25 Best Shark Tank Episodes Ranked

On paper, watching people pitch their products to would-be investors sounds like the opposite of an exciting show. However, for more than a decade, "Shark Tank" has been a ratings hit and multi-award winner. What's the secret? For one, the "sharks" bring a lot of personality to the show, both as individuals and with their bantering with each other. Over the years, they have really leaned into their personas – like Kevin O'Leary calling himself "Mr. Wonderful" — which goes a long way in keeping the show entertaining. On top of that, frequent guests ranging from fellow businesspeople to celebrity investors like Kevin Hart, Ashton Kutcher, and Charles Barkley help keep the show fresh.

However, at the end of the day, "Shark Tank" is about the pitches. There have been a handful of massive success stories where business opportunities pitched on the show have since become everyday products that everyone has in their homes. Then there are the products the sharks passed on but went on to be successful anyway. Finally, there are the dreadfully bad or just plain silly pitches that serve as gut-busting comic relief to keep the show from getting too serious.

This list will be a mix of all three of those types of pitches, each of which played a part in making the episodes below the best in the history of "Shark Tank" so far. 

A lot of people have pitched food businesses on "Shark Tank" over the years, and a few of the deals made have led to successful ventures in both restaurants and in the type of food items you'd buy at the supermarket. But they are also a risky type of business to invest in, as the overwhelming majority of new food-based businesses that open each year barely last their first twelve months. This was Mark Cuban's issue after Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis of Cousins Maine Lobster pitched their seafood food truck idea, going out after he felt the duo failed to explain what works about the business model of food trucks. 

However, both Robert Herjavec and Barbara Corcoran were interested and ended up battling it out over the chance to do a deal with them. Emboldened by the bidding war, the Cousins Maine guys ask Robert and Barbara to basically sell themselves, which Robert took so personally that he went out. After a little more haggling over numbers, they eventually reach a deal with Barbara. Money reports that within six years of making the deal, Cousins Maine Lobster became a $20 million business.

We're all constantly taking pictures with our phones, but what do we do with those pictures? Do we even bother looking back through them half of the time? This was the impetus for GrooveBook, a subscription service that sends you an actual book of your smartphone photos every month for a pretty modest $2.99 monthly fee. Husband and wife team Brian and Julie Whiteman were looking for $150K for 20% of the business. While they got both Kevin and Mark on board, the sharks weren't going to bother for only 10% of the company each. Instead, they would only do the deal for 40%, which would give them a whopping 80% stake in the business — and the Whitemans agreed.

Less than a year after making the deal, Forbes reported that GrooveBook became the first "Shark Tank" business to later be acquired by a public company when Shutterfly bought it outright for $14.5 million. Even 20% is still almost $3 million, not bad for a company that the couple started that investing just $400K to get it started. Plus, considering Shutterfly would discontinue the service by 2022, GrooveBook as a business model always had a limited life anyway, and the Whitemans would've stood to lose a lot more if they had ridden the whole thing out themselves.

If you're going to start your own business, you'd better make sure that the business provides a product or service that you feel passionate about. From the very beginning of Michael DeSanti's pitch, it was clear that he took the menace of squirrels that eat out of bird feeders very seriously. The sharks initially tried to stifle laughter as DeSanti spoke about squirrels eating birdseed like it was an extremely important and dire problem that needed to be solved. Still, the sharks weren't able to keep that up for very long — especially as he showed what can only be described as an unreasonable amount of hatred for squirrels.

Then the big reveal came — his business idea was a device called Squirrel Boss, which delivered a mild static shock to the invader upon pressing a button on a remote control. Other than just finding the whole thing ridiculous, the sharks didn't think it was practical to constantly watch your bird feeder, remote in hand, ready to zap a hungry squirrel. Needless to say, he didn't get a deal. However, Squirrel Boss is still a very real product that can currently purchased directly from its website. 

Brothers Brian Speciale and Michael Speciale came into the tank with a simple concept: What if you could wear a blanket? That was the idea behind what they called The Original Comfy, a sweater/blanket hybrid that looked ridiculous but did exactly as advertised. Barbara jumped in immediately, meeting their request for $50K but wanting 30% equity instead of 20%. It was very close to what they asked for and the extra 10% wasn't going to make or break them, so they made that deal with Barbara.

