S09.E24: Bermies, Lace Your Face, Palmini, Thrive+

[SnarkyTart]

Quote

An energetic entrepreneur from Key Biscayne, Fla.,believes he has the best men's swimwear; entrepreneurs from Alhambra, Cal. present their "better" version of a popular beauty trend; an entrepreneur from Pinecrest, Fla., pitches a solution for eating pasta without the guilt; and an entrepreneur from Kingwood, Texas, has the cure for the dreaded hangover.

[bilgistic]

I really wanted the swim trunks guy to put on a shirt.

I've never eaten a heart of palm. I'm 43. Have I lived a sheltered existence?

Why aren't the lace masks being licensed to every company that makes masks?

My thought during the "hangover cure" pitch: "If you need to buy and take a supplement to remedy the effects of your drinking, maybe cut back on your drinking?"

[Showthyme]

How many people would remember to run to the cabinet to get their hangover pill? 

The lace mask is a good idea. I wonder if Lori will bundle it with her No 'Mo Mustache product that she partnered on with Bethenny.  Bethenny is right about the price point though. It needs to come down. 

I don't want to see anymore shirtless men or bikini-wearing women on this show.

The heart of palm sounds interesting but not too many people will pay $9.99 for a container. Pasta is popular, in part, because it is so inexpensive and readily available. 

Love me some Mark Cuban but he was out of line shushing Bethenny. This is not his show. 

[SnarkyTart]

36 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I've never eaten a heart of palm. I'm 43. Have I lived a sheltered existence?

I haven't either, so maybe we both live in a cave. :-)  Still, if the product had actually tasted anything like pasta, I would have been interested.  But, as a couple of the sharks observed, it didn't taste anything like pasta...just a vegetable cut into the shape of pasta.  I looked up the reviews on amazon and many of them wrote about the awful taste and/or texture, preferring zucchini "noodles" if they were going to substitute a shredded vegetable in place of real pasta.  I think the entrepreneur failed by positioning his product as a pasta replacement.  It is not.

36 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Why aren't the lace masks being licensed to every company that makes masks?

Good question!  If Kevin O'Leary had been there, he certainly would have pointed out that it was a licensing product.  Lori was correct that there was no way people were going to pay a premium price for an off-brand beauty treatment no one's ever heard of.  However, if the lace mask part of it was licensed to a well-known, high-end brand, that might be a different story.

Edited February 26, 2018 by SnarkyTart

[hkit]

28 minutes ago, Showthyme said:

Love me some Mark Cuban but he was out of line shushing Bethenny. This is not his show. 

He was out of line during that whole segment. There was no way he was going to invest; he needs to sit back and let other people get in a word edgewise. I don't even like Betheny or Robert, but I loved that they called him out. He's a bit of a bully and he needs to be put into his place from time to time. 

[Jax7917]

Bethenny and mark look alike . They both have that droopy eyed , plastic face 

[Diana Berry]

I read that the pitches can go on for a hour or more.  They did mention an hour for the last guy.  So I take it the mark and the guy talked science for most of the pitch. Would love to have seen the outtakes from that.

[EtheltoTillie]

I was not clear on how Lori swooped in and snatched the deal from Bethenny.  Did she offer the same deal and they just wanted her instead?  I could not hear anything said.  Bethenny looked shocked!  The palm product did seem to be up Bethenny's Skinny Girl alley. 

[KaveDweller]

59 minutes ago, GussieK said:

I was not clear on how Lori swooped in and snatched the deal from Bethenny.  Did she offer the same deal and they just wanted her instead?  I could not hear anything said.  Bethenny looked shocked!  The palm product did seem to be up Bethenny's Skinny Girl alley. 

They made a counter offer, Bethenny said no, and Lori jumped in with, "I'll take it." I'm not sure why Bethenny got so upset when she had declined the person's offer. 

Often Mark will jump in like that by accepting a counter offer before the original person has a chance to respond. 

