Alex Kotai has had his time in the den. The Dragons' Den that is.
The Abbotsford businessman was part of a series of auditions held locally in March for the popular CBC television show.
Like a long line of other hopefuls, Kotai was anticipating that he'd get the call to come to Toronto for filming at the end of March.
It didn't come.
Resigned to the fact that he didn't qualify for the show, he went on working on his business called Cardioblast.com, an online workout regime.
Then, on April 23, he got the call.
"They said they want me to come to the show and film in Toronto," he said.
The only problem is they wanted him right away. His filming date was Sunday, April 28.
Having thrown out most of the props he used for his audition, Kotai had to scramble to put together a presentation in a short amount of time.
"I had to revamp it a little bit," he explained.
The filming itself was quite an experience.
Presenters are not allowed into the studio until right before filming. His presentation was set up and then moved onto the set for him. Then he waited for his cue to appear in front of the dragons.
“They're just sitting there, and they're not smiling.”
Because his episode has not been aired yet, Kotai can't say anything about the taping. Family and supporters will have to wait for the next season of the show.
“It was really cool just to talk to these people,” he said.
He will receive two months notice of when his episode will appear. It could be as long as 11 months.
Cardioblast.com charges $19.99 a month for membership which allows people to access a new online workout video every week. They also provide health and meal planning and more than 50 recipes.
Dragons' Den is a CBC television show that gives aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of wealthy Canadian business moguls, known as the Dragons.