Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 201'Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank' returning to ABCInsider TV. Retrieved June 24, 2012 The show i ...

'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series produced by

Mark Burnett Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Television, MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows The Apprentice (American TV series), ''The Ap ...

.Adalian, Josef (February 13, 2008)
"Sony, Burnett dive into 'Shark Tank'"
. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', "a version of the Japanese reality format."Battaglio, Stephen (December 3, 2012) "''Shark'' Attacks Prime Time!". ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

''. pp. 4-5 The show features a panel of investors called "sharks," who decide whether to invest as entrepreneurs make business presentations on their company or product. The sharks often find weaknesses and faults in an entrepreneur's concept, product, or business model. Some of the investors try to soften the impact of rejection, like panel member

Lori Greiner Lori Greiner is an American television personality and entrepreneur. She is an investor on the reality ABC TV series ''Shark Tank''. Greiner has hundreds of inventions and holds 120 patents. She became known as the "Queen of QVC" as a result of he ...

, while others such as

Kevin O'Leary Terence Thomas Kevin O'Leary (born 9 July 1954), also known as Mr. Wonderful, is a Canadian businessman, entrepreneur, and television personality. From 2004 to 2014, he appeared on various Canadian television shows. These include the business n ...

can be "brutal" and show "no patience even for tales of hardship." The sharks are paid as cast stars of the show, but the money they invest is their own. The entrepreneur can make a handshake deal (

gentleman's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

) on the show if a panel member is interested. However, if all of the panel members opt out, the entrepreneur leaves empty-handed. In 2015, a companion spin-off series called ''

Beyond the Tank ''Beyond The Tank'' is an American reality television companion spin-off series on ABC, which followed up on aspiring entrepreneurs who made business presentations to a panel of potential investors on ''Shark Tank''. The show premiered on May 1, ...

'' premiered, which follows up on some of the businesses that have appeared on the show. In this spin-off series it was revealed that sharks can still make a deal with a business that was rejected in the "tank". ''Shark Tank''s fourteenth season premiered on September 23, 2022.

Series overview

Episodes

"Yes", when displayed in the main season articles, means one or more Sharks initiated a deal; it may or may not be finalized after completing a

due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a l ...

process.

Season 1 (2009–10)

Kevin Harrington,

Daymond John Daymond Garfield John (born February 23, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is best known as the founder, president, and chief executive officer of FUBU, and appears as an investor on the ABC reality telev ...

Barbara Corcoran Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor, syndicated columnist, and television personality. She founded The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, which she sold to NRT for $66 million ...

, and

Robert Herjavec Robert Herjavec (; ; born September 14, 1962) is a Croatian-Canadian businessman, investor, and television personality. Herjavec founded BRAK Systems, a Canadian integrator of Internet security software, and sold it to AT&T Canada (now Allstre ...

appear as the sharks in every episode this season.

Season 2 (2011)

This is Kevin Harrington's last season as a shark. Comedian

Jeff Foxworthy Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American actor, author, comedian, producer and writer. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White. Known for his "You might be a ...

appeared as a guest shark in two episodes this season.

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...

appeared as a shark in several episodes this season; in season three he would become a regular.

Season 3 (2012)

appeared as a shark in several episodes this season; in season four she would become a regular.

Season 4 (2012–13)

Season 5 (2013–14)

From this season on, as well as retroactively, Mark Cuban insisted that the production company relinquish its equity clause (two percent of their profits or five percent equity in their company) with respect to featured businesses who choose to do a deal with the sharks.

John Paul Mitchell Systems John Paul Mitchell Systems (JPMS) is an American manufacturer of hair care products and styling tools through several brands including Paul Mitchell, Tea Tree, Neuro, Pro Tools, Awapuhi Wild Ginger, MITCH, MVRCK, and Professoinal Hair Color. Hi ...

co-founder

John Paul DeJoria John Paul Jones DeJoria (born April 13, 1944) is an American entrepreneur, self-made billionaire and philanthropist best known as a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Company. Due to his personal car ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

owner

Steve Tisch Steven Elliot Tisch (born February 14, 1949) is an American film producer and businessman. He is the chairman, co-owner and executive vice president of the New York Giants, the NFL team co-owned by his family, as well as a film and television pr ...

appeared as guest sharks this season.

Season 6 (2014–15)

Nick Woodman Nicholas D. Woodman (born June 24, 1975) is an American businessman, and the founder and CEO of GoPro. Early life and education Woodman is the son of Concepcion (née Socarras) and Dean Woodman.GoPro GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman La ...

camera, appeared as a guest shark in two episodes this season.

Season 7 (2015–16)

Actor

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...

, music manager

Troy Carter Troy Carter may refer to: * Troy Carter (physicist) (born 1973), American plasma physicist *Troy Carter (politician) (born 1963), American politician * Troy Carter (talent manager) (born 1972), American music talent manager Fictional characters *2 ...

, and venture investor

Chris Sacca Christopher Sacca (born May 12, 1975) is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund in the United States that has invested in seed and early-stage te ...

appeared as guest sharks this season.

Season 8 (2016–17)

Venture investor

returned as a guest shark in several episodes this season.

Season 9 (2017–18)

Guest sharks this season include

Spanx Spanx, Inc. is an American underwear maker focusing on shaping briefs and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The company manufactures mainly pantyhose and other underwear for women and, since 2010, produces male underwear as well. Spanx spe ...

founder

Sara Blakely Sara Treleaven Blakely (born February 27, 1971) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the founder of Spanx, an American intimate Clothing, apparel company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, Blakely wa ...