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

My thought during the "hangover cure" pitch: "If you need to buy and take a supplement to remedy the effects of your drinking, maybe cut back on your drinking?"

I thought he was going to say the main target was college students who want to party and still make it to class the next day.  Seems kind of sad if 35-55 year-olds are still drinking so much they need a way to reduce hangovers all the time. Learn your limits.

[chocolatine]

3 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I've never eaten a heart of palm. I'm 43. Have I lived a sheltered existence?

I'm 37 and I think I've only eaten it once or twice in a restaurant dish. I remember it having a similar texture to artichoke but with much less flavor. I certainly wouldn't accept it as a substitute for pasta. I also don't like the name - "Palmini" sounds too much like "pelmeni" and I can only imagine the disappointment of someone expecting delicious Russian dumplings only to get shredded hearts of palm instead. I also hated that the presentation maligned calories, sugar, and carbs. All of those are necessary to sustain life; heart of palm is not. Not to mention that Italy, where people eat a lot of pasta, doesn't have nearly the obesity-related health problems that the US has.

[anonymiss]

IMO Mark's giant ego is mostly justified while Bethenny's is not. If you're familiar with her motormouth and persona from Housewives she is like a brat who can't go longer than a few moments before having to hear herself speak (with her acerbic grating voice) and she had nothing substantial to say about it, as it turns out.

I agree with Lori and Mark on the hearts of palm pasta being promising for their category. Kelp noodles are also in this category but aren't as convenient to prepare because they need to be softened first or else they taste like eating wires. The konjac and soy variety taste like rubber. The popular zucchini noodles taste like grass to me because that's how shredded raw zucchini tastes whereas hearts of palm are delicious on their own so I definitely want to try them. 

Edited February 27, 2018 by anonymiss

[cooksdelight]

It still baffles me that Bethenny dated Marcus Lemonis. And I avoid this show like the plague when she’s on it.

[sasha206]

Add me to the list of people that wish Bethenny would get the hell off this show.  I'm thankful she's only been in a couple of episodes.  I'm also chuckling at her "what would prevent a larger company from taking your idea and..."  I mean, her entire line could be replicated by anyone.  And she didn't even invent the wheel in the first place -- most of her Skinny Girl products have been in existence for YEARS before she hit it big.  I'm of the mindset that the reason she actually hit it big was because of the name and the cute logo only.  Maybe the Skinny Girl alcoholic products were revolutionary (although where they really?), but everything else in her line is just a spinoff of stuff already in existence.

And I loved that Lori G. scooped in and made the deal on the lace masks.  Loved seeing Beth's face angered.  

[basiltherat]

Couldn't you re-use the face masks over and over again by putting your own face cream on and then the  mask?  Then you just buy it once and use it for months!

[sasha206]

3 hours ago, basiltherat said:

Couldn't you re-use the face masks over and over again by putting your own face cream on and then the  mask?  Then you just buy it once and use it for months!

I was wondering the same thing!  They seem sturdy enough to take additional uses.

[slowpoked]

I like the hearts of palm vegetable, where I'm originally from, we use it on a lot of our dishes. But I understand that it's an acquired taste. Would never think of it as a pasta substitute, but I'll try.

I'm at a point where I wish they would just ban all supplement type products from ever coming on this show, so Mark would not get on his high horse and feel like he's the be-all and end-all of the supplements pitch. I'm glad Bethany and Robert called him out on hijacking the presentation. Yes, I understand his concern of most supplements being a rip-off, but he doesn't get to be the speaker on behalf of everyone on these things just because he runs a basketball team. Yes, there are products out there that are total ripoffs or frauds, but Mark just seem to have that innate desire to prove that all of them are frauds and he's right about everything. I'm glad Bethanny told him she's pissed they didn't even get to the economics side of the things yet. Hey, even if it's a minor ripoff, if someone wants to invest on it, then go for it. It's not his money others will be spending. 

