Five Dragons sat on the investor panel in the original UK series of Dragon's Den.
The launch panel consisted of five investors: Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Doug Richard and Simon Woodroffe. Entrepreneurs entered the Den and pitched their businesses to this group, hoping to secure investment in exchange for equity.
The panel size has changed over the programme's history as investors have joined, left or appeared as guest Dragons. That is why photographs or clips from later series may show a different combination of people.
The five-person launch format also helped establish the show's central tension: a contestant might receive competing offers, a joint offer, or no investment at all. A verbal offer was not necessarily a completed deal, because later due diligence could alter the outcome.