''Dragons' Den'' is an Irish television series, presented by Richard Curran, based on the worldwide series ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

''. It first aired in February 2009 and is currently in its eighth series.

History

The first episode was broadcast on 19 February 2009. The third season aired on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

with

Norah Casey Norah Casey (born 28 May 1960) is an Irish businesswoman, magazine publisher, television personality and broadcaster from Dublin, Ireland. Early life Norah Casey grew up in a lodge in the Phoenix Park, her father and grandfather were park ranger ...

as the new Dragon. Toward the end of the season, episodes showed the Dragons on tour visiting their past investments. For the fourth season, Seán O'Sullivan, co-founder of

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

-based Avego Ltd, replaced Seán Gallagher. A live, interactive ''Sixth Dragon Game'' was developed to be played whilst watching the show, in which viewers are able to decide if they're "in" or "out" as the pitches unfold. The ''Sixth Dragon Game'' is the first live

interactive game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedback ...

for an Irish TV show. The eighth series of ''Dragons Den'' included three female Dragons for the first time. Chanelle McCoy, wife of

Tony McCoy Sir Anthony Peter McCoy (born 4 May 1974), commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and the UK, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a reco ...

, was new to the Den this year, replacing Seán O'Sullivan.

Dragons

The current dragons are Gavin Duffy, Barry O'Sullivan, Alison Cowzer, Eleanor McEvoy and Chanelle McCoy. The previous dragons with their seat orders were: Former Dragon Seán Gallagher was a candidate in the 2011 presidential election, coming in second to

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

. Three current or former Dragons, Peter Casey, Seán Gallagher and Gavin Duffy, were candidates in the 2018 presidential election, coming in second, third and sixth (last), respectively.

References

{{Dragons' Den 2009 Irish television series debuts RTÉ original programming Television series by Screentime Irish television series based on non-Irish television series