'Shark Tank' star Barbara Corcoran reveals the fellow investor who thought she was ‘hitting on him’
'Shark Tank' star Barbara Corcoran recently recalled a hilarious misunderstanding she had with her fellow co-star Daymond John during the first season of the reality show in 2009. Corcoran recalled how she playfully invited John to her hotel room for a drink, as their rooms were right next to each other. “I kidded with Daymond because his hotel room door was right next to mine. I said, ‘Hey, you want to come in for a drink?’ I kid. He got in his room and slammed the door so fast,” she recalled in the September 2024 interview with US Weekly, with a chuckle. But it turns out, that John misinterpreted her comment. Years later, he told Corcoran he thought she was hitting on him.
“He thought I was hitting on him.” Laughing at the misunderstanding, she replied she wasn't flirting—she just wanted to have a little fun. “I'm like, ‘No, I wasn't hitting [on you]. I was just trying to have some fun with you,’” Corcoran shared. To make the situation even more amusing, both Corcoran and John are married—Corcoran to Bill Higgins since 1988, and John to Heather Taras since 2018.
Awkward beginnings and all, according to Corcoran, John is now “the house favorite” of all the ‘Shark Tank’ cast. In fact, she has gone on to jokingly refer to them all as a little dysfunctional family of misfits. “You have Robert [Herjavec] who wants to be Mark [Cuban] — he’s the older brother, the big man on campus. You have Lori [Greiner] who tells us that we should play with our toys nicely when [someone] steals our toys,” she said as per The Sun. And as for Kevin O’Leary, Corcoran playfully called him the “town bully.” But in all seriousness, Corcoran said she really loves all of the ‘Shark Tank’ cast members-the relationships they’ve formed even are one-of-a-kind.
Despite being one of the favorite stars on 'Shark Tank', Corcoran once revealed how she almost got axed from the show, even before the filming began. She had been offered a spot on the new reality series and was eager to get started—Corcoran even bought new outfits for her on-camera debut and excitedly shared the news with her friends. But just days later, Corcoran received the crushing call: the producers had changed their minds and gave her spot to another investor. “I just couldn’t believe it,” said Corcoran. “It was the equivalent of [my ex-husband] telling me he was marrying my secretary,” she told Inc.
Heartbroken but not defeated, Corcoran refused to give up. She didn’t sit around feeling sorry for herself; instead, she did something about it. She wrote a bold email to the show’s creator, Mark Burnett, where she described how every rejection in her life seemed to fuel her success. She even shared past stories, including how she proved the doubters wrong after splitting from her ex-husband.
“Dear Mark, I consider your rejection a lucky charm,” Corcoran wrote in her email. “Everything good happens to me after I get rejected,” Barbara concluded the email with a confident request: She was asking for a chance to win her seat. Her perseverance paid off: Burnett agreed and Corcoran proved herself to be worth it for his show. Since then, Corcoran has been an integral part of ‘Shark Tank’, being in the show for almost all 16 seasons. She says the rejection made her fight harder and uses her story as a lesson in resilience and emotional intelligence.