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, slowpoked said:

I like the hearts of palm vegetable, where I'm originally from, we use it on a lot of our dishes. But I understand that it's an acquired taste. Would never think of it as a pasta substitute, but I'll try.

I'm at a point where I wish they would just ban all supplement type products from ever coming on this show, so Mark would not get on his high horse and feel like he's the be-all and end-all of the supplements pitch. I'm glad Bethany and Robert called him out on hijacking the presentation. Yes, I understand his concern of most supplements being a rip-off, but he doesn't get to be the speaker on behalf of everyone on these things just because he runs a basketball team. Yes, there are products out there that are total ripoffs or frauds, but Mark just seem to have that innate desire to prove that all of them are frauds and he's right about everything. I'm glad Bethanny told him she's pissed they didn't even get to the economics side of the things yet. Hey, even if it's a minor ripoff, if someone wants to invest on it, then go for it. It's not his money others will be spending. 

I also think most people know that buying something called a "hangover cure" is not a guarantee to anything. They can understand it is a thing that some people may find useful, decide to try it and then see for themselves. Just because you can't show scientific proof that something's 100% effective doesn't mean there is no value.

[basiltherat]

I was inwardly chuckling when Mark went on his rant and got some blowback, especially in light of the fact that he got fined $600,000 for talking to his team about tanking games.  Yes, Mark DOES think he can say anything he wants to because he is "honest" but now he got TWO slapdowns in a week's time!

God, I miss Mr. Wonderful.

[Amarsir]

I think in Mark's defense a bit, he has been consistently aware of the "show" aspect of Shark Tank. He was the one who pushed ABC to remove their 3% cut, and then has taken it on himself to challenge those he sees as "gold diggers". So I think he see's it as a responsibility of the sharks to not let snake oil pitches go unchallenged.

That said, if you go for an hour and still have questions, maybe you have to accept it's not the right format and you can handle the rest in due diligence. It's not reasonable of him to keep dominating that much of the time. It was bad for the viewing and the other sharks, and still didn't really resolve it to his satisfaction.

[roctavia]

55 minutes ago, Amarsir said:

I think in Mark's defense a bit, he has been consistently aware of the "show" aspect of Shark Tank. He was the one who pushed ABC to remove their 3% cut, and then has taken it on himself to challenge those he sees as "gold diggers". So I think he see's it as a responsibility of the sharks to not let snake oil pitches go unchallenged.

That said, if you go for an hour and still have questions, maybe you have to accept it's not the right format and you can handle the rest in due diligence. It's not reasonable of him to keep dominating that much of the time. It was bad for the viewing and the other sharks, and still didn't really resolve it to his satisfaction.

I agree and I thought his point towards the end made a lot of sense just because of the Shark Tank bump most of these products see. The audience doesn't know what comes out in due diligence, so of they just talk money and what the product is for without question, that sort of says to the audience that it's a legit product when usually it's not at all.

[GoldenGirl90]

On 2/26/2018 at 4:04 PM, Showthyme said:

I don't want to see anymore shirtless men or bikini-wearing women on this show.

I'm no prude but it makes me so uncomfortable, especially when they don't slip into anything else during the entire pitch. How are the Sharks or viewers supposed to take them serious while they're barefoot and shirtless?

On 2/26/2018 at 3:51 PM, bilgistic said:

My thought during the "hangover cure" pitch: "If you need to buy and take a supplement to remedy the effects of your drinking, maybe cut back on your drinking?"

Also, many other "cures" that people swear by exist.

On 2/27/2018 at 8:25 AM, cooksdelight said:

It still baffles me that Bethenny dated Marcus Lemonis. And I avoid this show like the plague when she’s on it.

I don't like her on this show.

18 hours ago, slowpoked said:

I'm at a point where I wish they would just ban all supplement type products from ever coming on this show, so Mark would not get on his high horse and feel like he's the be-all and end-all of the supplements pitch. I'm glad Bethany and Robert called him out on hijacking the presentation.

