The latest series of Dragons’ Den – number 22 – unleashes tonight on BBC Two, with a new crop of plucky entrepreneurs hoping to hit the bigtime. 

The episode marks 20 years since the show first launched on BBC Two, when viewers were introduced to the first ‘dragons’ – including Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, US businessman Doug Richards, Rachel Elnaugh and Simon Woodroffe.

Two decades later, only Jones remains of the OG line-up – although presenter Evan Davis has also lasted the reality TV distance. 

The pair will be joined this time around once more by long-term Dragons Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis, alongside relatively new recruits crafts entrepreneur Sara Davies and Diary of a CEO host Stephen Bartlett. 

Alongside the regulars, viewers also will see a trio of guest judges on the latest series – Joe Wicks, Trinny Woodall and Emma Grede.

Returning for a second year, entrepreneur and philanthropist Grede, 42, was named one of America’s Richest Self-Made Women for 2022 to 2024.

The co-founder and CEO of Good American and founding partner of SKIMS is a recurring Guest Shark on America’s version of Dragons’ Den, known as Shark Tank.

Meanwhile fashionista Trinny Woodall, 60, is the founder and CEO of beauty brand Trinny London, most famous for her TV partnership with Susannah Constantine.

And Joe Wicks has seen his career soar; once a jobbing personal trainer touting for clients at Richmond station in London, his healthy food and exercise empire – which kept the nation’s schoolchildren fit during the pandemic, is said to be worth a cool £20million. 

Here, MAILONLINE looks back at the Dragons’ ups and down over 20 years in telly, from the biggest scandals to the most characterful contestants…

THE ORIGINAL LINE-UP: WHO APPEARED IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE? 

On January 4th, 2005 viewers got their first glimpse of the UK Dragons – with Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, US businessman Doug Richards, Rachel Elnaugh and Simon Woodroffe in the line-up. 

The format? It remains today as it was back then.  

First seen in Japan – called Tigers of Money – and rolled out across the globe, it involves would-be entrepreneurs pitching their ideas, there’s then a Q&A about their business plan.

The show then sees each Dragon explaining whether they’re ‘out’ – not interested, or prepared to make an offer of an investment. 

Negotiation often takes place and, if successful a handshake then seals the deal. 

The first contestant was a jittery Graham Whitby, a father struggling with sleepless nights who invented the Baby Dream Machine, which would rock a crib automatically. Visibly shaky, Whitby had to re-start his pitch – and didn’t land the £150,000 investment he’d hoped for. 

The quintet of business high flyers in that first episode looked like they might have come straight from a funeral, donning dark and formal office attire for the hour-long show. Thankfully, they’ve cheered up their outfits over 20 years.

Peter Jones, who wore a steel grey suit on episode one, is back in 2025 with a cheering blue suit and rainbow socks. 

FROM EAR SEEDS TO BITTER SPATS: THE BIGGEST SCANDALS TO HIT THE SHOW 

Six offers on the table…but 2024 ear seed scandal sparked national outcry

A glamorous entrepreneur who became the first person to receive six offers on Dragons’ Den found herself accused of ‘selling snake oil’ and preying on the ‘most vulnerable and horribly ill people in society’.

Giselle Boxer, 32, from Sheffield, appeared on the BBC show in January 2024 and asked for £50,000 for a 10 per cent stake in her business, Acu Seeds.

She said she set up the business, which sells £30 gold plated ear seeds, while on maternity leave, after she used a similar product to ‘cure herself from ME’.

She received the offer for the full amount from five of the dragons but settled on a smaller offer – £50,000 for 12.5 per cent of the business – from Steven Bartlett, 31,  because she is ‘spiritual’ and ‘was told she was going to meet an important man called Steven’.

The ME association reported Acu Seeds to the Advertising Standards Agency and wrote to the BBC and the then chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee and chairman of the health and social care committee.

Dr Charles Shepard, Hon Medical Advisor for The ME Association, said: ‘The way in which Dragons’ Den has been used to promote an unproven treatment for ME/CFS has, not surprisingly, caused a great deal of upset and concern in the ME patient community.

‘People with ME/CFS are fed up with the way in which products like this are regularly being promoted when there is no sound evidence from proper placebo-controlled clinical trials to confirm that they are safe and effective.

‘These sort of expensive commercial products and devices should not be promoted to very vulnerable sick people until they have been properly assessed for safety and efficacy in clinical trials – in exactly the same way that drug treatments are.’

Acu Seeds continues to trade, although it’s now changed its name to East Healing. Steven Bartlett is still involved in the company, East Healing’s website says. 

2011: JAMES CAAN IS SUED BY A FORMER CONTESTANT, FALLS OUT WITH FELLOW DRAGON AND IS EMBROILED IN ‘BABYGATE’ SCANDAL  

Three years after he joined Dragons’ Den in 2008, the show’s most amiable panellist, James Caan, told the BBC: ‘I’m out.’ 

While at the time, Pakistan-born Caan blamed his ‘work and philanthropic interests’ for leaving the show, he was one of the more controversial Dragons in the Den.

