The Dragons chickened out of investing in Fred Parry’s GPS-powered game of hide and seek in the Den tonight.

The hit BBC show featured the tech developer who founded his product – which sees teams compete across an entire city – in 2022.

One or two players in the game are named the chicken and hide in a pub or bar while the other teams try to track them down.

Their phones contain a live map which gradually narrows down to the chicken’s location.

Teams can also complete challenges for extra points – with victory going to the team that finds the chicken first or the one with the most points when the timer runs out.

The company behind Chicken Rush offers corporate events priced at £10 per person, while individual players can play for £15 apiece.

Fred entered the Den wearing a chicken costume – “I’m going to be a roasted chicken in there” he quipped beforehand – and a ridiculous intro ensued where he dashed about the studio trying to dodge two characters from Team A and Team B.

That had the Dragons laughing – but it did not last.

The entrepreneur, who came across extremely well and did not seem nervous, built all the tech himself and says it is “scalable – it can pop up in any city tomorrow”.

Having turned over £55k in year one and forecasting £164k in year two at the time of filming last year – with no full-time staff – he was looking for £50k for 10% of the business.

Fred said too many developers don’t look to the “other side” to see how the tech they have developed is received in the real world. He offered an example of people using it to find love, while he saw great opportunity in expanding the games to themes around Easter and Christmas – chasing a bunny or turkey.

He told Steven Bartlett that he wants to grow the offer to 100 games per day, which would equate to £30k revenue.

However the Perfect Ted investor asked: “What am I investing in here? A platform to scale? Because that’s what I would be interested in.”

Fred said his original pitch was about combating the loneliness epidemic, but he changed tack late on – and Bartlett would have preferred that. He found the pitch “distracting”.

Also declining to invest was Peter Jones, who said the business is basically “chasing a chicken around a city”. 

Deborah Meaden said Fred needs an investor but couldn’t see how she could invest the time he needs, while Touker Suleyman also dropped out in typically abrupt style.

Guest Dragon Jenna Meek said she thought Fred was great and saw something in “this chicken play”.

She added: “I’d love to help you, but I’m out.”

The series has reached its halfway point and is now taking a break until later in the year.