Five investors sat on the original Dragon's Den panel in the show's first British series. The five-person arrangement gave entrepreneurs several possible routes to a deal while keeping the negotiation visually clear for viewers.
The original panel consisted of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Theo Paphitis and Simon Woodroffe. Each investor brought a different business background, and the programme's drama often came from whether one Dragon would invest alone or invite another to join.
Later series changed the membership and sometimes used guest Dragons, but the count of five refers to the launch panel rather than every subsequent line-up. The number is also separate from the amount of money requested by a contestant: one entrepreneur might ask the whole panel for funding, while another might attract only one investor.