Is Stephen Bartlett all that he claims to be? His 'billion-pound' company that never was... and the truth about his insistence his 'parents had no money'
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Given its lengthy history, it's perhaps understandable that Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett has had to cast his net ever wider for guests to appear on his popular podcast, The Diary Of A CEO (DOAC). In the seven years since it started, Bartlett, 32, has interviewed everyone from Sir Richard Branson to Boris Johnson and Simon Cowell — not to mention dozens of other business leaders — in the process turning his podcast into a global brand that regularly ranks in the top five most popular in the world.
![[In February, a personal trainer branded Steven Bartlett 'the biggest factor of misinformation on the planet' and slammed the businessman for 'platforming charlatans' on his podcast]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/22/16/80921235-14219029-In_February_a_personal_trainer_branded_Steven_Bartlett_the_bigge-a-83_1734883781298.jpg)
Recently however, Bartlett's choice of guests have been noticeably more off piste. Earlier this month, for example, the episode featured a near two-hour chat with self-styled 'orgasm queen' and 'intimacy coach' Susan Bratton, discussing how listeners could have better sex.
![[The Dragons on BBC's Dragons Den featuring Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/22/16/93404865-14219029-image-a-104_1734886072063.jpg)
A week later, the founder of Science of People — a business that coaches people in communication skills — Vanessa van Edwards talked about body language and the importance of getting the right 'resting face'. This kind of focus is certainly a shift away from the podcast's origins, which have latterly morphed from an exploration of what it takes to be an entrepreneur into more off-beat, fringe territory – although the BBC used two rather more critical adjectives to describe some of the content hawked to its more than eight million regular subscribers.
![[Bartlett first attracted controversy in January for supporting a firm that claimed to resolve symptoms of the debilitating illness ME with stick-on ear 'seeds'. Charities claimed there was no evidence that the 'seeds' can help the condition.]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/22/16/81494803-14219029-Bartlett_first_attracted_controversy_in_January_for_supporting_a-a-84_1734883810807.jpg)
In an investigation published last week, they claimed Bartlett was amplifying 'harmful' health misinformation, allowing dubious — and disproven — claims from guests to pass by unchallenged in a fashion that could create a 'dangerous' legacy of distrust of conventional medicine.
![[Steven Barlett's brother Jason became CEO of the ear seeds firm, only to silently step aside from the role months later, following the controversy.]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/22/16/80354793-14219029-Steven_Barlett_s_brother_Jason_became_CEO_of_the_ear_seeds_firm_-a-85_1734883818715.jpg)
