Into The "Dragon's Den" (UK) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Peter Jones

Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones are the two longest serving dragons, having been present from the very first series through to Series 12. Simon Woodroffe was replaced after series one and Doug Richard and Rachael Elnaugh after series two. The programme first aired in 2005 and hundreds of potential entrepreneurs have been through the doors of the den. Most, it has to be said, are not successful in getting any investment in their invention.

Answer: Levi Roots

In 2007 Levi Roots persuaded Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh to invest £50,000 into his Jamaican jerk sauce. Sainsbury's showed an interest in it and in March that year it went on sale nationwide. The sheer personality of Levi Roots and the "Reggae Reggae Sauce Song" that he both sang on the show and released as a download caught the public imagination.

This turned Sainsbury's anticipated sales of 50,000 bottles in the first year to 40/50,000 bottles per week. The range has since expanded into a ketchup, a pizza offered by Dominos and sandwiches.

It is now stocked by many supermarkets, and various chains of restaurants offer it on their menu. Peter Jones has said it is the best investment he has ever made on "Dragon's Den".

Answer: Evasive answers

Deborah Meaden in particular gets very annoyed when she asks a questions that does not elicit a straight answer. Pulling the wool over the eyes of any of the dragons is virtually impossible, especially when it comes to facts and figures, and waffle to try and disguise the true situation is guaranteed to have all of them failing to make an investment. Applicants who don't know the financial state of their own company are also unlikely to get an investment, and there are a surprising amount of those.

Answer: "I'm out"

Once the words "I'm out" have been uttered, that is it, that dragon cannot change their mind and no investment will be forthcoming from them. If all five utter those words then the applicant has failed. The vast majority of people hear those words from all dragons. Only the very best manage to part them from their money.

Answer: Hilary Devey

Hilary Devey made an instant impact. With long, jet black hair, fairly heavy make up and a dress style that included shoulder pads that could have inflicted a serious injury on someone, she was not someone you could ignore. She was fond of telling applicants that her foot itched to give them a kick up the backside.
She did however often display a softer side.

She made her fortune in the male dominated world of palletised goods distribution, being the founder of Pall-Ex which she launched in 1996.

She suffered a severe stroke in 2009 which left her with partial paralysis in one arm and leg. This led her to become patron of the Stroke Association and vice patron of the Carers Trust.

Her tenure as a dragon lasted two years, for series nine and ten.

Answer: Tourism and Leisure

In 1992 Deborah Meaden joined a holiday park company based in the West Country. In 1999 she organised a management buy out which gave her the majority share holding. By 2007 she had liquidated all of her shareholding in the company, leaving her a multi millionaire.

She remains very interested in the tourism and leisure industry. One of her recent Dragon's Den investments was a company making hand crafted tents and accessories. She is also interested in green and ethical investments.

Answer: Theo Paphitis

Theo Paphitis seemed to have a knack of finding the breaking point of a new product. It was surprising how often things seemed to come to bits in his hands. One notable breakage was an invention called "Trunki", a piece of hand luggage for children. All was going well until Theo broke the strap of the suitcase, leaving the inventor with no investment.

However, in this instance the inventor had the last laugh as "Trunki" went on to sell in quantity all over the world. This probably puts it into the "one that got away" category.

Answer: One male, one female

The two new dragons were Kelly Hoppen, who runs her own interior design company, and Piers Linney who runs a cloud computing business. Kelly Hoppen is always attracted to anything that displays good design, while Piers Linney has a natural attraction to technology.

However, in something of a reversal of roles it was Kelly Hoppen who invested in a system to repair water damaged mobile phones and Piers Linney who invested in personalised children's books.

Answer: Deborah Meaden

Deborah Meaden appeared on "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2013. She and partner Robin Windsor were eliminated on their fifth appearance. In the first episode of series twelve of "Dragon's Den", which aired in June 2014 one of the applicants was a firm offering swing dance lessons in London. Deborah's experience on "Strictly Come Dancing" had been very enjoyable, and she was keen to invest in this fledgling company, investing £65,000 for 20% of the company.

In addition to lessons the company also organise swing dance balls in various parts of the country.

Answer: Duncan Bannatyne

The very first investment in the very first series was made jointly by Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne. It was for a company called Umbrolly which was a vending machine for umbrellas.

Collaboration between dragons is not unusual. Two, or even three dragons will come together quite often. Despite having their differences from time to time Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones have collaborated several times over the years.

In 2007 during series five there was one invention where all five dragons came together, investing a total of £100,000 between them. This was for a device that automatically cut off the electrical power to devices that were in standby mode.