Enter the Dragons

There are few fiery notes in tonight's season finale of the high-flying Dragons' Den. Instead, the addictive reality hit - CBC's most popular prime time weeknight program, by far - ends on a reflective note. There are no would-be entrepreneurs pushing for financing for their wacky schemes, no impatient put-downs from Kevin O'Leary or sympathetic looks from Arlene Dickinson.

Instead, Dragon fans can expect to see the rags-to-riches tales - almost literally rags to riches, in some cases - of the Dragons themselves: Dickinson, O'Leary, Robert Herjavec, W. Brett Wilson and Jim Treliving.

Don't touch that dial. This may not be the Dragons' Den you're used to, but it's a fascinating hour of TV just the same: An eye-opening look at what makes these people tick, why they make the decisions they do and - most importantly, perhaps - how the road to riches isn't the same for everyone. The only link the entrepreneurs share is that they're self-made.

Wilson, the one-time energy mogul and self-admitted "Prairie boy" from North Battleford, Sask. who made his fortune in the Calgary oilpatch, reveals what makes him tick, explaining how a life-changing moment in his own life changed the way he treats others.

Treliving explains how, as a career RCMP officer, he grew tired of the constant transfers and decided to start his own business one day. "I found the harder I worked, the luckier I got," he says in the program. Treliving built a nationwide pizza empire from scratch, from a single outlet in Penticton, BC, but it's his RCMP background, he says, that allows him to spot a phoney in a heartbeat on Dragon's Den.

Dickinson's family emigrated from South Africa. As a hard-working single mom supporting her children on her own, she moved up the ladder in the modest marketing company where she worked, eventually turning it into one of the most competitive agencies in the country.

O'Leary is revealed to have been a carousing party dude as a youth who saw the light one day - money! - and became a financial wheeler-dealer only too happy to play the role of Dragons' Den's resident villain.

In many ways, Herjavec, born in Croatia in a small farming town, has the most interesting story. He moved to Canada as a young child; his father was forced to flee their small town home in a Communist purge. The family fled to Italy, and eventually landed in Halifax.

There's a wonderful irony: Herjavec returns to Croatia with his wife and young daughter, and the family reunion is joyous - an older uncle is still happily raising pigs on the family plot. But when he sees the modest apartment in Canada where he grew up, he's almost overcome with emotion.

"What I hope that people at home watching get out of my story is that I'm no more special, I'm no better than anyone else," Herjavec says quietly. "And if I was able to do it, in a great country like Canada, then anyone can."

There aren't any fireworks or inflammatory confrontations in tonight's season finale, but don't let that dissuade you. This Dragons' Den has some fascinating insights into Dragon behaviour, and those insights will make future shows that much more fun to watch.

And, yes, Dragons' Den will be back: The new season will anchor CBC's prime time schedule in the fall.

(CBC, Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET/PT)