Reality TV show

Related Links: Peter Jones


Tycoon axed from peak-time slot - June 27 2007

Dragon's Den star Peter Jones's new TV show has been axed from its peak-time slot.

ITV is moving Tycoon following terrible ratings.

The show was produced by the star's specially created production company Peter Jones TV.

The multi-millionaire, 41, has invested £160,000 in the ITV1 business reality programme.

Some critics dubbed his peak-time TV offering Dragons' Den meets The Apprentice, and Peter as "Sir Alan Sugar Lite".

As well as shunting the show to the 10pm slot, ITV is reducing each one-hour episode to half an hour.

The 9pm slot that's been home to Tycoon will initially be replaced with a one-hour drama, yet to be decided.

TV bosses had waited to see what happened with the second episode before making any rescheduling decisions.

Its debut was watched by two million viewers, while the second instalment last night attracted even fewer - 1.9 million.

Britain's Got Talent was seen by 6.8 million when it ran at the same time on ITV1 earlier this month.

An ITV spokesman confirmed: "Tycoon has been moved into a new slot.

"ITV1 has performed very strongly so far in 2007, with some of our best results for three years, and we have taken a commercial decision to protect that performance.

"Happily we have been able to return the series to a new slot."

Tycoon sees Jones, whose business portfolio is worth an estimated £200 million, invest time and money in six businesses.

Tycoon will return on Monday July 9, also moving from a Tuesday to a Monday.
ar

Peter Jones’ Tycoon show flops - June 21 2007
Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones could be licking his wounds today after his new TV show flopped.

The multi-millionaire invested £160,000 in ITV1 business reality show Tycoon, produced by his specially created production company Peter Jones TV.

It sees the 41-year-old, whose business portfolio is worth an estimated £200 million, invest his own time and money in six businesses, helping them to maximise their potential and profits.

But some critics dubbed the peak-time TV offering Dragons’ Den meets The Apprentice.

Last night, viewers appeared to agree, with the first show attracting just two million viewers, peaking at 2.3 million.

It was watched by only a 9% share of the TV audience at the time, and was the worst performing programme of the terrestrial channels in the 9pm slot.

Tycoon helped ITV1 get its worst all-hours performance for a Tuesday so far this year and its third-worst peak-time performance this year.

Britain’s Got Talent attracted 6.8 million when it ran at the same time on ITV1 last week.

Tycoon was up against Gordon Ramsay’s F Word, which was seen by 4.2 million and a peak of 4.7 million.

Andrew Marr’s History of Britain peaked at three million, while Lenny’s Britain, Lenny Henry’s investigation into British comedy, peaked at 3.4 million and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Five peaked at 3.1 million.

A source said: "It’s early days yet for Tycoon so at the moment we have no plans to move it."


Business is the new rock ’n’ roll- June 13 2007
Forget The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den. What happens when a new idea is introduced and a wet-behind-the-ears entrepreneur launches themselves into the cut-throat business world?

Find out next week as businessman Peter Jones embarks on new TV show Tycoon, which will see him advising wannabe business entrepreneurs.

"We all know what it’s like, me particularly, starting out in life by starting a business," he says.

"I’ve started many businesses - most of them have been successful, some have failed.

"But we go through that journey when we start a business, and we finish with a business at the end of it. And hopefully it’s going to make a lot of money."

Peter was born in 1966 and showed signs of wanting to be the boss from an early age. When he was seven, he often went to his father’s office and pretended to be in charge.

At 16, he took his Lawn Tennis Association exams to become a coach and then combined his joint loves of sport and economics by setting up a coaching school.

Throughout his 20s, Peter ran a computer company that gave him the kind of lifestyle he’d dreamed of - a nice house with a Porsche on the drive and "plenty of money to spend".

By the time he was 28, though, he was broke and had lost his car and house. He took a job at a large corporation, and within a year, he was running their business in the UK.

Peter now runs a mobile phone company, Phones International, with an annual turnover of around £150 million.

So why is he ploughing his own money into someone else’s idea?

"I’m involved and putting my money at stake because I believe there are many people in this country who have a dream to start a business, yet don’t," he says.

"Tycoon encapsulates that dream contest and dream environment."

He has no doubts about Tycoon being an entertaining show.

"I’ve always said business is the new rock ’n’ roll on television, and this programme is the most real you’ll get," he says.

"Six dreams are going to come alive. Hopefully more than one will become reality, but only one can become the Tycoon."


The Contenders

Justin Chieffo
Age: 36
Occupation: Businessman
Product: Portable carrier bag dispenser

Justin says: "My wife came up with the idea in the shower. She’s definitely part of the business and I’m just one of the big mouths."

Helen James and Cathy Caudwell-Todd
Age: Helen, 44 and Cathy, 46
Occupation: Helen was a business lecturer and Cathy, a part-time flight attendant
Product: SOD gardening, an upmarket gardening range

Helen says: "Peter has basically stamped all over our brains, smashed them to bits and we’ve had to reinvent ourselves."

Elizabeth Hackford
Age: 35
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Product: Natural fruit and alcoholic drink

Elizabeth says: "Ruth Badger and Michelle Dewberry from The Apprentice are really highly regarded and get called in to do inspirational talks. I’ll be doing that sooner or later."

Iain Morgan
Age: 29
Occupation: Sells micro cars in shopping centres
Product: Micro-radio controlled indoor helicopter

Iain says: "With this idea, I dream about it all the time."

Lauren Pope
Age: 23
Occupation: Model
Product: 100 per cent human hair clip-in hair extensions

Lauren says: "I wanted to enter Tycoon to show people that just because you’re blonde and a model, you’re not dumb and you can have a business brain."

Tom Thurlow
Age: 17
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Product: Snap News - a free newspaper for teenagers

Tom says: "I took a year off school for this, and if it takes off, I’ll never go back."


Related Links: Peter Jones

MyVillage, 13th June