Five investor “dragons” sat on the original panel of the British programme Dragons' Den.
The first British panel consisted of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Simon Woodroffe and Doug Richard. Together, they established the show’s basic visual and dramatic format: several investors seated behind a desk while entrepreneurs entered the room to make a business proposal.
The five-person arrangement was important because it gave contestants multiple potential investors and allowed the dragons to react to one another’s questions and offers. A pitch could therefore attract one dragon, several dragons or no investment at all.
Panel membership changed over the years. Some original investors left, and later series introduced people such as Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis. The answer concerns the launch panel, not the number of dragons appearing in any particular later series, where the line-up and occasional guest appearances varied.