The original 2005 panel of the British TV series Dragons' Den contained five Dragons.
The first line-up consisted of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh, Simon Woodroffe and Doug Richard. Together they established the format's early tone: entrepreneurs had to make a rapid, persuasive case while answering detailed questions about money, ownership and commercial potential.
The number of Dragons has not always been treated as a permanent rule. Panel membership and seating arrangements have changed across series, with guest and replacement investors appearing at different times. That variation can make it easy to remember the size of a later panel rather than the original one.
The five-investor line-up is a historical fact about the programme's launch, not a claim that every episode has used exactly the same arrangement. The original panel is also useful for separating early Dragons such as Elnaugh and Woodroffe from investors who joined later.