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‘Shark Tank’ contestant brings NFL star to pitch his product — lands $100K deal after wild drinking game

Not only did he bring backup, but he also beat the judges in a drinking game

‘Shark Tank’ is known to feature guest judges and celebrity cameos that often leave viewers stunned. In one such instance, American football legend Rob Gronkowski showed up to support his brother Chris Gronkowski and his product, Ice Shaker. Interestingly, the brother had sought $100,000 for a 10% stake in his company for his product. But that wasn’t the only memorable moment from the episode — the Gronkowski brothers even challenged the sharks to a drinking game and won.

In the season nine episode from 2017, Chris invited all four of his brothers to join him on the tank. Ultimately, five of them went against the judges in a spirited drinking game. The winner of this game would be the team that finished its drinks first. The game asked each member to drink a cup of water and then flip the cup upside down on the table. The next teammate would repeat the same. Unsurprisingly, the Gronkowskis won the match with their sportsmanship.

Then, it was time for business. Chris introduced his product, the Ice Shaker, a stainless-steel shaker bottle, made with an aim to keep drinks cold for a really long time. Chris, a fitness freak, explained that he created this product for his protein shakes while he was at the gym for a workout. He came up with this idea because he wanted to ditch the plastic products available in the market. 

The investors questioned the need for Chris’ product, as there were a lot of stainless-steel insulated bottles already available in the market. Chris explained that none apart from his had a built-in sipper on them. He did not have great sales numbers, but the sharks believed that the Gronkowski name would be its greatest appeal. However, Chris did not want his last name to be on the product. Barbara Corcoran asked, “Why is your name not on it?” “I wanted to build a product that people wanted. I didn’t want it to be… every time Rob posted, it sold,” he replied. He further explained, "I wanted to make sure it was something out there.” While the sharks understood the reasoning, Lori Greiner playfully suggested a new name for the product: The Gronk Shaker. 

All five judges were really interested in the opportunity and saw potential in the product. They all offered several deals: Kevin O’Leary planned to invest $100,000 for 20% of the company, Mark Cuban and Alex Rodriguez teamed up to present the same deal, while Corocran offered $100,000 for 10% and Greiner asked for 15% for the same investment. Knowing that Cuban and Rodriguez had great connections in the sports and fitness industry, Chris accepted their offer but negotiated the equity share down to 15%. As per Food Republic, Chris explained in a TikTok video that after his ‘Shark Tank’ episode, the Ice Shaker website received over 65,000 visits, resulting in sales totaling $175,000. This turned out to be a big success, especially compared to the previous week's sales of $6,500.