TAUNTON-BORN Deborah Meaden has expressed her satisfaction with Dragons' Den's new dragon.

It was announced earlier today (Tuesday October 17), that former Manchester United right-back and now Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville will sit alongside the regular panel of Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett in the next series of Dragons' Den.

Although his appearance was only a one-off guest slot, Neville described his time filming with the dragons as "amazing".

The 48-year-old pundit said: "It’s a pleasure to join the Dragons as a guest for the new series and see some of the amazing pitches from budding entrepreneurs from different walks of life.

"It was a privilege to share my knowledge and guidance with the brave entrepreneurs who entered the Den, but you’ll have to wait and see whether I committed to any investments."

Deborah Meaden shared her joy to be sat alongside the former England football star on Twitter.

"A first next year in when we have some guest Dragons," she said.

"First up, Gary Neville, who was utterly brilliant and owned that chair!!"

It was also announced that fashion and retail entrepreneur Emma Grede will make a guest appearance.

Samantha Davies, executive producer at BBC Studios, said: "[The] existing Dragons aren’t just going to sit back and let them snap up all the best deals.

"Viewers can expect all the usual competitiveness and sass in the Den… Gary and Emma are both masters in their fields and it’ll be fantastic to see their different styles and perspectives in the business world."

Dragons’ Den will return for series 21 in 2024.