Steven Bartlett faces questions over hit Diary of a CEO podcast

Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett is facing questions over his hit Diary of a CEO podcast after a investigation by BBC News raised concerns over health claims made by several guests.

The entrepreneur, who made his fortune after co-founding Social Chain in Manchester after dropping out of university, has been accused of amplifying harmful health misinformation on the podcast.

According to the BBC, guests on Steven Bartlett’s show were allowed to put forward claims such as that cancer can be treated by following a keto diet, rather than proven treatments.

BBC World Service looked at 15 health-related podcast episodes which were each found to contained an average of 14 harmful health claims that went against extensive scientific evidence.

In a statement Flight Studio, Bartlett’s production company, said guests were offered “freedom of expression” and were “thoroughly researched”.

A spokesperson for Flight Studio said: “The Diary Of A CEO (DOAC), is an open-minded, long-form conversation with world leaders, global experts, CEOs, athletes, authors, actors, and other individuals identified for their distinguished and eminent career and/or consequential life experience.

“Each guest episode is thoroughly researched prior to commission. DOAC offers guests freedom of expression and believes that progress, growth and learning comes from hearing a range of voices, not just those Steven and the DOAC team necessarily agree with.  

“The BBC claims to have reviewed 15 specific episodes of nearly 400 published to date.

“For any reporting of DOAC to focus on less than four per cent of episodes with an extremely limited proportion of guests – some of whom have featured on the BBC – to create a broader, and in our opinion, partial narrative is disappointing, misleading and frankly, disingenuous.”

Bartlett first launched the Diary of a CEO podcast in 2017 and initially focused on entrepreneurship and business.

In an interview with The Times in April, Bartlett said he expected the podcast to generate £20m in 2024.

Earlier this year, adverts featuring Steven Bartlett for nutrition brands Zoe and Huel have been banned after it was ruled they failed to disclose their commercial relationship with the celebrity entrepreneur.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has said the adverts, which were seen on Facebook in February, “omitted material information” about their links to Bartlett.

Bartlett is an investor in Zoe and a director at Huel.

The ASA found the two adverts for Huel and one for Zoe were misleading or likely to mislead consumers.