Which former Dragon's Den investor was the first woman to join the British show's panel?

Rachel Elnaugh was the first woman to join the British Dragon's Den panel.

Elnaugh is an English entrepreneur best known for founding Red Letter Days, a company that sold experience gifts such as leisure and entertainment activities. Her business success led to her appointment as one of the programme's early investors.

She joined the panel during the show's early years, before later female Dragons including Deborah Meaden, Kelly Hoppen and Sara Davies appeared. This makes her the answer to the historical first-woman question, rather than the question of which woman became the programme's longest-serving or most familiar female investor.

Elnaugh's tenure was relatively early in the programme's history. Red Letter Days later encountered financial difficulties and was sold, a development often mentioned in accounts of her business career. That later business history does not alter her place as the first woman to serve as a Dragon on the British series.