Lori Greiner has given her thoughts on Mark Cuban’s recent announcement that he plans to leave Shark Tank after the end of the 16th season. Speaking at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Greiner revealed that she is hopeful and positive about Cuban’s final decision.
Mark Cuban made his announcement on the Showtime podcast All the Smoke that after the 16th season, he plans to leave the show. Greiner told ET’s Denny Directo on the red carpet that she can’t talk about the news.
Greiner said, “You never know. I really can’t even talk about it. We’re in season 15 and his announcement was for another year from now.”
Greiner also explained, “We still have season 16, and that would be 2025, right? It’s 2024, that would be 2025, I don’t know. It’s so far out. We still have [him] for a year, at least, right?”
Despite this, Greiner shared her pick for a replacement: Oprah Winfrey. “I’ve wanted Oprah for years!” Greiner said. “So what can I say? Let’s manifest that! Yes, world, manifest that!”
During Cuban’s podcast appearance on All the Smoke, he reflected on his time with the show, sharing, “I feel like in doing Shark Tank all these years, we’ve trained multiple generations of entrepreneurs that, if somebody can come from Iowa or Sacramento or wherever, and show up on Shark Tank and show their business and get a deal, it’s going to inspire generations of kids.”
“We’ve got people coming on and saying, ‘I watched you when I was 10 years old.’ I’m like, f**k,” Cuban added. “I’ve invested in, I don’t know how many hundreds of companies.”
Cuban first appeared as a guest Shark in season 2, and joined the show full time in season 3. He’s remained with the show since. Season 15 of Shark Tank kicked off in September.
