In 2001, a reality television show called The Tigers of Money debuted in Japan.

It was created by Nippon TV and distributed by Sony, and the show did pretty well, lasting for three years in that format,

and on that network, before the exclusive rights to the show's format were bought up by the BBC,

allowing them to rebrand the concept for UK audiences as Dragons Den in 2005.

An attempt was made to spin the show off for the Australian television market that same year,

but ratings for the Australian version of the show were poor, so after one season, it was discontinued.

That flop, though, was not representative of the format's performance elsewhere

around the world. Since 2005, the Dragon's Den concept has been adapted for nearly 30 countries

from Afghanistan to Finland, with both French and English versions in Canada and slight changes

to the format in each location.

The main distinction being between the types of contestants and hosts, and the terminology

used for the pseudo-hosts, who are not technically hosts, but actually investors who may

give money to contestants in exchange for a share of their companies.

In the United States' manifestation of this

format, the investors are called sharks, and the show is called Shark Tank. In Sri Lanka,

the show's title translates to Wall of Tuskers, while in Romania, the title translates to

Lions Arena. In all cases, the implication is that these are savvy business people listening to the stories

and offerings of less experienced business people who may garner investments from these

sharks, lions, dragons if they see potential in their inventions, services, or brands that

are being presented.

It's a relatively simple concept, and that's probably

part of why it's been so successful. Also key to its success, according to several media

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