In 2009, Single mother Sharon Wright, 40, won an £80,000 investment for her company Talpa Products after she gave a pitch to the Dragons in 2009. 

Her idea was ‘MagnaMole’ — a plastic rod which threads cables safely through cavity walls.

Sharon came away from the Dragons’ ‘lair’ with Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan as investors after they offered £80,000 for a 22.5 per cent stake in her company.

But the ‘expert help’ she was expecting never materialised, she claimed. The investment turned out to be a loan she would have to pay back and, she said, the contract drawn up by Caan’s lawyers meant that, in effect, they had bought nearly a quarter of her company for £29.

Eventually, her lawyer organised a termination of the contract with the Dragons’ legal teams. Shortly afterwards, Sharon went into hospital for three weeks having suffered a nervous breakdown.

Responding to the allegations at the time Caan said: ‘Unfortunately, within a few months of Sharon appearing [on Dragons’ Den] she decided that due to the success and positive feedback from the show she would prefer to keep 100% of her company, which Duncan and I fully supported. 

Occasionally the investment opportunity isn’t as it appears on the show. I wish Sharon all the best.’ 

A High Court writ demanding unspecified damages from Caan for defamation was later dropped. 

Reports of an ongoing spat with fellow investor Duncan Bannatyne also marred his time on the BBC show – Bannatyne apparently refused to speak a single word to him for nine months after the two fell out. 

And the self-made multi-millionaire was at the centre of the controversial ‘babygate’ affair, in which he was filmed offering to buy a baby from a poverty-stricken family in his native country.

Although he insisted his impromptu offer was made with good intentions in the aftermath of the devastating floods which had engulfed Pakistan, Caan, 50 at the time, was criticised for poor judgment.

The star said after he was ‘clearly wrong’ to offer 100,000 rupees (£725) for the baby girl while carrying out charity work in a flood-hit village.

GOT THE HANDSHAKE – AND THAT’S WHERE IT ENDED: THE DEALS THAT CRUMBLED

A handshake in the Den doesn’t automatically mean an ongoing business partnership, with lots of the commercial relationships brokered in the Den actually coming to nothing when the cameras stopped rolling. 

2023 FOOTBALL BILLIONAIRE – DEAL GOT THE RED CARD 

Teenager Shaye Bhattessa-Sharma, from London, impressed judges and viewers alike last year when he arrived with his Football Billionaire board game.

Appearing alongside his father Raj Sharma, the 15-year-old pitched his concept – and told about early interest from around the globe. The teen was studying for his GCSEs at the time. 

Peter Jones loved the pitch and decided to invest £50,000 in return for 20 per cent of the business.

However, off camera the deal took the football equivalent of an early bath and the deal never got off the ground. 

Last year, he told The Sun that the company was succeeding without Jones, saying it was worth £2.5million. 

2022: BARKING BAGS – PARTED WAYS WITH SARA DAVIES 

Retired teachers Debbie and Rob Greaves, from Milton Keynes, appeared on episode four of series 19 of Dragons’ Den in 2022, along with their specially designed dog walking bags.

The couple told the Den they’d invested their teachers retirement money into the fledgling business – and made headlines when Debbie unwittingly offered her daughter Laura to entrepreneur Steven Bartlett, when he bemoaned being single. 

Their business pitch attracted the attention of dog lover Sara Davies and the delighted trio shook on a deal that would see them bag a spot on QVC. 

However, they later decided against going into business with the north-east tycoon, and attracted local investors instead. 

2014: YOUNG ONES – OFFER TO STUDENT BUSINESS CRUMBLED   

While a student at Exeter University in 2012, Chris Rea and his friend Tom Carson, hatched Young Ones Apparel, a clothing company aimed at sporty students. 

Two years later, they found themselves in the Den, and subjected to the scrutiny of some of the biggest names in business. 

Duncan Bannatyne eventually made the pair an offer for their onesie and hoodie business, offering a whopping £75,000

Rea said afterwards: ‘After the cameras stopped rolling, we realised how passionate we felt about continuing to control the creative direction of our company, and Bannatyne, considering his big cash offer, wasn’t going to allow for that,’ he told realbusiness.co.uk.

The company was eventually dissolved in 2021.  

DEATH OF A DRAGON: HILARY DEVEY DIED IN 2022 BUT LEFT CASH-FREE WILL

Bolton-born Hilary Devey built up more than £80million in cash and assets from a pallet company turning over £100million-plus a year, selling Pall-Ex haulage in January 2020. 

In 1996, while working with a garment parcel distribution company in Kent, she had spotted a niche in the pallet end of the haulage market and set up the company with £112,000 she raised by selling her house and car.

‘It was tough but I was a single mum and I was determined to provide a good life for us. I worked hard and for years survived on just a couple of hours’ sleep per night,’ she said.

She joined Dragons’ Den in 2011 and left in 2012, going on to present Channel 4’s The Intern. 

Hilary, who was married three times, became a popular figure after demonstrating her matter-of-fact approach and was usually seen donning shoulder-padded businesswear. 

