Karren Brady is the bookies’ favourite to replace Sara Davies MBE on Dragons’ Den.
North East-based entrepreneur Davies has announced that she will be stepping away from the hit BBC show after five series.
She joined the show in 2019, becoming the youngest-ever female Dragon to appear on it at 35 years of age.
The Crafter’s Companion founder has made the decision to prioritise her business, which she returned to as CEO in January. Davies, who received an MBE in 2016 for services to the economy, revealed that she even worked on Christmas Day to save the company she founded as a student following its administration.
All investments that Davies made during her time on the show can be seen here.
Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge CBE, vice-chair of West Ham United and an aide to Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, has been given odds of 6/4 to replace her by Card Player.
Lord Sugar himself is 25/1 to take a seat in the Den.
Brady leads the market ahead of Emma Grede (2/1), who has already featured as a guest Dragon in the 21st season of the popular show.
Trinny Woodall, another former guest Dragon, is 4/1 to occupy the vacant hotseat, while lifestyle expert Alison Cork and Labour party life-peer Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton CBE trail in the market at 10/1 and 20/1 respectively.
J.K. Rowling (28/1) and Rishi Sunak (33/1) are outsiders to land a seat in The Den.
Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge CBE
Baroness Brady is one of the most influential, high-profile and respected female business leaders in the UK. Vice-chair of Premier League football club West Ham United, she was previously a key consultant for Syco Entertainment, a company jointly owned by Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment. Lady Brady entered the House of Lords in 2014 and received a CBE from the Queen for her services to business, entrepreneurship and women in business.
Emma Grede
LA-based Emma Grede is a British businesswoman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. CEO and co-founder of denim brand Good American alongside Khloé Kardashian, she went on to co-found SKIMS, a solutions-oriented brand creating the next generation of underwear, loungewear and shapewear; and is the co-founder of Safely, a plant-powered cleaning brand delivering clean cleaning products to the masses. A former guest Dragon.
Trinny Woodall
Trinny Woodall has enjoyed a 30-year media career, including as a co-host of hit BBC series What Not to Wear and Trinny & Susannah Undress… with Susannah Constantine. She has sold more than 3m fashion books worldwide and appeared several times as a makeover and fashion expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Woodall founded stackable makeup and skincare brand Trinny London in 2017. A former guest Dragon.
Alison Cork MBE
Interior design expert Alison Cork MBE is founder of Alison at Home, an affordable homeware brand, and a household name owing to her work on television and radio. She started out as co-founder of Carnell Ltd., a publishing company which she floated on the stock exchange, and is the author of several books. Her broadcasting career began in 1996 when she presented ITV’s Home in the Country. Since then, she has presented ITV’s 60 Minute Makeover, Get the Look For Less, and Channel 4’s Secret Removers. Also founder of The National Women’s Enterprise Network and National Women’s Enterprise Week, she was appointed an MBE in the 2023 New Year’s Honours List.
Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton CBE
Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson
Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton CBE is the former CEO of Darktrace plc and part of the team who founded the Cambridge cybersecurity giant in 2013 then listed it on the London Stock Exchange in 2021. She left after overseeing its £4.3bn sale to US private equity giant Thoma Bravo last year and was subsequently appointed Minister for Investment within the Labour Cabinet. She was made Poppy Gustafsson OBE for services to cyber security in 2019 then honoured with a CBE earlier this year.
Lord Sugar
Lord Alan Sugar (Baron Sugar of Clapham) is among the most well-known British self-made businessmen. Starting work as a salesman when he was just 16, he gradually built up his business empire and became famous as the founder of Amstrad, which manufactured and sold 8-bit home computers in the 1980s. He was the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC from 1991 until 2001. Since 2005, Lord Sugar has been the star of the popular TV series The Apprentice.
J.K. Rowling
A former researcher at Amnesty International and teacher, J.K. Rowling is the world-famous author of the Harry Potter books which were made into eight worldwide smash films. She launched digital company Pottermore in 2012, which became Wizarding World Digital in 2019 and continues to be the global digital publisher of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and the Wizarding World. Among her other works are a series of crime novels, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, featuring private detective Cormoran Strike. She has courted controversy with her views on transgender identity.
Rishi Sunak
Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was defeated in last year’s General Election by Keir Starmer’s Labour after serving in the role for less than two years. He was succeeded as party leader by Kemi Badenoch, his Shadow Housing Secretary, four months after the election. Sunak previously spent more than two years as Chancellor, where he led the UK’s financial response to COVID-19, before initially losing the Tory leadership contest to short-lived PM Liz Truss. He was elected as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 2017, 2019 and 2024. Earlier in his career he worked at Goldman Sachs and served as a partner at two hedge fund firms.