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...

founder

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

, brand marketer

Rohan Oza Rohan Oza is an American businessman, investor, and marketing expert behind several large brands. Rohan has been a recurring guest on the television show ''Shark Tank''. Early life Oza was born in Zambia in an ethnic Indian family. He studied ...

, TV personality

Bethenny Frankel Bethenny Frankel (born November 4, 1970) is an American businesswoman, television personality, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. She starred in the Bravo television series ''The Real Housewives of New York City'', having appeared in eight ...

, and former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

star

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

. The series moved to Sunday nights for this season. After the cancellation of ''

Ten Days in the Valley ''Ten Days in the Valley'' is an American drama television series that aired on ABC from October 1, 2017, through January 6, 2018. The series, starring Kyra Sedgwick, was ordered direct-to-series on August 4, 2016. After airing four episodes, ABC ...

'', and with the March arrival of ABC's reboot of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'', the majority of episodes aired back-to-back in two-hour blocks.

Season 10 (2018–19)

Guest sharks for this season, subtitled "A Decade of Dreams," include

Jamie Siminoff Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and te ...

, the first guest shark to have sought a deal on the show (the sharks passed on his company Doorbot, now known as

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

Season 11 (2019–20)

Guest sharks this season include

Katrina Lake Katrina Lake (born December 24, 1982) is an American businesswoman who is the Founder and former CEO of Stitch Fix, a fashion-based subscription service. Stitch Fix was established in 2011 in San Francisco and went public in 2017. In 2017, Lake ...

, founder and CEO of

Stitch Fix Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service in the United States and United Kingdom. It uses recommendation algorithms and data science to personalize clothing items based on size, budget and style. The company was founded in 2011 and had a ...

;

Daniel Lubetzky Daniel Lubetzky (born 1968) is a Mexican American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, author, and founder and executive chairman of snack company Kind LLC. Biography Daniel Lubetzky is the son of Sonia and Roman Lubetzky. A Holocaust su ...

, founder and CEO of Kind; tennis player

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...

; and

Anne Wojcicki Anne E. Wojcicki ( ; born July 28, 1973) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded and serves as CEO of the personal genomics company 23andMe. She founded the company in 2006 with Linda Avey and Paul Cusenza to provide the general public access t ...

, CEO and co-founder of

23andMe 23andMe Holding Co. is a publicly held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva sample t ...

. Recurring Sharks include

and Matt Higgins.

Season 12 (2020–21)

Guest sharks this season include

Blake Mycoskie Blake Mycoskie (born August 26, 1976) is an American entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Toms Shoes and co-founder of Madefor. Early life and education Mycoskie was born in Arlington, Texas, to Mike Mycoskie, an ort ...

, founder of TOMS and co-founder of Madefor, and

Kendra Scott Kendra Scott (born March 27, 1974) is an American fashion designer. She is the executive chairwoman, designer, and former chief executive officer of Kendra Scott, LLC. In 2017, she was named Ernst & Young's National Entrepreneur of the Year. Ear ...

, founder and CEO of Kendra Scott LLC. Returning guest Sharks include

, baseball player and founder and CEO of A-Rod Corp, and

, founder and executive chairman of Kind.

Season 13 (2021–22)

Guest sharks this season include

Emma Grede Emma Grede is a British businesswoman, entrepreneur and fashion designer. She is the CEO and co-founder of the denim company Good American, a founding partner of Skims, and co-founder of Safely. Early life Grede was born and raised in East Lon ...

, CEO and co-founder of Good American and founding partner of

Skims Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (Urdu: ), often abbreviated as SKIMS, is the largest medical Institute under State Legislature Act in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. SKIMS is the only medical university of the un ...

; actor and comedian

Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums. After winning se ...

; Peter Jones, dragon on ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

'';

, founder and executive chairman of Kind; and

Nirav Tolia Neerav (originally Sanskrit) means "quiet or calm." The name Neerav is derived from Sanskrit. In Hindu origin the meaning of name Neerav is: Silent. This name commonly used by Hindus. It is widely used in Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sanskrit, ...

, co-founder of

Nextdoor Nextdoor Holdings, Inc. is an American company which operates a hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in San Francisco, California. Nextdoor launched in the United States in October ...

Season 14 (2022–23)

Guest sharks this season include

, CEO and co-founder of Good American and founding partner of

;

Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...

, actress and founder of

goop Goop may refer to: *Alfons Goop (1910–1993), Liechtenstein Nazi leader *'' Goops'', a 1900 book series by Gelett Burgess * Shoe Goo or Sportsman's Goop, a brand of waterproof seam-sealer *''Goop'', a brand of liquid hand cleaner containing finely ...

; Peter Jones, dragon on ''

'';

, founder and executive chairman of Kind;

, founder and CEO of Kendra Scott LLC; and

Tony Xu Tony Xu (born Xu Xun, 1983/1984) is a Chinese-American billionaire businessman, and the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of DoorDash. Born in Nanjing, China, Xu immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of five. He ea ...

, CEO and co-founder of

DoorDash DoorDash, Inc. is an American company that operates an online food ordering and food delivery platform. The company is based in San Francisco, California. It went public in December 2020 on NYSE and trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% mar ...

References

{{Shark Tank Shark Tank episodes Shark Tank episodes Shark Tank episodes

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Gree ...