As Dragons' Den celebrates 20 years on TV, the biggest winners - and scandals - from the BBC's entrepreneurial reality show

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As Dragons' Den celebrates 20 years on TV, the biggest winners - and scandals - from the BBC's entrepreneurial reality show
Published: Jan, 08 2025 17:28

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.

 [Dragons' Den is set to return for its whopping 22nd series, and some famous faces will take their seat as guests, including Joe Wicks (pictured)]
Image Credit: Mail Online [Dragons' Den is set to return for its whopping 22nd series, and some famous faces will take their seat as guests, including Joe Wicks (pictured)]

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.

 [Beauty guru Trinny Woodall will join the line-up as Guest Dragons for the series, as well as fashion designer Emma Grede, who will also be returning after her successful stint last series]
Image Credit: Mail Online [Beauty guru Trinny Woodall will join the line-up as Guest Dragons for the series, as well as fashion designer Emma Grede, who will also be returning after her successful stint last series]

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.

 [UK businessman Simon Woodroffe was one of five Dragons to appear in the first episode, which also included Duncan Bannatyne (right) , Peter Jones, US businessman Doug Richards and Rachel Elnaugh]
Image Credit: Mail Online [UK businessman Simon Woodroffe was one of five Dragons to appear in the first episode, which also included Duncan Bannatyne (right) , Peter Jones, US businessman Doug Richards and Rachel Elnaugh]

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.

 [Nervous? Just a bit: The first contestant to appear was a visibly terrified Graham Whitby, a father struggling with sleepless nights who invented the Baby Dream Machine, which would rock a crib automatically]
Image Credit: Mail Online [Nervous? Just a bit: The first contestant to appear was a visibly terrified Graham Whitby, a father struggling with sleepless nights who invented the Baby Dream Machine, which would rock a crib automatically]

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