Steve Baxter defends unfriendly fire
TEN Shark doesn't apologise for blunt tweets, but Steve Baxter is waiting for the day he is told to tone it down.
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Steve Baxter provides the fire to TEN’s Shark Tank not just on air but online, engaging with Twitter feedback and giving as good as he gets.
In recent weeks he has been described as everything from belittling women and “mansplaining” to being aggressive and rude.
But Baxter is sticking to his guns, recently telling TV Tonight, “Anyone who reads my tweets, I urge them to look at the context and understand the circumstances they were given and understand the wider message I’m trying to get across. There’s a lot more to it than 140 inflammatory characters. Read the entire thread, understand that or don’t get involved in the conversation.”
Asked if he had been asked by Production to moderate his social media manner he admitted,
“No, but I’m waiting for it!”
“At the moment I’m ‘defending misogynists’ apparently.
“A lot gets left on the cutting room floor so the context isn’t there. But I said those things, so I won’t resile from them. It’s mostly represented very honestly but it’s 50 minutes boiled down to 8 minutes. So it’s bound to happen.”
Recent scenes in Shark Tank in which he grilled female entrepreneurs drew derision from his colleagues including Naomi Simson and Glen Richards.
“I was mansplaining, sexist, apparently you can’t argue with a female. People who think I treat certain groups differently should look at entire shows. I’ve given some men an absolute shallacking. And some females. But I don’t look at them in those categories,” he explained.
“I look at them as people who want my money. Want my daughter’s money. So I look at it through that lens, basically.”
On the question of providing fiery Reality feedback, he added, “We don’t get told to give it that way. We mostly sit around and ignore the production staff. We mostly eat and sit in a dark room. They call us to the stage 6 or 7 times a day, and by the end of the day you want to get out.”
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10 Responses
Steve has every right to respond in the manner in which he has….too many would be recipients of his hard earned money have had a sense of self entitlement!
Most readers seem to have overlooked the story is largely about his robust Twitter commentary to viewers, not his answers in the show.
I really like Steve and think they’ve got the casting mix spot on. I do feel Steve is victim of the edit suite which in certain episodes almost makes him appear on the Aspergers scale (and I mean that with all due respect to people who themselves are) which can alienate the casual viewer looking for the juicy soundbites, but the context of what he says is actually on the money in most cases.
Dragon’s Den in the UK is even more blunt. Especially Duncan Bannatyne who takes no crap and says it like it is. Lord Sugar on UK Apprentice is the same.
“We mostly sit around and ignore the production staff ”
Nice comment Steve, I’m sure they are only trying to make you look good on camera.
Bit of an overblown ego methinks.
Little Mr Nasty.
I was a regular viewer of Shark Tank, but no longer watch because of Steve’s unpleasantness.
Steve only tells it like it is.
Shark Tank has got to be one of the best reality tv formats out there.
I am with you on this one franklytv .
I agree also…and I like Steve…there is to much of this everyone get a prize…people need to see life and business as it really is…and Steve tells it ..like it is.