially believed treated her “properly” but who soon became “dominant” and “obsessive.”
She said that 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 that she have an abortion, however, she wanted a baby, so the couple eventually split up and he had nothing to do with their child.
Jess told Zoe that she had a three-year-old daughter, and although Zoe was initially confused by the message, as soon as the woman said the name of her children’s father, she knew it was true and the women arranged to meet up.
She told the publication: “When he read my story, he said the similarities immediately struck him.”
“My son’s father had done exactly the same thing to her. He had told Jess he wanted her to have an abortion and used my son as an example of a child he already had that he wasn’t looking after. She said there were even more of us.”
Zoe revealed that they introduced their children shortly after meeting each other and that 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 up several times, and Zoe confessed how grateful she was when she said she “would never have found out” if it weren’t for Dragons’ Den.