Dragons' Den

Format

The contestants are usually product designers or service operators who have what they consider to be a viable and potentially very profitable business idea, but who lack funding and direction. They pitch their idea to five rich entrepreneurial businesspeople, who in most iterations of the show are referred to as "dragons", "tigers" (in the original Japanese show), "lions" or "sharks". Before the show, the contestants have named a specific amount of money that they wish to get (along with a percentage in the business that the contestant is offering to sell to the investors), and the rules stipulate that if they do not raise at least this amount from the dragons, they get nothing. In return, the contestant gives the dragons a percentage of the company's stock, which is the chief point of negotiation. The program does not show the entire pitch as scenes are selected and edited from the episode due to time constraints.

The dragons probe the idea further once the contestant has made the presentation. This will either reveal a sound business proposition that the investor may become interested in investing capital in return for equity, or an embarrassing lack of preparation on the part of the contestant (such as the contestant's lack of knowledge of the business' profits or margins), the uncovering of troubling facts (such as insufficient sales or manufacturing margins) or other reasons which may play a factor in the investors consequently rejecting the investment (such as the investor asking for a larger equity stake in the business than the contestant wants to give up, the contestant's valuation on the business being too high compared to its overall profits, the product not having any proprietary value or the investor's belief that they cannot add value to the business). A contestant may give a counteroffer to the investors, if they feel their offer is not sufficient compared to the contestant's initial offer, which may also be subject to rejection if the investor feels the contestant asking for too high a monetary amount and/or an insufficiently low equity.

Versions

Dragons' Den series have been produced in numerous different countries. Apart from Japan (where the show debuted) the show names, structures, and styles are based upon the UK version.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the show is called Fikr wa Talash. The show was produced by Bamyan media with the help of the Moby Group's strategic communications arm, Lapis Ltd, and aired on the Group's most popular channel in Afghanistan, TOLO TV, reaching an estimated 7 million viewers in 2010.

Arab world

In the Arab world, Dragons' Den was known as Dragons' Den: Al Aareen العرين (The Den). It was broadcast on the Lebanese channel Future Television and was hosted by Ibrahim Abu Jawdeh. The show received contestants from various Arab countries.

The panel of Dragons for the 2007 series consisted of:

Egypt

The Egyptian version of Dragons' Den is El Mashrou3 ("The Project"). The show was created in 2013 by Anna Elliot, the founder of the NGO Bamyan Media. It was broadcast on the national channel Alnahar and followed by approximately 4 million people. The program also created the biggest community of entrepreneurs through a digital platform connected to the show with 1 million participants. The panel of Dragons consisted of :

Dragons' Den (2005)

The Australian version of Dragons' Den was broadcast on the Seven Network and hosted by Andrew O'Keefe. Unlike in other versions, here the host ran through the outline of the business with the contestant before the contestant began negotiating with the Dragons for a deal. The show was produced by Michael Horrock. The Australian Dragons were:

The Seven Network announced in December 2005 that the show would not be back for a second season after poor ratings.

Shark Tank (2015)

The format was revived by Network Ten, under the American Shark Tank name, for a show that premiered February 2015. The Sharks for this edition are Janine Allis (founder of Boost Juice), Andrew Banks (founder of Talent2), Steve Baxter (entrepreneur, investor, internet pioneer), John McGrath (founder of McGrath Estate Agents) and Naomi Simson (founder of RedBalloon). The show is hosted by Sarah Harris. Unlike 7's previous edition, the show was successful and returned for a second season in 2016.

Austria

The Austrian version is called 2 Minuten 2 Millionen, which means "2 Minutes 2 Million". It debuted on Puls 4.

English version

The Canadian Dragons are/were:

French Canadian version

The French Canadian version, Dans l'œil du dragon (In the Dragon's Eye), began airing in 2012, hosted by Paul Houde.

Past and present dragons include:

Croatia

The Croatian version of Dragons' Den called Zmajevo gnijezdo was scheduled to be broadcast in May 2007 on Croatian Radiotelevision and produced by Ocean Film, a local production company.

Contracted Croatian Dragons were:

A few shows were filmed but never broadcast for undisclosed reasons.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the show is called Den D (The D-Day).

It first aired on 31 March 2009 on Czech TV (CT1 channel), in a very similar set up to the British version of BBC.

