The Canadian Press

TORONTO — The economic downturn has drawn out more entrepreneurial spirit than ever, the producers of CBC-TV's reality business series "Dragon's Den" said Thursday as they continued their search for Canada's next great tycoon.

The show is in the midst of a cross-country audition tour that has brought scouts to such hard-hit regions as the Ontario communities of Windsor and Oshawa, which have borne the brunt of car manufacturing layoffs, and a first-ever stop in Campbell River, B.C., an area hit in recent years by pulp mill closures that threw hundreds of people out of work.

Associate producer Lindsey Neely says turnout has been strong and varied.

"We thought maybe with the recession that people are going to be playing it safe, that they're not going to want to pitch their own businesses but I think it's really been the opposite," Neely said Thursday by phone from a stop in St. Catharines, Ont.

"People are looking for new things to do, where it's someone who's worked at a company for 25 years and they've been laid off and maybe they're hurt and they're upset and they're thinking: `Why am I spending all this time working for somebody else when I could be working for myself and all this hard work I'm putting in should be going back to me?"'

"I'd say almost a third of our pitchers are people that have lost their jobs at car manufacturing plants," associate producer Rich Maerov said of investment seekers from the southern Ontario region.

"From last year, I'd say, there's probably twice as many people that are unemployed right now. On the one hand, I think it's sad to see that but on the other hand it's actually instigating some thinking outside-the-box," he said from a stop in Quebec City.

Among the ideas pitched so far: GPS-embedded bullets and arrows; custom Elvis outfits for all ages and a hockey stick and puck, attached via a retractable string.

Host Dianne Buckner says she's not surprised by the boost in keen applicants, who are vying for a chance to present their business plan to a panel of tough-minded investors.

"We know generally that in times of a downturn that does inspire entrepreneurs, that people may be out of a job and suddenly realizing, I have to make my own job and, "Hey, I have that idea that I've been kicking around for so many years, now's the time to do it.' " Buckner said in Toronto earlier this week.

"And a recession is not a bad time to start a business. In fact, (`Dragon's Den' judge) Arlene (Dickinson) was telling me not too long ago that that's when she started her business, was during tough times."

Tough times have taken their toll on the dragons as well. Rags-to-riches judge Robert Herjavec says the slumping economy has narrowed his interest to ventures that offer a quick return.

"You've got to have a way to have cash," says Herjavec, a Croatian immigrant who made his fortune in Internet security software.

"I think last year you could come on (the show) and say, `We're going to make cash in a couple of years.' Now, I want you to make cash in three to six months. If you can't show me cash flow in three to six months, I have no interest."

And that hard-nosed standard is coming from one of the panel's nicer judges.

On the show, Herjavec grills would-be entrepreneurs alongside sharp-tongued businessman Kevin O'Leary, former Mountie Jim Treliving, philanthropic broker W. Brett Wilson and marketer Dickinson.

But this year, Herjavec and O'Leary will be examining twice as many deals, since they're both also cast as judges on the U.S. version of the show, "Shark Tank." Produced by reality TV titan Mark Burnett ("Survivor," "The Apprentice"), it's set to debut on ABC in January.

Herjavec said the U.S. show will be a harder-edged take on the franchise, which originated in Japan and has spawned versions in England, Australia and eastern Europe. That tougher stance is clear by the name-change, he notes.

"It's a typical American versus Canadian thing. The Americans, they don't just want you to be a shark, they want you to be a shark who's about to kill and eat something," he said.

"We're going to be the American sharks, proving that Canadians, once again, are much better at everything," he joked.

CBC-TV's "Dragon's Den" is set to air in September.

The Canadian audition tour heads to Montreal on Saturday and Toronto on April 18.