When CBC began inviting hopeful entrepreneurs into the Dragons' Den
Reality show reached TV in 2006 seeking to match inventors with investors
Inventors pitching their products to investors was a novel concept in reality TV in 2006. That was when CBC first assembled a panel of successful business people looking to find an idea with earning potential.
The program was Dragons' Den, which began its 16th season in October 2021.
- CBC TELEVISION | Dragons' Den
Back in the summer of 2006, the show's host, Dianne Buckner, was visiting cities across Canada with the show's producers to find people and ideas that would make for good TV.
CBC reporter Alex Freedman visited the Winnipeg audition to learn about the show and meet some of inventors hoping to get rich.
"It's a scooter that we invented. It's self-propelled," said entrepreneur Johnny Knox, who was seen riding a device that rolled on two wheels. "In order to propel yourself forward, you just gently bounce on the platform and away you go."
'Tons of money' to be made
According to the Globe and Mail in August 2006, the TV format for Dragons' Den originated in Japan and had been sold to 20 countries. Versions of the show had already gone to air in England, Australia, Sweden and New Zealand.
The Winnipeg open audition was one of "more than a dozen" such tryouts across the country, said the newspaper.
And the dragons had to audition, too: The Globe and Mail noted that CBC had tried out 40 potential candidates before settling on venture capitalists Robert Herjavec, Laurence Lewin, Kevin O'Leary, Jim Treliving and Jennifer Wood for its first season.
"If they hear a pitch they really like [and] they think it's an opportunity to get in on the ground level and make tons of money back, they're going to hand over some money to that person," said Buckner.
A producer outlined to the hopefuls what they needed to do while showing off their inventions: state who they were, what their company was, how much money they were seeking and how much of their company they were willing to hand over to the investor.
"First, they practice," said Freedman, as an inventor showed off a deadbolt system. "Then, they go in front of the camera to make their pitch."
After his tryout with the self-propelled scooter, Knox was smiling.
"I'd love to go to [filming location] Toronto with this," he said, showing his invention. "I need the investment, and I need more people to see it."
Not many people were seeing Dragons' Den at first. Two weeks after it debuted, a TV reviewer from the Globe and Mail noted "no one" was watching, citing its weekly viewership of "slightly over 200,000." Andrew Ryan said CBC should "cut its losses," describing the show as "a mistake."
"[Dragons' Den] somehow looks exactly like a CBC version of a reality show," said Ryan. "It's The Apprentice meets Front Page Challenge."
The following month, the newspaper had an update. It called Dragons' Den "the fastest-growing program on the CBC schedule."
Dragons' Den is now in its 16th season on CBC-TV.
