Five Dragons formed the original investment panel when Britain's Dragon's Den began.
The first panel consisted of business figures Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Simon Woodroffe, Peter Jones and Doug Richard. Together, they established the programme's central format: entrepreneurs present their companies, answer questions and negotiate over possible investment.
The line-up later changed substantially. Deborah Meaden joined in the second series, while other investors appeared as regular Dragons or guest Dragons in subsequent years. Because the panel has varied over time, viewers sometimes remember a later four- or five-person line-up as the original one.
The number five refers specifically to the launch panel, not to every episode or every later series. The word Dragon is the programme's British term for an investor, while the comparable American show uses Sharks.