Abspak on Dragons’ Den: What happened to Clay O’Shea’s invention?
Dragons’ Den returned to our screens this summer with ‘Best Ever Pitches’, exploring some of the most memorable pitches over the last fifteen years. This trip down memory lane has reintroduced viewers to the likes of wacky inventors Rupert Sweet-Scott to their greatest rejections such as Tangle Teezer, Trunkies and so on. Episode 6 (Sunday, […]
Dragons’ Den returned to our screens this summer with ‘Best Ever Pitches’, exploring some of the most memorable pitches over the last fifteen years.
This trip down memory lane has reintroduced viewers to the likes of wacky inventors Rupert Sweet-Scott to their greatest rejections such as Tangle Teezer, Trunkies and so on.
Episode 6 (Sunday, July 5th) focussed on some of the BBC show’s most passionate candidates to date. One of such was former boxer Clay O’Shea who entered the show with his invention, Abspak. But where is Clay now? What happened to him after the cameras stopped rolling?
Who is Clay O’Shea?
Clay O’Shea, 53, is a former professional boxer from north London. He made his professional debut on February 20th, 1990 against Carlton Myers and won.
Clay’s boxing career spanned from 1990 to 1995.
He later rose to prominence for appearing on Dragons’ Den in 2012. Clay looked at fit as ever on the BBC show, given that he’d been out of the ring for 17 years. Clay explained that he runs a Lonsdale gym in Notting Hill, which he continues to run to this date.
You can read about Clay’s full BoxRec here.
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Clay O’Shea introduces Abspak
Clay entered the Den seeking a £50,000 investment for a 25% share in his business, Abspak.
In his Dragons’ Den pitch, Clay explained:
I’ve not got the best business brain, but what I do feel is that I’m a decent inventor and I’ve come up with a really good idea. And with my beautiful idea and your beautiful brains, I feel that there’s no reason why Abspak can’t become the best bit of kit in the UK.
Abspak is an exercise belt which you wear while doing crunches to avoid damaging your neck and spine.
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What happened to Abspak?
Abspak failed to gain any investment while on the show, as the Dragons poked holes in Clay’s business plan. Although he had the passion, he did not have the security to make the Abspak a worthwhile investment. Clay did not have any legal protection apart from the trademark on the brand name.
It is likely that Clay has given up on his invention, as we checked out the Abspak website and the domain is currently for sale.
We also found Clay on Twitter, however he has not tweeted since 2012.
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