Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett has resigned as a director of nutrition brand Huel.
No reason has been given for his exit but documents filed at Companies House show the 32-year-old left his role on January 20th after nearly four years.
In the documents he’s described as a consultant.
Huel – which gets its name from the combination of Human + Fuel – was founded in 2015 by Julian Hearn.
Last year the host of the Diary of a CEO podcast came under fire after he promoted Huel and Zoe on Facebook in February without disclosing that he is an investor in Zoe and a director at Huel.
The ASA said the ads could have been mistaken for an independent review, which was contested by both Huel and Zoe.
In the two banned ads for Huel, Bartlett was shown drinking a supplement beverage and claiming it is the best product released by the company to date.
Bartlett shot to fame as the co-founder of Manchester-based social media marketing agency Social Chain in 2014 before becoming the youngest ever Dragon on Dragons’ Den.
In December, Bartlett was in the headlines again after a BBC investigation claimed guests on his Diary of a CEO podcast were making an average of 14 harmful health claims on each episode.
The podcast initially focused on entrepreneurship and business when it launched in 2017 but has concentrated more on health-related issues since 2020.
It’s produced by his podcast production company Flight Studio.
Bartlett hasn’t commented on allegations but his company Flight Studio hit back in a strongly-worded statement
“The Diary Of A CEO (DOAC), is an open-minded, long-form conversation with world leaders, global experts, CEOs, athletes, authors, actors and other individuals identified for their distinguished and eminent career and/or consequential life experience,” it said.
“Each guest episode is thoroughly researched prior to commission. DOAC offers guests freedom of expression and believes that progress, growth and learning comes from hearing a range of voices, not just those Steven and the DOAC team necessarily agree with.”