In only about a year's time, Barbara's $50K investment looked like pennies compared to the $150 million business that CNBC reports that The Original Comfy had become. An amazing milestone for any company, but in particular one that only sells different sizes and colors of just one basic product. They would eventually even start including licensed properties like Spider-Man and The Mandalorian on their Comfys, most of which they can barely keep in stock due to their popularity.

There are several noteworthy examples of business ideas that failed to secure a deal with any of the sharks on "Shark Tank" but still went on to have great success anyway. In most cases, the business either got another investor involved outside of the show or simply continued to hustle until they made it on their own. The Bouqs Co. is a rare example of a pitch that didn't get a deal during its appearance on "Shark Tank" but later got a deal with one of the sharks apart from the show.

From the revelation of the company already having another investor to the high valuation to various other factors, none of the four sharks were willing to partner with the online floral delivery company and subscription service. However, three years after Bouqs co-founder John Tabis appeared on the show, none other than Robert Herjavec enlisted the services of Bouqs for his own wedding — and was so impressed that he changed his mind and invested in the company after all. Bouqs has gone on to become a successful business, one that Mark Cuban admitted to ABC News that he regrets passing on.

Occasionally, "Shark Tank" will have a themed episode where all of the pitches and entrepreneurs share a common thread. Episode 20 of Season 5 was one such example of this, featuring a collection of children and teenagers all hoping to become young entrepreneurs with their clever business ideas. The sharks were impressed with the pitches across the board, and all four products were offered a deal — though Carter Kostler of fruit-infused water system Define Bottle attempted to counter Robert's offer and was rejected, so he ultimately left empty-handed.

While 16-year-old Jason Li already had an offer from Barbara for his electronics recycling service iReTron, he also asked Mark if he would come on. Mark was so impressed by his tenacity that he immediately accepted, getting two sharks on board for the young businessman. Boo Boo Goo is a liquid bandage that one "paints" over a wound, an idea from a father and his six-year-old daughter that got none other than Kevin to sign on. And finally, spiced honey business Henry's Humdingers got both Mark and Robert to partner with the company's 16-year-old founder.

Many businesses are started when someone sees a problem that needs to be solved that nobody else has solved yet. In some cases, what one person sees as a "problem" worthy of buying a product to fix, others see as a complete joke. That's what happened when Dr. Floyd Seskin — yes, an actual doctor — came into the tank and presented a solution to what he saw as an issue that needed solving and was met with laughter from the sharks.

Seskin was trying to secure a deal for a product called the UroClub, which was a portable urinal that golfers take out onto the course with them for when nature calls and the nearest restroom is way back at the clubhouse. Though none of the regular sharks even pretended to take the UroClub seriously as a legitimate business, they were nonetheless amused by the product and by Seskin himself. However, guest shark Kevin Harrington surprised the rest of the panel when he made Seskin an offer, which Seskin wisely accepted. 

That said, as often happens, Harrington and Seskin were ultimately unable to finalize their deal — though the UroClub did okay for itself and went on to be sold through Amazon, Wal-Mart, and other major retailers for a time.

Some "Shark Tank" products become so successful that people often forget — or never realize in the first place– that they actually began life as pitches on the show. Such was the case with the Scrub Daddy, which was pitched by Aaron Krause back in Season 4. Proving that not all business ideas need to be completely out of the box or try and solve some niche problem to be successful, a Scrub Daddy is just a basic sponge with a smiley face on it that offers superior dish-scrubbing capability simply by way of its unique combination of shape, material, and durability.

It was a product that was right up Lori Greiner's alley, as she is most commonly associated with QVC and Bed Bath & Beyond. Sure enough, she easily agreed to invest a mere $200,000 in the product to help get it into kitchens across the country. It was one of the best investments ever made on "Shark Tank," as the company would go on to be worth over $200 million. The Independent reports that Scrub Daddy has also done a great job of keeping up with marketing trends, launching its own TikTok channel in 2019 that quickly gained millions of followers for the fun videos it posts about the product.

Every "Shark Tank" pitch starts exactly the same way. One or more entrepreneurs come walking down the long hallway and through the double doors toward the panel of sharks as a voiceover teases the product or service that is about to be pitched. The person or people then stop in front of their display, where they launch into their pitch. Sometimes people choose to spice up this standard introduction, which is exactly what Rick Hopper did to great effect in Episode 6 of Season 3.

