Dragons' Den returned to our screens last night for its eighth series. Despite the challenging economic times, the programme still seems able to draw from a bottomless pool of inventors, crackpots and entrepreneurs. The format of the show doesn't seem to have changed since its launch in 2005 – Theo Paphitis gets to break something, Duncan Bannatyne gets to reveal some bizarre fact about his pre-business life (last night we learned that he spent his 20s as a beach bum in Jersey), Deborah Meaden all but breathes fire as she rebukes the specimens before her, James Caan purrs suggestively as he strokes his cash and Peter Jones manages to plug at least one of his success stories (he's the man behind the man behind Reggae Reggae Sauce). This last fact played a huge part in last night's show, when a young mum and non-dairy dessert innovator plumped for a combination of Jones and Bannatyne to help her become the Levi Roots of the frozen foods aisle. The success stories are great, of course, but what we really love the show for is the terrible ideas — last night Bannatyne claimed that a man who wanted to stick flashing disco lights on No Exit signs had come up with the worst ever.

Oh, what a short memory he has. Here are our favourite bad Dragon's Den products. As ever, let us know your favourites below. Some vast percentage of gardeners injure their backs while digging in the garden, apparently, which is no doubt costing the British taxpayer billions in hospital bills. If only there was some kind of magical device that would make digging less dangerous. Fortunately there is and it's brilliant, however you'll never be able to buy one because the bright sparks who invented it couldn't think of a name to call it, so they christened it "The Thingy". And for that reason, "I'm out." Mike Carr entered the den with what he believed to be the greatest driving safety product of all time – a single glove that you put on your right hand when you travel abroad to remind you to drive on the correct side of the road. That's it – a glove. And for this piece of genius he wanted the dragons to give him £100,000. As suave Aussie Richard Farley put it: "Something tells me this isn't going to work."

Stuart Saunders's invention – a quick-spreading adhesive system, a vast tank that took 20 minutes to strap to his back and looked about as portable as an iron lung – wasn't exactly a hit with the dragons. When zillionaire Peter Jones scoffed: "You look like Buzz Lightyear", inventor Stuart looked at him as if he wanted to grout his eyeballs. As if this wasn't humiliating enough, the boss of Ryman accused him of having some sick infatuation with tiling. Yeah, phwoar, tiles, eh, eh, know what I mean? Many great products down the years have provided solutions to problems we never knew we had – in the 1980s, Shake 'n' Vac persuaded the British nation to sprinkle talcum powder on their carpets because "when a carpet smells fresh, a room does too". However Jill Parkinson (and her business partner, the mysterious Mr X) may have drastically overestimated our need for a stick-on device to hold shower heads when travelling to Greece or Budapest. Holidays and travel are just one market for the magnificent Shuc – there's also the entirely separate travel accessory gift market.

Every series of Dragons' Den has featured at least 16 insane products aimed at dog lovers who we can only surmise will buy any old crap – James Caan even invested in a company that made treadmills for lazy pooches. The brilliantly named Greet Me Eat Me was one of the best: a range of edible rawhide greeting cards people were supposed to address and post to their pets. Smoked Hickory Laminate FlooringPaul Hartley didn't get the investment but if you want to send someone's dog a Christmas card, they're online at www.doggyfashion.co.uk.Wwe T-Shirts In Qatar rather suggests that inventor Stipan Saulich did just that. Oscar De La Renta Wedding Dress Carrie BradshawWe didn't even get to hear Stipan talk. So what are SuperKneeS?

Well, as demonstrated by Stipan, they're basically a pair of really ugly rollerskates you strap to your knees to help you go from one kneeling job to another at high speeds. What kind of a loser wouldn't want a pair of SuperKneeS?« How to Respond to the Why Question Pre-Menstrual Syndrome: Not Just for Women Anymore » My daughter gave up baths when she was 14-months-old. In a tub laden with non-slip decals, she could stand and have fun walking into and out of our shower’s water spray. She fills cups with water and dumps them on herself while I scrub her clean. When it comes time for the dreaded hair rinsing, our hand-held showerhead rinses faster than poured water, minimizing her crying. I would rinse the back half of her head fast, then cover her eyes to quickly rinse the front half. It was much quicker than pouring water from a glass or pitcher. Your luck my vary, but we had three poop-in-tub accidents, but no poop-in-shower incidents. Even so, what’s easier to clean, poop in a stagnant pool or poop in a flowing stream?

What we lacked was a reliable holder to bring the showerhead down to her level. For the last 18 months we’ve gotten by with a simple Target-brand suction holder (two actually, because the first one broke, and I believe it’s now no longer sold). It lacked everything the following product offers.I will sing its praises in tenor bullet points. Imagine I sound like Harry Connick, Jr. or maybe Jon Bon Jovi. Sorry, I listened in the eighties, but the latter one was my wife’s idea. To install, slide the two suction cups into grooves on the backside, push the base onto the wall and press the two blue buttons on the front panel to push air out of the cups.  I had a tough time getting a good seal on our plastic shower wall until I did what I do with all suction cups: wipe a wet cloth across the surface of the cups. I’ll defer to any physicists in the audience to explain why that works. The manufacturer states SHUC stays in position at least two weeks. The SHUC’s vertical tiltability has transformed my daughter’s showers.

We angle the showerhead down like a regular shower experience, instead of a mostly horizontal spray required with our old inflexible holder. She wears a foam visor as well, allowing her to put her head under the spray and shake her head like a puppy playing in water. Perhaps most important, this little device will make the shower accessible to my daughter over the next several years as it adjusts to her growth in height. Purchasing note: SHUC is made in the United Kingdom, but can be shipped overseas. As of this writing, the cost is £14.95 plus £5.95 for air mail. That boils down to £20.90, or about $41 weak American dollars, according to the Yahoo currency converter, billed to your credit card. It isn’t bad when considering the years of use your child will get from it. On the order form, customers in North America should leave the "county" box blank, but change the "country" box to USA or Canada or whatnot. UPDATE: The SHUC website appears to be offline. As of December 2008 SHUC is/was purchasable from gofixit.co.uk on its ‘Special Deals’ page.