Five Dragons were on the original investment panel when BBC's Dragon's Den launched in 2005.
The original panel comprised Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis, Rachel Elnaugh and Doug Richard. Entrepreneurs faced all five investors together, although individual Dragons could decide separately whether to make an offer.
The number five became strongly associated with the programme’s visual identity and its group-negotiation format. Later series changed the membership, and some episodes have used different panel arrangements, so the number of investors seen on screen is not identical across the entire history of the show.
The title “Dragon” describes an investor in the British format, while the comparable American version Shark Tank uses “sharks.” Both programmes feature entrepreneurs seeking funding, but their panels and individual deal histories are separate.