Hopper appeared to trip as he was coming into the tank, which elicited gasps of concern from the sharks. Upon getting up, Hopper shows that his glasses had stayed put on his shirt thanks to his magnetic glass holder system, ReadeREST — at which point it became apparent that his tumble was planned all along as both an attention grabber and the perfect way to demonstrate the effectiveness of his product. The stunt worked, as Hopper was offered a deal from Lori, who knew it was a great fit for QVC. Sure enough, the ReadeREST consistently sells out whenever it is featured on the network, and it has since become a multi-million dollar company.

In one of the most unique types of businesses ever to appear on "Shark Tank." Ten Thirty One Productions was so named because it offered Halloween and otherwise spooky-themed live attractions. The pitch was definitely a sight to behold, as it should've been for a company looking to prove itself as a live performance-based business. Everyone was impressed, including Mark Cuban, who eventually offered the company a whopping $2 million – and for only 20% of the company, no less. It was and remains the biggest single investment ever made on "Shark Tank." 

With Mark's help (and money), Business Insider reports that Ten Thirty One successfully expanded very quickly. It went from a California-based business to a national one, and eventually got ticket distribution deals with both Ticketmaster and Live Nation — with the CEO of the latter joining in as another investor. The company would eventually branch off into having six individual brands under its umbrella and would have to increase its number of employees threefold. 

If you happen to have a famous friend, why not see if they'll join you for your "Shark Tank" pitch? That's what Bruce Gaither did when he decided to bring his product, the No Fly Cone, to the tank in his Season 4, Episode 8 appearance. Not that "Family Guy" and "The Orville" creator and star Seth MacFarlane had anything to do with the creation of the discreet pest-catching system, nor would anything about his "brand" be a good fit for selling such a product. However, he is friends with Gaither, so he agreed to join him on the show just to give the pitch a little star power.

Ultimately, the sharks weren't impressed with the product regardless of whether MacFarlane was standing up there during the pitch, and none of them offered Gaither a deal. Still, it's always fun to see a celebrity pop up on "Shark Tank," especially to watch them mostly just stand there awkwardly and kind of squirm as they do a friend a favor and are counting the seconds until the whole thing is over with.

Many "Shark Tank" products address environmental concerns and are about protecting nature, which is exactly what Chris Rannefors and Harrison Broadhurst had in mind when they pitched BatBnB on the show during the tenth season. Like many of Earth's species, bats have seen their natural habitats decline thanks largely to the intrusion of humans, and BatBnB offers the flying creatures a safe place to live. The duo also pointed out that bats are an important part of the ecosystem due largely to mosquitoes being a major part of their diet, and a safe and natural way to cut down on mosquito populations is always needed.

Kevin was happy to give them the $100K they were looking for, though he asked for much more equity than they originally wanted to part with. They ultimately agreed, and BatBnBs can now be found not only all across the United States but in over a dozen different countries, with the company and its founders winning multiple awards for the concept.

There are plenty of pitches on "Shark Tank" that end up being funny, though not always intentionally so. Either way, almost all of them are still setting out to legitimately start a business with their idea. The same can't be said for late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who brought along his sidekick Guillermo to pitch the sharks on his jokey product, Horse Pants. The bit was primarily intended for his own show, but it also ended up being part of Episode 6 of Season 6 of "Shark Tank" in what was ultimately a cross-promotional stunt for both ABC shows.

Horse Pants are exactly what they sound like: pants for horses. It was all very funny, and a bit of levity on what is often a very serious show is always welcome. The sharks were already amused by the pitch and Kimmel's salesmanship, but when an actual horse walked onto the set wearing a pair of human trousers, everyone absolutely lost it.

Anything that makes it easier to learn to effectively play a musical instrument is a good thing, and that is exactly what ChordBuddy sets out to do. Pitched on "Shark Tank" by Travis Perry after watching his daughter struggle to learn guitar chords, the ChordBuddy worked so well for her that he decided to turn it into a product. The pitch was an appropriately fun one and got all four sharks swimming for it, but it was Robert who ended up landing the deal.

Robert helped get country music star John Rich to serve as a spokesperson for the product, and in short order, the ChordBuddy was a huge success. In fact, the system has since expanded into other products and for use in other instruments, helping to keep future generations of potential musicians engaged in learning and reducing the many frustrations that come from attempting to master a musical instrument.

