{"id":729669,"date":"2026-01-30T00:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/729669\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T00:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:16:13","slug":"who-is-jenna-meek-everything-you-need-to-know-as-she-joins-dragons-den","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/729669\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Jenna Meek? Everything you need to know as she joins Dragons’ Den"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jenna Meek, co-founder and CEO of beauty brand REFY, is appearing as a guest Dragon on the BBC show\"The<\/p>\n

Jenna Meek from Bishop Auckland in the North East is set to appear on Dragon Den (Image: Instagram)<\/p>\n

Dragons’ Den<\/a> is set to return to BBC <\/a>screens with a fresh series, as ambitious entrepreneurs once again pitch for an investment from the panel.<\/p>\n

Sharp-eyed viewers will spot a major shake-up this year following Sara Davies’s exit.<\/a> The businesswoman confirmed she was taking a break “for now” last year.<\/p>\n

The line-up will have a different feel, with Peter Jones<\/a>, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, and Steven Bartlett all back, joined by several guest dragons throughout the series.<\/p>\n

Among the new faces joining the panel is Jenna Meek from Bishop Auckland in the North East. The entrepreneur serves as co-founder and chief executive of beauty brand REFY.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2020, the company has emerged as one of Britain’s fastest-expanding beauty businesses, with annual revenue topping \u00a340 million, according to Chronicle Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Jenna<\/p>\n

Jenna Meek from Bishop Auckland in the North East is set to appear on Dragon Den(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Discussing entering the den, Jenna said: \u201cWhen I was little, I always used to watch Dragons\u2019 Den with my dad and always aspired to be on the show as an entrepreneur, so to be here as a Dragon is surreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the types of businesses I\u2019m interested in, I\u2019m less focused on specific sectors and more drawn to founders who are genuinely reshaping their industries. I love seeing entrepreneurs innovating, challenging norms, and reshaping within their space – that really excites and inspires me!\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cI think I\u2019m quite a funny Dragon! I definitely found myself sticking up for the entrepreneurs and even telling the other Dragons off a few times. I really resonated with the people standing in front of us because I was in their position almost eight years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was empathetic towards the entrepreneurs and much more competitive with my fellow Dragons. I was still very much a Dragon, just maybe a tougher one on the panel than on the entrepreneurs! It surprised me how protective I felt over them, but it felt very true to who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

Speaking about what surprised you about the experience of being in the Den, she explained: \u201cWhat was surprising for me was how real and intense the environment was.<\/p>\n

“I think I underestimated how daunting it was for the entrepreneurs to come into the Den, pitch their business that they have worked tirelessly to build all whilst being on national television. I felt a lot of empathy for that and made me want to champion them even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cThe process itself also surprised me. It is exactly how you see it on TV, just a shorter version. You get no prior knowledge of the businesses; you get a quick look at the product on the table, and as soon as the cameras start rolling, the entrepreneur walks in, and the decisions we had to make were genuinely huge. I think that\u2019s what struck me the most: just how authentic, unfiltered, and real the whole experience truly is.”<\/p>\n

Dragons\u2019 Den returns tonight (January 29) at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **<\/strong>Everything Gossip<\/strong><\/a>** website**<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jenna Meek, co-founder and CEO of beauty brand REFY, is appearing as a guest Dragon on the BBC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[192,106875,77,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-729669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-dragons-den","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115981175164296409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}