The show is hosted by radio host Jan Pokorny, and the dragon investors are:

The Dragons are/were:

Denmark

A Danish version of the show, Løvens Hule ("Lions' Den"), began airing in April 2015. The five "lions" are Christian Stadil, Birgit Aaby, Tommy Ahlers, Ilse Jacobsen and Jesper Buch.

Lion's Mouth (2007)

In Finland, the first version of the show was Leijonan kita, which means the jaws or the mouth of a lion. The show began running on 27 September 2007 on the MTV3 channel, and aired for one season. It was hosted by Anna Sorainen. The local leijonat (lions) were Kyösti Kakkonen, Eero Lehti, Toivo Sukari, Lisa Sounio and Kaija Ward.

Lion's Den (2013)

In February 2013 the show re-emerged on the Nelonen channel, this time named Leijonan luola ("Lion's Den"). The show was hosted by Kirsi Salo, and the new lions were Riku Asikainen, Jorma Terentjeff, Ari Lahti, Anne Berner and Oskari Lehtonen.

Germany

The German version is called Die Höhle der Löwen, which means Lions' Den. It debuted on 19 August 2014 on VOX. The German "lions" are:

The first episode of the second season aired on 18 August 2015. The third season launched on 23 August 2016, introducing two new presenters. A fourth season was announced for 2017.

Ireland

An Irish version of the show began in 2009 on RTÉ One, the state broadcaster. It is presented by Richard Curran, Deputy Editor of The Sunday Business Post.

The Irish Dragons are/were:

The Dragons have appeared on television in Ireland, in promotion of the series, on Tubridy Tonight, on RTÉ One. RTÉ started broadcasting show promos after Christmas 2008 as part of their winter line-up.

The first episode was broadcast on 19 February 2009.

A third season of Dragons' Den began airing on RTÉ One, on Thursday, 20 February 2011. Norah Casey was the new Dragon for the third season. Episodes at the end of the third season, for the first time on Dragons' Den in Ireland, showed the Dragons on tour visiting their past investments.

A fourth season of Dragons' Den was commissioned. Sean O'Sullivan replaced Seán Gallagher. Sean is co-founder at Avego Ltd, based in Kinsale.

For the fourth series of Dragons' Den, a live, interactive "Sixth Dragon Game" was developed to be played whilst watching the show, in which viewers are able to decide in real time if they're IN or OUT as the pitches unfold. The "Sixth Dragon Game" is the first live, interactive game for a TV show in Ireland.

Episodes of Dragons' Den are also now being shown on Dave every Wednesday at 7pm which means it is also available to audiences in Great Britain. Episodes began airing on 6 July 2011.

Israel

In Israel, Dragons' Den is entitled Hakrishim, Hebrew for "The Sharks". It is produced by Gil Productions and is broadcast on Channel 10. It is hosted by Guy Zohar. In the Israeli version, there are six dragons who rotate their appearance weekly. The first season was broadcast during the summer and fall of 2006. The dragons in season 1 were: Ze'ev Holtzman, Israela Shtier, Aviv Tzidon, Oded Dessau, Jacky Ben-Zaken, and Nir Sharatzki. The second season began being broadcast on Channel 10 on 24 May 2007. As in the first season, the dragons rotate their appearance weekly. Aviv Tzidon and Jacky Ben-Zaken returned from the first season and were joined by the following new dragons:

Japan

Titled マネーの虎 ("Manē no Tora", Money Tigers), this is the original version. It was created by and broadcast on Nippon Television from 2001 to 2004. It was the first entertainment programme in the history of Japanese television that dealt with the concept of business investment. During its three-year run, as many as 16 business executives appeared in the programme as Tigers.

Kenya

The premier of Lion's Den was in October 2016 on NTV. The show was sponsored by KCB Group, the largest commercial bank in East Africa. The format was introduced to Kenya by Quite Bright Films Kenya Ltd (QBF) who produce the show in Nairobi.

The Kenyan Lions are:

Netherlands

In the Netherlands the show ran on Nederland 3 for two seasons. The first season was broadcast in May 2007, every Friday at 20:25. The second season was broadcast in May 2008, every Monday at 21:25. Both seasons were hosted by Jort Kelder.