It might seem like a show that is all about watching people making business presentations to potential investors would be dull, but anyone who has watched "Shark Tank" knows that isn't the case. Especially when a pitch turns into a scene from an action movie. That is what happened when Alex Bartelli and Clay Banks showed up to pitch their Haven door locking system to the panel. The idea was a lock that would prevent a residential door from being kicked in by would-be intruders, and what better way to demonstrate the need for such a product than by showing how easily a door can be kicked in.

Unfortunately, kicking in the door that the pair brought for this purpose proved more difficult than expected. Bartelli tried in vain multiple times to kick open the door and then even failed to bust the lock with a metal rod. Finally, he went full-on Dwayne Johnson and soared through the air, crashing open the door with both feet. It was an entertaining display, and all the sharks were impressed with the product and Bartelli's showmanship — but they had too many business-related issues with the Haven lock to offer the men a deal. 

After learning that people at homeless shelters requested socks more than any other item, Randy Goldberg and David Heath decided to do something about it. So, they founded Bombas, a company that not only sold extremely comfortable socks but would also match every pair sold with a pair donated to the homeless. Daymond John was impressed by Bombas both as a business and a humanitarian effort, which led to him deciding to add it to his existing portfolio of apparel.

Within five years, CNBC reported that Bombas had grown to a $100 million a year company, making it the most profitable company in "Shark Tank" history. While that means a lot of cash in the pockets of Goldberg, Heath, and John, it also means a lot of nice warm socks on the feet of a lot of homeless people. It's good to know that the show's biggest financial success story might also be the one that has done the most good for the most people. 

It's fairly rare to get more than one shark to go in together on a deal. It's almost unheard of to get all five from a single episode. However, that's exactly what happened in the second episode of Season 5 when Charles Yim pitched a portable breathalyzer that plugs into smartphones and works with a dedicated app. Even more impressive is that the five sharks – in this case, Robert, Lori, Kevin, Daymond, and Mark — were willing to split a mere 30% of the company, giving each of them only a 5% stake.

However, that's only half the story of what makes this such a memorable episode and product. The other half came later when the Breathometer ended up crashing and burning. It turned out that the final product didn't work as intended, to the extent that the FTC got involved and ordered the company to provide a full refund to anyone who had purchased it, per Mobi Health News. Remarkably, the Breathometer isn't even dead after all that but has instead rebranded itself and lives on as a device that monitors oral health. 

Not all "funny" pitches are for bad or even novelty products. In fact, sometimes a humorous pitch is able to successfully sell a legitimate product and one that goes on to become highly successful. That is what happened when Tara Brown entered the tank in Episode 19 of Season 8 to pitch her product, The Sleep Styler. 

Promising to either curl or straighten the wearer's hair while they sleep and without the use of the potentially damaging heat that most similar products use, Lori was extremely impressed by both Brown's amusing pitch and by the Sleep Styler itself. The result was a product that has gone on to be among the ten most popular products featured on the show, according to CheatSheet, eventually topping $100 million in revenue. Not bad for a mother of two who stumbled upon the idea basically by accident when her daughter went to bed with wet, braided hair one night.

Skipping ahead to the end, Kisstixx would leave "Shark Tank" with a deal from Mark, and the company has been successful enough to expand its business to over 30 different countries worldwide. Success stories are great to hear and all, but as this list has demonstrated several times already, it's actually the pitch that makes for the most entertaining aspect of the "Shark Tank" experience. And boy, did Kisstixx have a pitch for the ages.

The concept behind Kisstixx is that it is a line of lip balms with a fun, flirty vibe. Naturally, the best way to demonstrate lip balm — and prove that it's fun and flirty — is to see people put it to use. None other than Kevin and Barbara are enlisted for this purpose, and the two sharks apply their Kisstixx lip balm and kiss each other while wearing it. It is definitely one of the most surprising and memorable moments in "Shark Tank" history, especially given that neither of them even ended up investing in the company after engaging in some PDA to help sell it.

Since the beginning of mass-market advertising, it's been pretty well established that a good jingle helps to sell your product and get people to remember it. Steve Gadlin knew that well — and decided to put it to use in Episode 2 of Season 3 when he came onto "Shark Tank" with his pitch for his quirky art-on-demand business I Want To Draw A Cat For You. Gadlin not only sang a song but even did a delightfully goofy little dance to help win the sharks — and the viewing audience — over to his concept.

