Duncan Bannatyne was the Dragon's Den investor associated with founding Bannatyne Fitness and appearing from series 1.
Bannatyne is a Scottish entrepreneur whose business interests included health clubs, hotels and care homes. The Bannatyne Group became one of the best-known fitness and leisure brands in the United Kingdom, giving him a business background closely connected with consumer and service companies.
He was part of the original UK investor line-up when Dragon's Den began in 2005. On the programme, he became known for direct questioning and for examining whether an entrepreneur understood the numbers behind a proposal.
Bannatyne left the regular Dragon's Den panel after the twelfth series. His departure is sometimes confused with changes involving other early Dragons, because the programme has repeatedly refreshed its investor line-up while retaining the same core format.