During the show, there have always been five dragons – but Devey’s absence with illness in 2012 saw a single episode air with just four for the first time.

The Dragon Den’s star passed away at her luxurious villa in Marrakesh at the age of 65 in June 2022 after battling a long and severe lung infection. 

The Daily Mail’s Richard Eden revealed in 2023 that Ms Devey left not a single penny in her Last Will and Testament registered with the British authorities in 2021. 

Hilary Devey’s cash-free will raised questions about the whereabouts of her £80million fortune and whether she entrusted her only son – a recovering heroin addict – with her money and homes around the world before she died. 

THE BIGGEST WINNERS: REGGAE REGGAE SAUCE, SKINNY TAN AND CHOC BOX 

2007: Levi Roots – Reggae Reggae Sauce

Series 4’s debut episode in 2007 featured charismatic Reggae singer and chef Levi Roots, who presented his spicy Reggae Reggae Sauce – concocted from a secret recipe from his grandmother – to the Dragons. 

While Duncan Bannatyne showed no faith in the opportunity, Peter and former co-star Richard Farleigh took the plunge and invested £50,000 for a 40 per cent stake in the business, and their investment ended up being extremely well-judged.  

The brand now appears on shelves in all major UK supermarkets, with the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List estimating that Levi’s worth – and that of his company with it – is now approximately £30 million.

That puts a 40 per cent share in the company at £12m, with the deal held up as one of, if not the most successful business ever seen on the show.

2008: Neil and Laura Westwood – Magic Whiteboard

Founded in 2006 by husband and wife duo Neil and Laura Westwood, the Magic Whiteboard is an A1 roll which will stick to anything thanks to static.

Two years into their enterprise, the couple entered the Den, and received offers from a remarkable four Dragons – crucially including Theo Paphitis, owner of stationary chain Ryman.

He and Deborah together invested £100,000 for a 40 per cent equity in the firm, but had their shares bought back by the Westwoods in 2014 at eight times what they got them for – valuing the business at £2m.

The growth did not stop there, with the following years seeing Magic Whiteboards stocked and shipped internationally, while the brand branched out into more diverse products such as magnetic table top whiteboards and tree-free notebooks. 

2013: Louise Ferguson and Kate Cotton – Skinny Tan

Louise Ferguson and Kate Cotton pitched their product Skinny Tan alongside three tanned dancers in bikinis demonstrating the product’s results.

The ‘skinny’ in the name refers to its trimmed down ingredients list which leaves it more naturally-derived and cruelty-free. 

Louise and Kate were after £60,000 for a 10 per cent stake in their self-tanning product business, which claimed to also eradicate cellulite, in 2013 – by which point it had already turned profits of £600,000.

Kelly Hoppen and Piers Linney obliged and by 2014, reports showed they had made £1m in revenue.

The company was sold in 2015 for an undisclosed sum but the Dragons and co-founders remained shareholders.

In 2017, Louise told The Sun that their turnover was ‘several million pounds a year’ and it has been reported since that the founding duo have made over £5m.

Asi Sharabi, David Cadji-Newby, Tal Oron and Pedro Serapicos – Wonderbly  

Wonderbly was a personalised children’s book business pitched by fathers Asi Sharabi, David Cadji-Newby, Tal Oron and Pedro Serapicos in 2014.

With revenue in excess of £30m, and more than two million units sold worldwide, Wonderbly is comfortably among the most successful Dragons’ Den entries.

They received a £100,000 investment from Piers Linney for just four per cent of the business, indicative of the success it was predicted to become.

Former Dragon Piers said the year after the products appearance on the show that it was already on track to be ‘the most successful business to have ever passed through the Den’s Walls’.

Since the show, Wonderbly has sold over 8 million books worldwide in multiple languages, and has even been nominated for a BAFTA. 

2014: SWING PATROL SCOTT CUPIT 

Swing patrol is a dance school launched in 2009 by Scott, but it hit the big time in 2014 when he pitched it on Dragon’s Den’s 12th series.

He walked away with a £65,000 investment from Deborah and now boasts a community of over 12,000 dancers and troupes which perform across the country.

Their headline-making did not end when Scott left the Den.

In 2015, Swing Patrol broke the Guinness World Record for the largest Charleston dance – with 975 people participating.

They also performed for David Cameron while he was Prime Minister.

The group now has the role of ‘dancers in residence’ at the Bishopsgate Institute, where they hold many social events and workshops. 

2007: CHOCOBOX – PETER MOULE 

Entrepreneur Peter Moule saw his product enjoy one of the fastest successes in Dragons Den history after he appeared on the show in 2007.

Chocbox, with a slightly misleading name, is a small plastic container designed to safely hold electric wires.

Duncan joined forces with another former Dragon – James Caan – to invest £150,000 for a 36 per cent stake in the business.

Three months later, Mr Moule signed a three-year deal with electronics distributor GET PLC for £25m, making him a millionaire.

The £1 gadget was expected to sell five million units per year in 152 countries during the deal.

The product still ships to 152 countries, but now with a whopping annual sales target of 100 million units, according to the Evening Standard.