They all loved the performance, but Mark was so charmed by Gadlin that he actually invested in the unusual business. It had its ups and downs, with Gadlin retiring for a time but since returning and adding dogs to the available list of animals he'll draw for you. No matter what ended up happening with the business itself, the pitch remains one of the most entertaining in the show's history and one of the oddest business ideas ever to get one of the sharks to invest money in. 

After a massively successful Kickstarter campaign that saw the project soar to nearly 300% of its original funding goal, the makers of the X PlusOne drone decided to take their business to "Shark Tank" to get even more cash behind their endeavors. JD Claridge and Charles Manning came to the show representing their company xCraft, selling themselves as one of the preeminent players in the ever-expanding drone market.

The sharks were impressed by what xCraft's drone could do, despite an already crowded market. What followed was a bidding war between Kevin and Daymond that eventually saw Lori join the fray with her own offer. Claridge and Manning were understandably overwhelmed by all the offers and numbers thrown at them. Finally, Robert simplified things by proposing that all sitting sharks just go together on the deal, resulting in the panel offering $1.5 million — with them each taking 5% in the company, for a total of 25%. The offer was naturally accepted but ended up falling through after airing. Still, xCraft did just fine after millions of people saw five sharks fighting over them, and the company is still in business to this day. 

The premiere episode of "Shark Tank" is memorable just by virtue of it introducing the addictive new series to the world. However, one pitch from that episode stands out and ensures the episode would've been one of the best no matter when it ran. Proving right off the bat that the show was capable of producing success stories, Tiffany Krumins came to the tank with an elephant-shaped pill dispenser designed to make it easier for parents to get their children to take medicine.

Kevin passed due to the lack of a patent, but Barbara was unbothered by that detail and made a deal with Krumins anyway. The dispenser, called AVA the Elephant, became a popular and successful product that is not only sold in tens of thousands of American stores but was eventually made available in 10 more countries worldwide. It not only showed that "Shark Tank" could be the launchpad for successful products, but beneficial ones as well. 

It seemed like one of those pitches that was going to be a joke at first, the kind that everyone was going to have a good laugh about before telling the entrepreneur to take a hike and make way for actual business ideas. Indeed, Squatty Potty doesn't sound like the name of a successful or even legitimate product – but once Bobby Edwards got to explaining and demonstrating it, the vibe in the room quickly changed.

A unique footstool-like device used to help toddlers more easily climb onto and more comfortably sit on top of a regular toilet, the Squatty Potty had Lori seeing dollar signs when she invested $350K for a 10% stake in the company. A large amount of money for a fairly small stake, which showed that she definitely saw huge potential for the humorously-named product. She was right — as of 2022, the Squatty Potty business is worth at least $50 million, according to Insider Growth. 

The end result of anyone who goes on "Shark Tank" is to start a successful business. But not everyone is looking to be a billionaire, nor is everyone's idea of success measured by maximizing profit margins. This was beautifully demonstrated when farmer Johnny Georges appeared on the show to pitch his idea for a device that aided in water containment for agricultural farming. 

Everyone was impressed by his product and its catchy name — the Tree-T-Pee — but told him that he could be making even more money off it than he already was/was trying to. Georges balked and said that the current profit margins were just fine and that he wasn't looking to get filthy rich from the idea. He just cared about the farming industry and wanted the product to help his fellow farmers, explaining that it was invented by his late father and that it was important that he carry on his dad's legacy not by making money but by making a difference. 

Eyes were misty all around, with guest shark John Paul DeJoria being the one to ultimately make a deal with Georges. 

If you've watched any "Shark Tank" episode past Season 5 that had Robert as one of the sharks, there is a 90% chance he referenced Tipsy Elves. Clearly, he's proud of his investment in the silly seasonal clothing company and loves to remind everyone that it's a part of his portfolio. It's hard to blame him — TV Insider reports that Tipsy Elves has become a $125 million company since Robert got on board.

It would be an impressive enough milestone on its own, but when considering that Robert put in $100K for his 10% stake in the company, that's a $12.5 million return on his investment. It's no wonder how often Tipsy Elves is featured on "Shark Tank" updates and why Robert can't stop talking about the company or his investment in it. It definitely helps when celebrities like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Michael Phelps, and many others have all sung the praises of Tipsy Elves and its apparel on social media, one of the surest ways for a company to get and remain relevant in this day in age.