Five investors sat on the panel in the original British television programme Dragons' Den format.
The panel structure gives the programme its central visual identity: an entrepreneur enters the room, presents a business and answers questions from five potential investors. Each investor can decide independently whether to make an offer, and more than one Dragon can sometimes negotiate for the same business.
The number is distinct from the names of the investors, which changed repeatedly across the programme's British run. A viewer may therefore see different panels in different series while the standard format still uses five seats.
The five-person arrangement also creates the possibility of competing offers, shared investments and collective rejection. It is not a claim that every international adaptation uses exactly the same panel size; this answer concerns the original British programme format.