When you flip on ABC on a Friday night, you expect to see the "Big Six." Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary—the usual suspects. But if you’re a real Day One fan, you remember the early days. Before the slick production and billionaire guest stars, the panel looked a little different. Sitting in what eventually became Cuban's seat was a man who basically invented the modern infomercial.
Honestly, it’s wild how many people forget about Kevin Harrington.
He was one of the five original kevin harrington shark tank sharks who launched the show back in 2009. While today's Shark Tank feels like a high-stakes venture capital firm, the first two seasons had a distinct "As Seen On TV" flavor. That was Harrington’s world. He didn't just participate in it; he built the stadium everyone else was playing in.
The Man Who Turned "Dead Air" Into Billions
Long before the Tank, Kevin was a kid from Cincinnati working in his dad’s Irish pub. At 15, he was sealing driveways. By college, he had a million-dollar heating and air conditioning business. But the real "lightning bolt" moment happened in 1984.
Kevin was scrolling through cable channels late at night. Back then, channels like Discovery actually went dark for six hours a day. They literally just showed color bars.
He saw a vacuum.
He called the cable company, bought that "dead air" for pennies on the dollar, and filled it with 30-minute product demos. Boom. The modern infomercial was born. By the time Mark Burnett called him for Shark Tank, Harrington had already launched over 500 products and generated $5 billion in global sales. He was the guy behind the George Foreman Grill and Tony Little’s fitness empire.
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If you had a gadget that solved a household problem, Kevin was your god.
Why the Original Shark Dynamic Was Different
In Seasons 1 and 2, the vibe was grittier. You had Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, and the two Kevins: O'Leary and Harrington.
O’Leary was already playing the "Mr. Wonderful" villain, obsessed with royalties and "crushing cockroaches." Harrington, meanwhile, was the "In-and-Out" guy. He wasn't looking to build the next Facebook. He wanted a product he could put on a shelf at Walgreens or pitch in a 2 a.m. commercial.
He made 13 deals during his two-season run. Some worked. Some didn't.
- CitiKitty: One of his most famous wins. It’s a kit that teaches your cat to use a human toilet. Sounds ridiculous? It made millions.
- Aldo Orta Jewelry: A more high-end play that showed he had range beyond plastic gadgets.
- Sweep Easy: A broom with a built-in scraper. Classic Harrington.
The Mark Cuban Shift: What Really Happened?
So, why did he leave?
There’s a lot of chatter about whether he was "fired" or if the show just evolved past him. The truth is a mix of timing and brand direction. By Season 3, Shark Tank was becoming a cultural phenomenon. The producers wanted bigger personalities and deeper pockets.
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Enter Mark Cuban.
Cuban first appeared as a guest shark in Season 2. The energy changed instantly. He brought a "tech billionaire" swagger that made the infomercial model look, well, a little dated. When Cuban became a full-time fixture in Season 3, there wasn't room for two Kevins—especially when one was focusing on "As Seen On TV" and the other was talking about disrupting entire industries.
Harrington has been pretty classy about the whole thing. He’s noted in interviews that the filming schedule was grueling and he had a massive empire to run outside of the show. Plus, the show's focus was shifting away from the types of products he specialized in.
Is Kevin Harrington Still Wealthy?
People always ask if he’s "as rich as the other sharks."
While he doesn't have Mark Cuban’s $6 billion or even Kevin O’Leary’s massive venture portfolio, Kevin Harrington is doing just fine. Most estimates put his net worth around **$400 million to $450 million**.
He didn't just disappear into the sunset after the show. He’s the chairman of Harrington Business Development Inc. and has his hands in everything from cannabis startups to digital marketing agencies. He’s also a prolific author, writing books like Act Now! and Put a Shark in Your Tank.
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The "Chubby Checker" Lesson
One thing I love about Harrington is how honest he is about his flops. He once told a story about investing in a fitness product with the singer Chubby Checker called the "Twistisizer."
The deal was that Chubby had to get in shape before the infomercial. He didn't. The product bombed. Kevin lost half a million dollars. It’s a reminder that even the guys sitting in those leather chairs get it wrong sometimes.
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From the Original Shark
Even though he's not on our screens every week anymore, Harrington’s "Key Person of Influence" strategy is still the gold standard for many founders. He advocates for:
- Pitching the Problem, Not the Product: If you don't show the "pain," no one cares about the "cure."
- The Power of a Teachable Moment: He didn't just want to sell; he wanted to educate the consumer.
- Speed to Market: In the infomercial world, if you take too long, someone else will knock off your idea.
If you’re looking to follow in his footsteps, start by looking for the "dead air" in your industry. Where is everyone else ignoring the customer? That’s where the money is.
Your Next Moves for Business Growth
- Audit your "hooks": Look at your current marketing. Does it grab attention in the first 3 seconds, or is it "white noise"?
- Focus on scalability: Ask yourself if your product can survive without you. Kevin loved products that could be manufactured by the millions and shipped globally.
- Test small: Don't drop $100k on a launch. Do a small "infomercial style" digital test on social media to see if the demand is actually there.
Kevin Harrington might have been the first Shark to leave the tank, but his blueprint for building a brand through direct-to-consumer sales is more relevant now—in the age of TikTok Shop—than it ever was in 1984.