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'Shark Tank': Why did Wad-Free's Cyndi Bray pick Kevin O'Leary over Lori Greiner?

'I would rather partner with Lori than Mr Wonderful ANY DAY,' wrote a 'Shark Tank' fan

'Shark Tank' fans can attest to how there's nothing more fun to watch than some good old Shark fight in the tank. Occasionally an entrepreneur steps into the tank with an amazing product and an equally exceptional pitch to back it up resulting in an intense bidding war among the Sharks in a bid to bag the deal. The recently aired episode of 'Shark Tank' Season 13 Episode 5 featured one such intense bidding war.

When Cyndi Bray, the founder of Wad-Free, a nifty gadget that prevents tangling of sheets while doing laundry stepped into the tank little did she know about the intense bidding war that she would unleash between fan-favorite Shark Lori Greiner and Kevin O'Leary aka Mr Wonderful. Cyndi made a beautiful pitch about how her simple yet highly effective gadget was the perfect solution to the laundry issue that nearly everyone faces. She came on 'Shark Tank' seeking $200,000 for a 5% stake in her company. The entrepreneur also narrated her heart-warming story of how 'Shark Tank' motivated her to create Wad-Free and launch her own business after her husband's tragic demise. 

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The Sharks were moved by Cyndi's story and praised her for taking control of her life and launching such a successful business venture. Cyndi's sales figures and profit margins left the Sharks further impressed. However, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, and Mark Cuban decided to sit out as they didn't have much knowledge about laundry and the industry. Kevin quickly swooped in and made his infamous royalty deal. The Shark made an offer of $200k for a 10% stake + a royalty of $1.50 per unit sold until $1M is paid off. Surprisingly Cyndi liked Kevin's offer but she wanted to check if Lori too had an offer before negotiating with Mr. Wonderful. The Queen of QVC started off by praising Wad-Free's creative solution for laundry issues and made an offer of $200k for a 25% stake. Lori pointed out how her previous deal with Better Bedder can be bundled with Wad-Free to create an irresistible product for customers.

This launched a bidding war between Kevin and Lori. Kevin slammed Lori for being extremely greedy and pointed out to Cyndi that he could blow up her business with his marketing skills and convert it into a multi-million dollar business. To make things a tad bit more appealing, Lori agreed to lower her equity stake to a 20%, and expressed how her expertise and inputs could be an invaluable asset to Wad-Free. Kevin too came up with a revised offer and lowered his equity stake from 10% to 5% but decided to retain the royalty. It was finally time for Cyndi to break the bidding war between Lori and Kevin by announcing which shark she wanted to partner up with. After some consideration, Cyndi decided to close the deal with Kevin. Later the entrepreneur explained that she picked Kevin because she wasn't comfortable with giving up so much of her company's stake away to  Lori.

While Cyndi is pleased with her decision to close the deal with Kevin, fans however feel that she made a huge mistake by not taking up Lori's offer. A fan tweeted, "#SharkTank tonight is shocking. #WadFree went to @kevinolearytv instead of @LoriGreiner who I thought had it for sure." "Big mistake saying no to Lori!#SharkTank," wrote a fan. Another fan added, "@LoriGreiner how did you lose to @kevinolearytv of all ? #SharkTank."

"When They don’t take the deal with @LoriGreiner red flag #SharkTank," declared a fan. Another fan commented, "I would rather partner with Lori than Mr. Wonderful ANY DAY #SharkTank." "Saw no greed in loris deal honestly I would have given 99.9% of my business to do a deal with @LoriGreiner #sharktank," expressed a fan. "@LoriGreiner By the last tweet, ‘I don’t understand’ why she didn’t go with you. I’m blown away. Glad she’s rocking it & very happy for her though! #SharkTank ," echoed a fan.

'Shark Tank' Season 13 airs every Friday at 8/7c on ABC. Missed an episode? Been wanting to catch up? Episodes can also be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu. Not just that, you can also watch old seasons and episodes on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.