Dragons’ Den’s Sara Davies: ‘I’ve been defined by my net-worth – it upset me’ 

‘It really used to upset me that when I used to Google myself, just to see what people are looking for. It was always “Sara Davies net-worth”.’

Sara Davies has long been defined by numbers – profits, investments, valuations – but it’s the ones attached to her name that once bothered her most.

Before her television fame, she was simply a young entrepreneur from the North East with an idea born at university. But as her public profile grew, the fascination with her wealth seemed to eclipse everything else.

Davies became an overnight celebrity when she joined Dragons’ Den in 2019, making history as the youngest investor the show had ever seen at 35 years old.

The moment felt full circle: 13 years earlier, she was asked by producers to pitch the business she founded as a student to the dragons of the time.

From the outset, Davies brought something refreshingly different to the notoriously cut-throat den.

Where others leaned into blunt dismissals and steely negotiating tactics, she offered warmth alongside frank honesty. For six years, she proved that empathy and commercial savvy didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.

On a show famous for taking no prisoners, her presence softened the edges without dulling the stakes.

Since then, she has increasingly become known not just for the millions in the bank but for her personality, grit, and ability to inspire.

In 2021, she competed on Strictly Come Dancing, revealing a different side to the businesswoman audiences thought they knew. The television work has continued to pile up ever since, gradually shifting her public identity from investor to household name.

We’re speaking over Zoom just days after Davies launched what could be the biggest gamble of her career so far: Time Is Money, ITV’s new high-pressure quiz show, which she hosts.

‘Usually, people who get to host quiz shows, they’ve either been presenters or comedians all their life,’ she admits to Metro.

But Time Is Money feels purpose-built for Davies’ unique skill set.

Five players are handed £1,000 before answering a single question, but with every second that ticks by, the prize pot shrinks. Beat your rivals to the right answer and survive; hesitate too long, and you’re out.

Essentially, each contestant is handed an investment and faced with a familiar dilemma: grow it or lose it. The format moves at a relentless pace because, as the title promises, time really is money. For Davies, it’s a pressure oven – one where precision is everything, and mistakes are costly.

‘If I make any stumble, they have to stop recording. I have to walk off the floor, the adjudicator comes down, explains what’s going on to the contestants, and then they have to watch it back to see where I fumbled to then pick it up.

‘It really changes the energy in the room so I learn very quickly not to make a mistake, and the thing is, I’ve got such a delightful accent that actually sometimes me just trying to pronounce some of these European footballers and Shakespearean characters is quite challenging.’

I really felt the pressure, but it’s because I wanted to do well for the contestants’

Mistakes are inevitable, but when they could mean the difference between a contestant leaving with a financial boost or walking away with nothing, the pressure puts Davies in an unusually vulnerable position. It’s a far cry from the den, where she held the power.

In preparation, she put in the work – practising for an hour every day, drilling words that didn’t come naturally until they were pitch perfect.

‘The producers got to know me too, so every time we were coming up to a word I knew was potentially a challenge, half a heartbeat before they repeated it in my ear so that I could get it perfect.

‘That was a whole new skill, so I really felt the pressure, but it’s because I wanted to do well for the contestants. I’m feeling the pressure of the show, but I’m looking at them thinking, “This is the first time they’ve been on telly. This is their big moment, and they could win all this money.”’

Becoming the next quiz master was never on Davies’ bucket list. Still, she jokes: ‘I was mentored for this show by Bradley Walsh. He’s just got no idea.’

‘I spent too many years being told that my gut wasn’t good enough’

She studied Walsh’s work on The Chase, another fast-paced ITV juggernaut, paying close attention to how he balances authority with warmth.

‘You don’t get good at something by accident,’ she says. ‘I always talk about something called silent mentorship when people who don’t know they’re mentoring yet, but they are.

‘I’ve been a contestant on shows he’s hosted before. When I went on Blankety Blank, he came and spoke to me when I was in hair and makeup.

‘The way he liaised with everybody before the cameras started rolling, he’d made me feel a certain way to make you do better on the show, and it made better telly. I’m trying to emulate that, I’m trying to channel my inner Bradley.’

‘I’d love to say that someday I’ll be able to do some more Dragons’ Den again’

Davies’ first episode aired just months after her final appearance on Dragons’ Den. She insists the timing was purely coincidental.

The decision to step away wasn’t driven by television ambition, but by business. After screen-testing for Time Is Money at the end of 2024, she unexpectedly bought back her first company, Crafter’s Companion.

The move raised eyebrows. The business had struggled post-pandemic, at one point coming close to collapse and threatening over 100 jobs. Revitalising it meant stepping back from the den to focus her energy where it mattered most.

‘A lot of people in business would say I shouldn’t have done that but it’s about what was the right decision for the people. I spent too many years being told that my gut wasn’t good enough and my gut didn’t have enough experience to make the decisions I wanted to make.’

In her final weeks as a Dragon, Davies was part of one of the biggest deals in the show’s history. Alongside Steven Bartlett, they invested £500,000 for a combined 2% stake in a cutting-edge hair dye tech company. Across her time in the den, she backed more than 20 businesses, investing almost £2 million in total.

‘I spoke to the Dragons’ Den producers, and just said, “I can’t commit to this season.” It’s not the filming commitment, it’s ending up with potentially a dozen new businesses.’

With so many livelihoods tied to her decisions, I ask how she manages the responsibility. Her answer reveals a leadership style rooted in community rather than control.

‘I have a conference every year, and I bring them all up to the northeast, put them up lovely hotel for a couple of nights, and I do business seminars. My husband will teach them accountancy, I’ll bring in cash flow specialists, and we did what big thing on personal branding this year.

‘I do a lot of kinds of coaching with them, but then I have them support each other as well, and that just works really well. It’s a special, exclusive club.’

As for returning to the den, Davies isn’t ruling it out entirely. ‘I’d love to say that someday I’ll be able to do some more Dragons’ Den again, because I absolutely love it and it’s who I am. But it was a, it’s just too big a commitment to commit to.’

For now, she’s redefining what success looks like – less about net worth, more about impact, happiness and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to take on new unexpected challenges like hosting a game show.

Time Is Money airs weekdays at 3pm on ITV.

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