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Oakville Couple Wins Armchair Dragon Contest
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Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - Oakville Ontario News
Joined by Dragons Jim Treliving and Brett Wilson of CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Dennis Fortnum, National Leader for KPMG EnterpriseTM, officially announced this season’s winning entrepreneur of the Armchair Dragon contest — John Vellinga of Slava Vodka from Oakville, Ontario.
Brought to you by CBC’s Dragons’ Den and KPMG Enterprise, the Armchair Dragon contest allows viewers to vote on their favourite pitcher from the 2009/2010 season who did not accept a deal from the Dragons. As the winner of the contest, John Vellinga of Slava Vodka receives $25,000 in services from KPMG Enterprise. More than 7,685 votes from viewers were cast over 18 episodes.
“The Armchair Dragon contest has helped us build a real relationship with our viewers, who in turn have become a passionate community onto themselves on our website," says Dragons’ Den executive producer, Tracie Tighe. "Viewers are savvy, and I think in John Vellinga they saw a passionate entrepreneur with a solid product who pulled out all the stops for a really dynamic pitch."
“This season saw remarkable pitches nominated by the viewers,” explained Dennis Fortnum. “Every day, as we work closely with entrepreneurs and private company owners, we learn about their business stories, and John’s rising success with premium vodkas is the making of yet another great Canadian business success story.”
“Thanks to the viewers, we entered the Dragons’ Den and came out a winner,” said John Vellinga, Owner of Slava Ultra Premium and Zirkova Vodkas. “Our small business is doubling sales in Ontario and the Prairie Provinces and we are on deck to enter BC and Quebec. This has been great for us and the award is a real honour.”
DRAGONS’ DEN is hosted by Dianne Buckner and features Dragons Arlene Dickinson, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary, Jim Treliving, and W. Brett Wilson. It is one of the top-rated Canadian-produced reality television shows in the country. Recently, the March 17th season finale special, “The Road to Riches,” drew an audience of 2.15 million viewers.