Mark always hijacks the presentation when it's a supplement or something that requires scientific proof.

10 hours ago, Amarsir said:

That said, if you go for an hour and still have questions, maybe you have to accept it's not the right format and you can handle the rest in due diligence. It's not reasonable of him to keep dominating that much of the time. It was bad for the viewing and the other sharks, and still didn't really resolve it to his satisfaction.

Good point.

Edited February 28, 2018 by Alexis2291

[slowpoked]

13 hours ago, Amarsir said:

That said, if you go for an hour and still have questions, maybe you have to accept it's not the right format and you can handle the rest in due diligence. It's not reasonable of him to keep dominating that much of the time. It was bad for the viewing and the other sharks, and still didn't really resolve it to his satisfaction.

That was exactly Robert's point. Take it during due diligence. If he's not jumping into a deal anyway, then no time wasted on DD on his end. Let the other sharks get their bite. And maybe they will ask his questions too. But Mark, instead of going the easy route - "I don't believe in supplements that cure hungover, I just don't, until I see fully believable science. I'm out", always has to prove he's right and the presenter is wrong. It's a huge ego thing for him, more than an investor thing. 

[hkit]

6 hours ago, slowpoked said:

 But Mark, instead of going the easy route - "I don't believe in supplements that cure hungover, I just don't, until I see fully believable science. I'm out", always has to prove he's right and the presenter is wrong. It's a huge ego thing for him, more than an investor thing. 

What really bothered me about it is that it wasn't just Mark wanting to be the smartest guy in the room. Don't get me wrong - that was a big part of it. I mean, seriously.... anyone who is on the fence about buying a supplement isn't going to make a decision one way or another because of something Mark says... But there also seemed that Mark wanted to embarrass the presenter. I can write off ego - men in his position are used to being right and don't exactly surround themselves with people who challenge them. But what I cannot abide is the sadistic need to put others in their place - especially when those people are coming to him for help and are in no position to cause harm. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by hkit

[anonymiss]

1 hour ago, hkit said:

But what I cannot abide is the sadistic need to put others in their place - especially when those people are coming to him for help and are in no position to cause harm. 

 

In his mind, they are in position and trying to use Shark Tank to better position themselves to cause harm by ripping people off. That's something he's demonstrated he can't stand.

Edited March 1, 2018 by anonymiss

[Angeltoes]

I work for one of the biggest surf shop companies in the world in their shipping warehouse.  There is nothing new or innovative about that guy's swim trunks.  He had some cool patterns but otherwise there was nothing different between them and the thousands of trunks that I've hung up and slapped price tags on.  His price really wasn't as outrageous as the sharks seemed to think because we sell trunks in that price range (but our customer base is usually people on vacation with money to throw down).

[slowpoked]

On 2/28/2018 at 5:34 PM, hkit said:

What really bothered me about it is that it wasn't just Mark wanting to be the smartest guy in the room. Don't get me wrong - that was a big part of it. I mean, seriously.... anyone who is on the fence about buying a supplement isn't going to make a decision one way or another because of something Mark says... But there also seemed that Mark wanted to embarrass the presenter. I can write off ego - men in his position are used to being right and don't exactly surround themselves with people who challenge them. But what I cannot abide is the sadistic need to put others in their place - especially when those people are coming to him for help and are in no position to cause harm. 

 

Yeah, that's it. There's just a certain meanness from Mark when it comes to these supplements. That it's not enough that the presenter know he's not investing in them, he also wants to make sure the presenter knows that he thinks he is a fraud and the presenter admit he is a fraud. It's not even about just being honest, like Mark claims. I find Barbara to be always honest, but she doesn't carry it out in a sadistic way - "I tasted the product, I didn't like it. I have to like what I invest in, so I'm out."

