Page 341 - James Caan - The Real Deal

33 · Into the Den

journey. My journey was about meeting everyone and talking to
Aisha and the girls about it, but I never thought, ‘I really want to
do this and if I don’t get it I’ll be gutted.’ The decision about
whether I joined the panel or not would be made by the journey,
not me.
Of course, there was one thing that no one was mentioning:
were they considering me as an addition to the panel, or were they
thinking of replacing a Dragon? When they told me they would be
making a substitution, the obvious question was ‘Who’s leaving?’
‘We can’t tell you that.’
I was then introduced to the series producer, and she talked me
through the filming schedule and commitments, and eventually
they asked me if I wanted to join. I had enjoyed meeting everyone
on the show so much that I said yes. Ever since my gap year I had
been interested in projects that created change, and I saw joining
the show as a huge opportunity for change: who knows what will
come of it, I thought. They then made the announcement to the
press, which confirmed that I would be replacing Richard Farleigh,
the very popular Australian financier.
Duncan and Deborah were right: the attention was instant and,
it turned out, unstoppable. I hadn’t even started filming and
already journalists were calling the office every day. Suddenly I
was being asked for my opinion on interest rates and the economy
and invited on to news programmes as a pundit. I was stunned.
Then the Asian press picked up on the story, and suddenly every
Asian magazine and newspaper wanted to profile me: an Asian
Dragon was big news.
It was also news to Richard Farleigh. I read an interview with
him in the Evening Standard saying he was disappointed to have
been asked to leave. He had relocated from Monaco to England
to be part of the show and had made more investments than some
of the other Dragons. I don’t know why they chose to replace
Richard – I thought he came across very well on TV and brought

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