‘Calling Them Cockroaches Is Crazy Work’: ➡️ ‘Shark Tank’ Host Brutally Insults Contestant Seasons After Backlash for Using Same Derogatory Term on Two Black Female Entrepreneurs
Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary, 70, is known for not holding back his combative opinions when dealing with budding business people on ABC’s “Shark Tank” reality series.
“Shark Tank” centers around entrepreneurs presenting their products to the show’s cast members to convince them to invest in their startups.
A “Shark Tank” episode from 2018 featured Mother Beverage co-founders Allison and Stephen Ellsworth seeking a $400,000 investment from the five panelists for 10% equity in the company.
At the time, the Ellsworths claimed they made around $500,000 in sales in the first 18 months after launching Mother Beverage, with a projection of $1 million for that year.
The Dallas-based Ellsworths offered samples of their apple cider vinegar-based health drinks to O’Leary and his fellow Sharks Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and guests, Bethenny Frankel, and Rohan Oza.
“Tell me why these two are not beverage cockroaches who are going to get crushed by big guys that want that shelf space back?” O’Leary asked Oza, an investor in Vitaminwater.
After Oza explained that “very few” large beverage companies are launching new brands, O’Leary responded, “So they’re not cockroaches. They have a chance for survival?”
Four of the Sharks eventually turned down the opportunity to put money into the mom-and-pop operation. Meanwhile, the Canadian businessman again downplayed the Ellsworths’ chances of retail success.
“You’re not fully cockroaches yet. You’re still a larva. You’re just starting and it’s so early, and you haven’t gone through any of the pressures of marketing by the big guys as they give you shelf space,” O’Leary told them.
The SoftKey Software Products founder continued, “Every beverage guy comes in here and the future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades, but you’re still vinegar roaches. The valuation is insane. I’m out.”
However, Oza decided to back Mother Beverage for an offer of $400,000 for 25% equity. Allison and Stephen accepted his terms after O’Leary and Frankel pressured the Ellsworths to say yes and they did.
Following their appearance on “Shark Tank,” Mother Beverage rebranded as Poppi and secured placement in more than 20,000 retailers such as Whole Foods, Target, and Walmart.
Poppi currently has 497,000 followers on Instagram and 656,000 followers on TikTok. Oza talked about the rise of the company during an appearance on CNBC in 2022.
“I love how this whole package turned out. The design, it’s almost like an artist designed it,” he stated. “You want to grab it. You see it on a shelf, you want to gravitate to it. I love the brand so much that I’ve doubled the investment.
The Shark Tank Global YouTube channel reposted the Mother Beverage segment to the platform in December 2024. That particular video amassed over 350 comments.
“I didn’t know that this was Poppi. I had tried a few of them a few months back, they weren’t bad. Good business by Rohan. He’s made a huge impact for that company,” one viewer wrote.
However, some people took issue with the way O’Leary referred to the fledgling company as one individual declared, “Calling them cockroaches is crazy work.”
A like-minded critic wrote, “’So they’re not cockroaches they got a chance of survival…’ Does Mr. Wonderful not know that cockroaches are the ultimate survivors in nature, known also to survive a nuclear war?”
While using “cockroach” to describe an entrepreneur’s business aspirations can understandably be seen as derogatory, the word has been part of venture capitalists’ vocabulary for years.
In 2016, Business Insider ran an article defining a “cockroach business” as one that “builds slowly and steadily from the get-go, keeping a close eye on revenues and profits.”
This was not the first time O’Leary faced backlash for using the term “cockroaches” during a “Shark Tank” pitch. He made similar statements to two Black women entrepreneurs in 2015.
Melissa Butler and Rosco Spears attempted to get the Sharks to invest $125,000 for a 20% equity stake in their vegan, The Lip Bar, cosmetics company.
“This is a new innovation. I can see a massive market share in the clown market,” O’Leary said sarcastically.
The “Cold Hard Truth” book author claimed that, “The chances that this is a business are practically zero, because you can’t get a share. If anybody thought you could sell purple or green lipstick they’d do it.”
He concluded his response to The Lip Bar founders by saying, “They would crush you like the colorful cockroaches you are.”
Despite O’Leary’s insulting remarks and rejection of Spears and Butler’s “Shark Tank” pitch, The Lip Bar is currently available in Target, Walmart, and CVS. They also opened a flagship store in downtown Detroit in 2019 and a bigger location in 2023.
According to the Detroit News, Lip Bar Inc. raised $6.7 million in funding in 2022. Investing platform Pendulum, venture capital fund The Fearless Fund, and nonprofit organization Endeavor were involved in that fundraising round.
“This is our world. We literally create life. I wanted to make sure that the people creating and marketing the products know the products in every way. We’re ultimately end users,” Butler said in a 2023 interview with BET.