Edited March 2, 2018 by slowpoked

[seacliffsal]

Interestingly, when Mark goes after a presenter, he sees it as justified.  However, when another Shark goes after a presenter, Mark goes all indignant on that Shark for being "mean" to the presenter.  He has made himself judge and jury over who is there for right reasons and who is a scammer.

[shksabelle]

I hope they are finished with having the screeching, manic, fame wh*re Frankel on this show. 

She adds nothing. And she is beyond annoying. 

[chenoa333]

Does anyone know what gemstones are in the necklace that Barbara Corcoran wears most of the time? I love the color (pale pastel bluish lavender?) Probably nothing I can afford, however I would still like to know

[augmentedfourth]

I'm torn on the whole Mark thing, with the last presenter. On one hand, it's well known that he doesn't approve of anything that hasn't been scientifically proven, and heck, I'll admit I've enjoyed watching him tear down some of the more annoying peddlers of woo. I might even put this just-graduated kid in that category of annoying people, because if he mentioned Princeton one more time, I was going to reach through the screen and smack him in the face. On the other hand, if he really did dominate the entire presentation for an hour, as Robert and Bethenny alluded to (and I can believe that), and didn't even get to the most basic questions such as "where are you selling?" and "what are your sales?", that really isn't fair to anyone else in the room, both presenters and other Sharks. He may be popular, but it's not The Mark Cuban Show.

 

I've never seen any Housewives show in any iteration, but I'm not blind and deaf, so I'd heard all sorts of negative things about Bethenny over the years. Whenever she shows up somewhere, like on a talk show while I'm in a waiting room or something, I surprisingly don't hate her? I dunno. She's not my favorite guest shark, but her presence doesn't offend me, either.

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, chenoa333 said:

Does anyone know what gemstones are in the necklace that Barbara Corcoran wears most of the time? I love the color (pale pastel bluish lavender?) Probably nothing I can afford, however I would still like to know

I did a search of "opaque lavender stones" and many options popped up. You might find the stone by searching that way. And your area may have a lapidary. We have one called the Rock Barrel that has tons of loose and set stones. Perhaps you could find the stone you like and have it set in a necklace or whatever. 

[retrograde]

I doubt the hearts of palm are very similar to pasta, but I think it will be successful with both the paleo/low-carb/bodybuilding crowd and serious dieters -- so long as tastes ok and is marketed well. I used to work in a supplement industry-adjacent job and frankly, most of the food in that world (high protein low-carb 'chocolate' bars, ice cream, pancake batter, etc) is pretty bad and tastes nothing like the original.... and yet there is not only a big market for it, those customers are willing to pay a premium. The buyers don't really care that much that it isn't the same, they're just looking for stuff that's edible and matches the macronutrients they're targeting or is super low-calorie/carb. I think a lot of them just find "replacement" foods easier to deal with because, yknow, they've spent the past 20 years of their lives eating pasta for dinner and it's just simpler to come home and throw together a pasta-like meal. In that mindset, food is really just fuel and you're simply trying to spice up your 100th steamed chicken breast for the week.

So I wouldn't expect it'll ever be something the average person buys, but it could easily be something health nuts do. 

What was the point of the Thrive guy coming out in his cap and gown? Just so he could mention Princeton as early as possible? Ugh. 

[Guest]

I don't mind Mark tearing into supplement vendors, because I agree with him that they're 99% rip-offs, preying on peoples' ignorance and fears.  But I did agree with Bethenny (much as I'm loathe to) that he was rudely shushing her and talking over her, repeatedly.  But I kind of see why because she's full of useless chatter and seems to love to dominate a scene as much as the next vacuous diva.  

And it seems like Shark Tank could stop booking supplement vendors but apparently they like showing Mark tear them down.  Which I admit I'm not totally averse to, from both a PSA standpoint and because it's mildly entertaining for me.  

[LeGrandElephant]

I don’t understand how you can market yourself as both a housewife and a high powered business-person and entrepreneur.