Business giant Peter Jones is the most intimidating dragon in the den. But, as he tells Sarah O’Meara, he is a soft touch who has had his share of professional knock-backs.

Dragons’ Den judge Peter Jones might be slightly more photo-friendly than Britain’s other favourite go-getter, The Apprentice’s Sir Alan Sugar, but he is no less brutally honest.

However, as the sixth series of Dragons’ Den gets under way on BBC Two, he explains that sometimes the camera is less than truthful.

“I am straight-talking and to the point, but the show is edited. You’ll often just see the bit where I’m annoyed but not the warm up to it. We’re not at the inventors’ throats straight away.”

The multi-million pound mogul – also the new face of BT’s business campaign – adds that he and the other dragons have no idea who is about to come into their den.

“We’re not allowed to see people pitching their ideas beforehand. If we’re walking around outside on a hot day, they’ll pull us inside while they move the entrepreneurs out of sight..”

Having just met the latest rash of enthusiastic inventors, Peter explains he will only invest in products he would buy himself. And after putting his money behind inventor Imran Hakim and his iTeddy last year – a teddy bear with an interactive MP3 and video player in its tummy – he helped create the first Dragons’ Den millionaire. But he adds that not all the ideas are that good.

“The most absurd pitch had to be knee roller skates,” says Peter with a laugh. “The guy thought they’d be good for fathers who play ‘lions’ with their kids and crawl around on hands on knees with their kids on their backs. Never mind that they’d go hurtling into the television.”

But despite his reputation for cutting honesty, Peter is not without heart. Like any entrepreneur worth his money, the owner of multi-million pound mobile cellular solutions company, Phones International Group, which he founded in 1998, has had his fair share of false starts.

“I’ve had a lot of things that haven’t gone right but I’ve learned from my mistakes. Failure isn’t a word in my vocabulary. I think of it as feedback. There’s always a reason that things don’t work which I try and learn from.”

In March 2006, Peter Jones launched a new show in America called The Inventor. The show was network channel ABC’s biggest hit on a Thursday night for seven years, attracting more than 15 million viewers.

Often teased by the other dragons for his posh attire, Peter is keen to see off attacks on his traditional suit and tie.“I don’t like it if people look sloppy. .

“This series has been the first time fellow dragons Theo Paphitis and Duncan Bannatyne have worn a tie and cufflinks. Last season they took the mickey out of me but now they’ve upped their game.”

Perhaps more unsurprisingly the lady of the team, Deborah Meaden, has also become more concerned about her appearance.

“She’s the only one who has her own personal hairstylist, looking for every hair that’s out of place,” says Peter. “I’m on set in five minutes and there’s Deborah being manicured, with a dresser. She’s a real little superstar, although she’s still as feisty as ever.”

At six foot, seven inches Peter Jones is as intimidating physically as he is professionally.

“You don’t get to see that height when I’m sitting in a chair,” he says. “They put people like Theo in a chair with stilts to make him seem bigger, so we all look the same.”

Peter’s passion for making money has also lead him to encourage young people to go into business.

“Two years ago when I went into schools, people related talent and success to becoming a pop singer or footballer,” he says. “But for the first time this year the kids’ number one choice for a career was to become an entrepreneur which is the best thing ever.”

* Series six of Dragons’ Den begins on Monday on BBC Two.