When it comes time to strike a deal, the stars of ABC’s “Shark Tank” are often out for blood. They invest their own cash on the show, so with “Shark Tank” businesses like Plated, Benjilock and Ring selling for hundreds of millions or even a billion dollars, it gets competitive.
“Shark Tank” investor Daymond John recently revealed he has strategies for throwing the other Sharks off their game.
“The best way to steal deals from my fellow sharks is to mentally shake them up prior to the pitch,” John wrote on LinkedIn in mid-September while shooting season 10 of the show, which premieres Sunday.
“For example, I tell @lorigreinershark [Lori Greiner] stupid dad jokes to keep her giggling while we’re negotiating. I annoy @mcuban [Mark Cuban] with Lil Day Day while he is trying to send out important emails.” The post, which has since racked up over 235,000 views and nearly 400 comments, was accompanied by a video of John on-set, attempting to distract a visibly annoyed Cuban with “Lil Day Day,” a small puppet or doll that looks like John.
For Cuban’s part, he tells CNBC Make It he’s not buying it: “Lol. We have fun. But he never gets a deal from me.”
But when it comes to throwing off Kevin O’Leary, John asked for a little bit of help.
“What do you think I should do to get @kevinolearytv [Kevin O’Leary] off his game? #AnySuggestions,” John wrote.
In response, John’s followers offered up a wide-range of ideas, from smacking bubblegum loudly to mispronouncing the name of O’Leary’s wine club, Kevin O’Leary Fine Wines. (A representative for O’Leary did not return a request for comment.)
In the past, “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec has also sounded off on the high stakes on-set. In a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” forum, he dished that the drama between the sharks isn’t fake.
“We have a very powerful relationship with our own money so ya, it gets serious,” Herjavec wrote. “Tension is very real.”
Indeed, past seasons of “Shark Tank” have aired pretty tense, on-set moments, like when Cuban repeatedly interrupted guest judge Bethenny Frankel and when Cuban and guest judge Richard Branson got in a water fight. Then there was the time Cuban called O’Leary an idiot, and when Barbara Corcoran and Cubanwaged war against Greiner.
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Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
