Olivia Chen and Pauline Ang, friends and business partners in boba milk tea brand Twrl, have tried three times to get on Shark Tank, a US reality show where up-and-coming entrepreneurs try to woo big-name backers.

Now, in a plot twist they could not have imagined, the San Francisco-based women have a chance to pitch a pretty well-known investor – Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu.

“I actually wasn’t sure it wasn’t real, to be honest,” said Chen, who posted the day after seeing Dragons’ Den clips. “I decided I wanted to make a video because I wanted to let people know there are other alternatives out there like ourselves.”