A young man from Liverpool featured on Thursday's episode of Dragons' Den, keen to gain investment for his eco-friendly cleaning range.
But as the dragons grilled him on his products, it came to light that Louis Claeys had received a nightmare call just 24 hours before appearing in the den.
Former engineer Louis pitched his company, Opal Eco, which is an environmentally friendly disinfectant product with results said to last for much longer than others on the market.
READ MORE: Emmerdale error spotted as Charles visits Manpreet in hospital
A fan of all things green, Deborah Meaden was particularly interested as he made his pitch.
Louis explained he formerly worked as an engineer, with the cleaning products as a side hustle.
When his wife became pregnant, he decided working miles away from home wasn't sustainable and decided to throw himself head first into his own business.
But before long, Louis made an admission that changed everything.
He told the dragons he does not have exclusive rights to sell the product in the UK, due to regulation changes following Brexit.
Louis was, he said, hoping to change this and had been having crisis talks with the brand - but this had all happened just the day before he appeared on the show.
He said: "I've spoken to them on Zoom... for like an hour and a half, but obviously that's not long enough to sort... get this exclusivity that we want.
"But if I have a Dragon on board..."
Deborah was firm but fair, saying: "It's not catastrophic, it's a setback but you can carry on your business.
"Boy, do I feel for you but not having an exclusive deal has severely hit the valuation of your business.
"Do I think for one second it's investment ready? I don't."
Other dragons followed suit, meaning Louis left the den empty-handed.
Viewers clearly felt for him, and took to Twitter to share their thoughts.
Alice2127 said: "Poor guy, I want to give him a hug"
Team Toff said: "That was literally so sad."
Tash Amaka said: "Aww, just pure bad luck. Keep pushing through, you have the right attitude to succeed."
Harlee Wootton said: "Wanted to cry for him"
Ellis Owen said: "I feel so sorry for this man, really wanted him to smash it"
Dragons Den continues on BBC One and iPlayer on Thursdays at 8pm
Receive newsletters with the biggest and breaking TV and showbiz news by signing up here
