The “Shark Tank” cast is heartbroken over Mark Cuban’s decision to leave the hit business and entrepreneurship reality series.
“Like losing a brother, it’s terrible. I know I’ll get over it; I hope I’ll get over it, but it feels very sad,” co-star Barbara Corcoran told TheWrap. “He feels irreplaceable. They say people aren’t irreplaceable, but on the show, he is. He really is.”
The Dallas Mavericks co-owner dove into the ABC tank as the show’s fifth regular investor in Season 3, coming in after original shark Kevin Harrington made his exit after two seasons (during which Cuban appeared as a guest). Since then, Cuban has become known as the shark who will circle the waters, waiting out to hear everyone else’s potential offers before sinking his teeth into a deal.
Original shark Kevin O’Leary — or Mr. Wonderful, as he likes to be called — said he knew long before Cuban’s announcement that the billionaire would be leaving the program.
“He’d talked about it over the years, in terms of, it’s very time-consuming to do it and each year takes longer. I understand his transition, but working with him was amazing,” O’Leary shared. “But the show goes on as it always does and I think there’s a lot of people who want to be sharks, guest sharks. I think that’s good, because I think America needs the show and the show needs America.”
Fellow shark Robert Herjavec pointed out that Cuban still has many potential updates he’ll have to do before he truly exits. “Will he ever leave?” he asked. “Eight-thousand investments … there will be updates every week.”
As for Lori Greiner, she said Cuban had also confided in her about his desire to step away from “Shark Tank.”
“I’ve been talking to Mark about this for several years on and off, and when he told me, I was heartbroken,” she said. “Honestly, I love and adore him, and I truly can’t even imagine this show without him. But he’ll be a dear friend and family for life. But one word: heartbroken.”
As TheWrap previously reported, FUBU founder Daymond John opened up about how Cuban’s casting spared the show from going out of business in its earlier seasons.
“Mark Cuban found out that it was one of the top shows to watch for kids and families and he said, ‘I’ll come on if it’s about entrepreneurship,’” John explained. “He walked the show onto “[Jimmy] Kimmel [Live!]’ and onto ‘[The] Ellen [DeGeneres Show],’ and the show then started to skyrocket.’ Mark said, ‘I’m going to stay one or two years to help you all out.’ Mark stayed 15 years after that. So it’s just an honor that he was such a big advocate of the show, and we’re lucky to have him.”
Cuban, who’s financially-backed 85 companies since joining the “Shark Tank” cast, first shared the news that he’d be departing from the show while appearing on sports podcast “All the Smoke” in 2023.
“This is our 15th year. Next year’s 16th year is going to be my last year. So, I only got one more year to go,” he revealed. “It’s time.”
Kind Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky was promoted to full-time shark investor on the hit ABC series in September.
“Shark Tank” Season 16 premieres Friday, Oct. 18, on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
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