Broke the story today in the Toronto Star that Dragon’s Den judge Kevin O’Leary has been hired by Mark Burnett to be part of the upcoming ABC version of the series, Shark Tank. The pilot shoots in L.A. Jan. 6-9. You can read the entire Star piece here.
Hand picked by savvy showrunner Burnett, O’Leary is quickly becoming Canada’s busiest TV billionaire. He says the creative world of television helps him work “the left side of my brain.” O’Leary says he doesn’t know anything about speculation that Shark Tank executive producer Mark Burnett plans to have an actual shark tank on the set of the series, which features wannabe moguls pitching their big business ideas to proven entrepreneurs like O’Leary. The Montreal native didn’t get where he is today through wild speculation. “They’ll probably modify it a bit,” he says of ABC’s version of the series, which is based on versions of Dragon’s Den airing in the U.K. and Canada.
Besides Dragon’s Den and the upcoming Shark Tank, O’Leary is a co-host on the Business News Network (BNN). Don’t go looking for him on Dancing With the Stars, though, the guy knows his niche and he’s sticking to it. “I don’t do anything other than investor’s television,” he says. Now if I can just get him to help monetize TV Feeds My Family…
