BBC accused of letting Dragons’ Den entrepreneur make ‘unfounded health claims’
A Dragons’ Den entrepreneur accused of making unfounded health claims for her “ear seeds” business has said the BBC urged her to apply for the show.
Giselle Boxer pitched her “beauty and wellness” concept to the Dragons on the BBC One series, claiming that ear seeds – beads which stick on to the ear – had aided her recovery from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
All six investors, including “guest Dragon” Gary Neville, offered to back Ms Boxer’s business, but the charity Action for ME criticised the programme for “promoting misleading information” and allowing Ms Boxer to make “unevidenced claims” about the efficacy of ear seeds.
Ms Boxer has now defended herself, saying: “Funnily enough, they [the BBC] contacted me and I received an email from a researcher there and I initially thought it was a spam email.
“We went through the different stages of the application process and there was so much due diligence and they really looked into every part of my business before I went in to pitch to the Dragons.”
The BBC said it was common practice for researchers to approach entrepreneurs, rather than to rely on applications to the programme.
According to the Daily Mirror, Ms Boxer said she “never said the ear seeds are a cure” but that they formed part of the healing approaches that supported her recovery.
Appearing on the programme earlier this month, Ms Boxer told the Dragons: “Four years ago I was diagnosed with ME. I went from working in a top advertising agency with a busy social life and exercising regularly to being mostly housebound, unable to walk for more than five minutes without having to get back into bed.
“I was told by doctors that I would never recover, work again or have children. I went on a personal healing journey using diet, acupuncture, Chinese herbs and ear seeds. Using this combination, I believe, aided my recovery within 12 months.”
Ms Boxer, who now has a young daughter, claimed that the seeds “send signals to the brain and body to relax the nervous system, release endorphins and naturally release pain”.
‘Serious error of judgment’
But Dr Charles Shepherd, adviser to the ME Association, said in a letter to the BBC: “There appears to have been a serious error of judgment in the way in which Dragons’ Den failed to carry out the necessary background checks on the ethics of this product and went ahead to provide what was basically an uncritical promotion of an unproven medical product.”
Dr Shepherd and fellow campaigners also said: “Given the episode in question was aired during primetime on BBC One, we worry that a larger audience will have heard this pitch, which amounts to an unfounded claim that this form of alternative medicine can cure ME.”
The Dragons described the product as “brilliant”. One, Sara Davies, said she used ear seeds regularly.
Ms Boxer said her kits cost £3 to make but retailed for £30, and that she had made a net profit of £64,000 in her first year of trading.
She chose Steven Bartlett as her investor. His brother, Jason Bartlett, was last week appointed as director of Ms Boxer’s company.
A BBC spokesman said: “Dragons’ Den features products from entrepreneurs and is not an endorsement of them. Dragons’ Den shows real businesses pitching to investors to lift the lid on what happens in the business world. This episode features an entrepreneur sharing their own, personal experience that led to a business creation.”
