Doubles: Tracey Cannon with two fans of the dolls

When they appeared on Dragons’ Den to drum up investment in their range of lookalike children’s dolls, the verdict of the millionaire entrepreneurs was a humiliating ‘no’.

Mother and son Tracey and Keiran Cannon were told in no uncertain terms that the business they had sunk their every penny into was ‘unviable’ – and were advised to quit.

But now they have proved the BBC Dragons wrong, landing a £100,000 deal with toy store Hamleys.

The pair were derided by all five tycoons when they sought investment for their £65 My Lookalike Doll – a 18in figure which children can customise to make ‘mini-me’ versions of themselves.

Design guru Kelly Hoppen told them: ‘This is not a viable business I would want to put my money into.’ And mobile phone boss Peter Jones warned: ‘Do not spend another pound taking this forward.’

The pair, who wanted a £75,000 investment, left the den brokenhearted. Mrs Cannon, 45, said: ‘Going on Dragons’ Den was absolutely devastating – one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. But the rejection by the Dragons made both of us even more determined to succeed, whatever the odds.’

The order from Hamleys marks a reversal in the company’s fortunes – and could place My Lookalike Doll in the list of successful ideas rejected by the TV experts, including The Trunki suitcase, ‘cup-a-wine’ and Tangle Teezer.

Mrs Cannon said: ‘Hamleys made an initial order of 100 dolls plus outfits which sold out. So this week they ordered 500 more – and told us they will need at least a further 500 dolls plus accessories by Christmas. The whole order is worth around £100,000 and they’re worried we won’t be able to make them fast enough.’

Mrs Cannon, from Glasgow, set up the company in 2011 after a visit to the States, where she bought a doll for her daughter, Khyra, now 11, which ‘looked so much like her’.

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Spooked: Design guru Dragon Kelly Hoppen was creeped out by her lookalike doll and hid it under her chair

The doll was such a hit with Khyra and her friends that Mrs Cannon decided to start the business with her son, now 23. She said: ‘I knew I was taking a gamble but I took redundancy from my lecturing job, putting the £20,000 pay-off into the business. A further £40,000 came from remortgaging the house, £20,000 from a bank loan and the rest was made up of savings. It amounted to £120,000 to make hundreds of dolls, matching clothes children can buy to wear themselves, plus storage.’

Sitting pretty: Rob Law, creator of the Trunki, sits on top of his invention at home in Bristol

She says she knew their appearance on the show in September last year, was doomed to failure as soon as they gave Ms Hoppen one of their dolls. ‘I’d had it specially made with curly hair like Kelly’s,’ she recalls, ‘but although Deborah Meaden seemed impressed with her lookalike, Kelly seemed terrified by hers and hid it under her chair.’

Worse was to come. ‘When Duncan Bannatyne said “it’s not going to be a great business”, my heart sank,’ she says. ‘At the time we were only selling three dolls a week. No one seemed interested that we were a brand-new start-up. They were quite rude.’

Ms Meaden was concerned no shop would have enough shelf space to show the 133 types of dolls, while internet tycoon Piers Linney agreed that the amount of stock would ‘keep me awake at night’.

Mrs Cannon, married to engineer Allan, 47, said: ‘The Dragons made us look like fools. Although I realise their blunt comments made good TV, it was a crushing blow. But our passion for the dolls and belief the Dragons were wrong kept us going.