Five original Dragons sat on the panel when the UK series Dragons' Den launched.
The original line-up consisted of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Doug Richard and Simon Woodroffe. Together, they established the programme’s familiar setup, in which entrepreneurs faced several potential investors rather than a single judge.
The number five refers specifically to the launch panel, not to every later series. The cast changed over time as Dragons departed and new investors joined. This is why photographs and episode credits from different periods may show different combinations or numbers of investors. The panel’s collective name also distinguishes the UK programme from the American Shark Tank adaptation, whose investors are called Sharks.