The dragons were:

New Zealand

Initially, the UK and Australian series of Dragons' Den were broadcast in New Zealand before a local version was produced by Eyeworks Television. It broadcast on TV One in 2006 and was hosted by Rawdon Christie. The dragons were:

Nigeria

Nigeria's adaptation of Dragons' Den was broadcast weekly in 2008 on the AIT Network and produced by Storm Vision.

The Nigerian Dragons were:

Poland

In Poland, the program is called "Dragons Den - How to Be a Millionaire" and is broadcast on the station TV4 since 2011. The biggest win in the program happened April 24, 2011 in the amount 15,000,000 PLN (5,500,000 U.S. dollars)

The Polish Dragons in 2011 are:

Portugal

The Portuguese version of Dragons' Den has the American name Shark Tank. It is broadcast on the SIC Network. It began in 2015, and a second season is planned.

The Portuguese Sharks are:

Romania

There is a Romanian version of the format called Arena Leilor (Lions Arena). The Romanian Lions are:

The show started in 2007.

Russia

There was a Russian version of the show called KAPITAL.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian broadcaster STV1 showed the BBC version of Dragons' Den in 2010, then broadcast a local version in 2011. It was called التجار, or "Traders". The dragons were:

Slovenia

The Slovenian version of the show was called Dober posel ("Good Deal"). It was aired by then-new Slovenian broadcaster Planet TV, owned by Telekom Slovenije. The show was announced in May 2012, and premiered on November 11, 2012.

The Slovenian investors were:

South Africa

Dragon's Den South Africa premiered on 23 September 2014 on Mzansi Magic. In a 2014 episode, Vusi Thembekwayo, one of the Dragons, signed his biggest deal, when he invested ZAR2 million in a Halaal abattoir owned by contestant Johan Jacobs and received a 40% stake in the business. There were two seasons of the show.

The South African "dragons" were:

In October 2016 the show was renamed to Shark Tank South Africa and premiered on M-Net.

The "sharks" are:

The show made news when Vinny Lingham invested in an augmented reality startup using bitcoin instead of dollars.

Spain

The title of the Spanish version is Tu Oportunidad (Your Opportunity) and went to air on October 30, 2013 by TVE.

Sweden

The British version was on air in Sweden for several years on TV8 and BBC Prime. A Swedish version called Draknästet ("The Dragons' Nest") was broadcast in 2009 on Sveriges Television. A second season started in March 2010.

The Swedish Dragons 2010 are:

Previous Dragons 2009:

Turkey

The Turkish version of Dragons' Den is on BloombergHT. Baybars Altuntaş is one of the dragons.

Ukraine

In Ukraine, the series was called Акули бізнесу (Akuli Bizesu, "Business Sharks") and featured Dragons such as future presidential candidate Serhiy Tihipko.

United Kingdom

In the UK, Dragons' Den is broadcast on BBC Two, which has exclusive rights to the show's format from its Japanese producers. The Executive Producer is Dominic Bird and it is hosted by BBC Newsnight presenter Evan Davis. The Dragons are/were:

United States

In 2008, television producer Mark Burnett signed a deal with format holder Sony to produce an American version of the series. The series on U.S. television is titled Shark Tank.

The U.S. network ABC ordered a pilot episode which was produced by Sony Pictures TV. On October 9, 2008, a casting producer announced that The Shark Tank was accepting applications for a pilot, giving entrepreneurs two weeks to submit their ideas. The pilot was filmed from January 6 to January 9, 2009 in Los Angeles.

On September 23, 2016, Shark Tank began its eighth season. The current "sharks" are:

For the first two seasons of the series, Kevin Harrington was a regular shark. He was replaced in the third season by Mark Cuban.

Unlike versions of the show in other countries, the U.S. version uses a rotating cast of sharks every season, of which five usually appear in each episode, although all six sharks have occasionally appeared on a single episode. Also on occasion, guest investors fill in for a regular shark on the panel. Past guest investors include:

Vietnam

Vietnamese version of the show will be aired soon under the name Shark Tank Việt Nam. The "cá mập" (sharks) that have been announced so far are Trương Gia Bình, Vũ Văn Tiền and Trần Bá Dương. While the broadcaster of the show has not been revealed, the Vietnamese version is slated to be aired at the end of 2016.