Five original Dragons sat on the first Dragon's Den investment panel.
The launch panel consisted of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Doug Richard, Simon Woodroffe and Rachel Elnaugh. Together, they established the programme’s basic visual and dramatic structure: entrepreneurs enter the room, make a funding proposal and face questions from several potential investors.
The number is easy to misremember because the programme has used different panel sizes and many different Dragons over its history. Later lineups also changed depending on the series, availability of investors and production decisions.
Counting the original panel means counting the investors credited at the beginning of the UK programme, not the presenter and not entrepreneurs who appeared seeking money. The presenter was Evan Davis, while the five investors occupied the roles that gave the show its name.