There’s an art to watching Shark Tank.

I’ve written before about how much I enjoy the show, but in today’s blog, I’d like to impart some hard-earned wisdom about how to make sure you are getting the most out of your Friday night viewing experience.

As they say on podcasts, this isn’t a paid advertisement.

The first product featured on Shark Tank that I bought while watching the show was called Knife Aid.  This was back in February, when I was watching reruns to get me through the worst of the pandemic winter.

Knife Aid is brilliant in its simplicity.  The owners pitched to the sharks a service in which customers send their own knives in through the mail (via a provided shipping box) and Knife Aid sharpens and returns them within a week.

This idea was such a moneymaker that the sharks got into a huge fight vying for the deal, even to the point of following the entrepreneurs out into the hallway when they stepped out to make their decision.

I love a shark frenzy and had a drawer full of dull knives.  I had to try it out.

It worked exactly as advertised—simple, fast, and effective.  I was slicing through fruit and vegetables the next week like I was working at a Japanese steak house.

But reader, I made the cardinal mistake of beginners:  overconfidence.

Watching an old rerun of Shark Tank is like playing minor league baseball.

With Pan’s Mushroom Jerky, I made the big leagues and came up against a major curve ball.

I wrote about the jerky before, how it seemed odd but the sharks loved it so I wanted to give it a try.  A few days later, I went on Amazon to buy some and it was sold out. 

This was in November.  As of this morning, it’s still sold out.

That’s when I learned that a Shark Tank episode drives a spike in demand that normally drains the fledgling company’s inventory.

So when the Souper Cubes came around, I was ready.  Souper Cubes are basically giant silicone ice trays that you use to freeze leftovers in single portion sizes.  The ones I had my eye on were trays with four two-cup portions.

I cook huge vats of food and eat it for days, freezing the rest.  This was right up my alley.

I didn’t just want them.  I practically lusted for them.

Shark Lori Greiner liked it so much that she awarded it the Golden Ticket, her prize for the best product of the season.

That meant I had very little time, perhaps minutes only.

I didn’t even wait for a commercial break.  I jumped up from my chair and ran to my computer, knocking over anything that got in my way.

I was getting those Souper Cubes.

I fired up Amazon and clicked away, quickly finding what I was looking for.  Not even stopping to wipe the sweat off my brow, I ordered two trays.

Success!  I made it in under the wire and ran back in to watch the rest of the show.

I didn’t know how much I paid, or when they were coming.  But I didn’t care.

I had won the Shark Tank lottery!

Because sure enough, the size I wanted was sold out by the end of the show, and most of the other sizes were sold out by the morning.

Fool me once….

This, my friends, is how it’s done.

Victory goes to the swift.

And I have really, really got to get out of the house.