A US version of Dragons' Den - to be called The Shark Tank - is on the way from Sony.

Survivor creator Mark Burnett has agreed to work on the show which Sony will pitch to broadcasters in coming months.

An attempt to bring the Japanese format to the US failed several years ago but Burnett said he was confident it would work this time around.

He added: "If you're coming in desperate for money, it's like there's blood in the water. If you want to be a great entrepreneur in the US, you had better be ready to swim in shark-infested waters."

Burnett made the decision after seeing the UK version and the format will be very similar.

Sony Pictures president Steve Mosko said it was the start of more high-profile non-scripted production: "We are really going to move to ramp up our reality and light-entertainment business for networks and syndication. It's a huge priority for us."