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Apprentice boss attacks Shark Tank

Mark Bouris slams Shark Tank for ripping into people. So what the hell was Celebrity Apprentice?

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Former Apprentice boss Mark Bouris has taken aim at Shark Tank in an extraordinary attack on the show.

The Yellow Brick Road boss has written a piece in News Corp:

There’s a show on Channel 10, Shark Tank. I don’t watch it too often but the few times I have, I felt like vomiting. They are just ripping into these people. It’s tough enough to get up and present, let alone on TV. These people have just a few minutes to put forward their dream.

What really gets in my throat is when the judges start to carve them up. We should be encouraging them. Obviously if it’s not a good idea you need to tell them, but maybe it has good bones, maybe they just need encouragement.

Entrepreneurs need better support from the government and banks. They need us to back them, not cut them down and someone to ask them the right questions as they shape their business.

Sorry? Is this The Apprentice boss criticising a show for ripping into people and not encouraging them?

What the hell was Celebrity Apprentice?

Has he forgotten how it spent entire seasons celebrating people ripping one another apart? Deni Hines anyone? I’ve never seen so many abusive comments on a single show submitted to this website as that season.

But wait, let’s not stop there. Let’s talk about the celebrities who have questioned production tactics of waking cast members up before dawn, making them wait around until noon with next to no refreshments just so they are close to breaking when the cameras actually start rolling? Several celebrities complained to me about textbook tactics designed to fray tempers.

Brian Mannix once told media, ”It is a celebration of the worst in human nature under the high moral ground of raising money for charity.

“It wasn’t fun at all. If you like arguing, cracking the shits and being a bitch then you’d love it but I found the whole experience a bit morally bankrupt.”

Peter Everett once said, “I was staying with some friends in Sydney and honestly, I was coming home saying ‘Please don’t make me go back there, please don’t make me go back’.

“I was severely depleted, I was getting sick and trying to pull energy out of nowhere and added with the emotional side, it was hard core.”

Yep. Compared to The Apprentice, Shark Tank looks like a holiday camp.

27 Responses

  1. Shark Tank is a good show but this first Australian series could have been produced a lot lot better. To start with, the host turned out to be a weak link and an oddity, like a yellow plastic chair matched with a leather lounge suite. Why didn’t the producers check the original Dragons’ Den formula? If they did, they would discover just how intriguing the host is on that. Not only does he give the applicants a debrief opportunity, he masterfully trolls when there is a clever opportunity to kek the contestant’s outcome, sometimes rubbing salt in or turning the tables with passive-aggressive undertones. No more free advice from me about Shark Tank.

  2. The Sharks are the exact opposite to what Bouris has described, making it very obvious he hasn’t watched much, if any of the episodes. They offer an awful lot of advice, especially Janine. They only get revved up when it appears they’re being taken for a ride. As for ‘only haven’t minutes to pitch’ it has been well publicised what’s shown is only a snippet of lengthy pitches, some taking up to an hour. Perhaps while he’s sucking on his sour grapes, Mr Bouris should watch a few entire episodes.

  3. well the members from shark tank are investing there own money so of course they want to know the facts and figures. Some people walk in asking for money way over the top and are not prepared. It does make good viewing.

  4. I’ve only seen Shark Tank a few times but all the Sharks seemed quite fair to me. The couple of times I did see them get annoyed or be extremely blunt was when the pitch was badly done – some people had no idea about figures, no business plan or were very vague about the business. If you’re asking people to fund your dream business it’s rude and unintelligent to not be properly prepared.

    1. yep exactly! They are only hard on the ones who vastly over value their business or who don’t know their own figures. If you are asking someone to invest in your business, and you can’t even tell them basic things like how much your turnover is, you deserve to be ripped to shreds!

      1. I thought it was so strange the people who came in so ill prepared! I was annoyed at them as well, didn’t blame the Sharks! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

  5. Things – I was thinking the same thing. Sour grapes anyone?

    Seriously – virtually every reality show boosts its ratings by having nasty behaviour on it.

    There’s a reason we call it ‘My Bitchen Rules” you know.

    I think the only reality show that tries not to be too bitchy is Masterchef Australia. Even when they had that chef that made Gordon Ramsay cry – the comments were still pretty constructive and supportive.

    And I do believe that series rated poorly.

    Viewers expect bitching, contestants stabbing others in the back, contestants walking out…

    Who wants to watch a group of contestants being nice and supportive of one another?

    Sadly this is what reality tv has become…and always will be.

  6. Mark is probably a bit annoyed that his show is no longer on air.I do get that he show was solid enough in the ratings but Channel 9 decided to get rid of it and have more Block shows instead.Was a bit rough really

  7. Its the same with all these types of shows, you shouldnt expect any different if you want more polite less drama then watch Kochie’s Business Builders for information on improving businesses or advice about the viability of a business idea. Shark Tank is scripted like most reality shows of this kind so was Dragon’s Den to a extent. They need to be critical and somewhat rude. When going on these shows the contestant needs to be very prepared its sort of like a job interview, if you are not prepared and dont have financials in order than you will be grilled.

  8. I enjoy the Apprentice UK with Lord Alan Sugar, but Celebrity Apprentice with Mark Bouris,, in my opinion hopeless, and rude. I saw him once never again.
    I like Shark Tank, some people come in with a grossly over stated value of their company, and sometimes you need to be hard to be kind. Some ideas are just too wacky to succeed, and they need to be told what is what, and as for Steve being rude most of the people that he fires up about arev the ones that interrupt him…..so who is being rude there.

  9. Well said, David. I loved the original Apprentice but thought the Celebrity version was dire and gave up. Shark Tank is excellently done. Sure, there’s few take downs but some people are so bloody minded they need some blunt feedback.

  10. The shark who sits on the far left, not sure of his name, owns I.T companies, can be very rude and arrogant to the people pitching their ideas. Sometimes he just rips them apart.

  11. lol rant over, I think mark is just trying to push his yellow brick road, still is funny how his complaining about shark tank when his just as bad, I enjoyed both shows, didn’t seem that bad

  12. But that’s the production crew and howevers involved behind the show for celebrity apprentice who treats the celebrities like that. Mr. Bouris would’ve been under a contract like the celebrities, so it’s not like he had a say in how the show was developed.

  13. I agree with him but The Apprentice is as staed more repugnant. We really are a mean pack of bastards judging by the ratings on all these mean spirited programs.

    1. To be also fair, there are over 30,000 posts here so whilst sometimes I might not always get it right I would be surprised if your point was considered a trait of the site. In aggregating stories one never takes 100% of copy.

      Broadly speaking I write blog copy about content that engages with me, so it frequently comes with my perspective (whether hot, cold or somewhere in between). If that ignites debate, it is an add-on, not the core reason. Most readers do not comment – and frankly one can never pick where the conversation will go. I also provide source links so you can go back and read more to form your own view and as a nod for traffic to source. Finally my name is on every post I write, no hiding behind anonymity. Bouris took a view, I took another view.

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