Ashneer Grover calls Shark Tank ‘Gareeb’, says ‘We worked like bonded labours’

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Shark Tank India was one of the most successful reality shows of 2021. It had a panel of sharks who guided new start-ups to a successful beginning and that appealed to viewers very much. Ashneer Grover, co-founder and former managing director of fintech platform BharatPe, was loved by fans as one of the sharks on the show. His every frame and every sentence became content for meme lords, such was his presence on screen.

But the entrepreneur recently revealed while giving a speech at Lovely Professional University, that the makers did not pay the sharks. “Bade gareeb log hain (They are very poor people),” he said.

He further added, “None of us went with the intention of making money. Let me tell you the truth, none of us made any money from the show. Some people said that we made Rs 10 lakh per episode, but I'd have been happy with even Rs 5 lakh. The concept of the show is very simple, they believe we have money, and they felt that we all have high-value startups, we'd be able to invest some money in the show. So, they asked us to commit to spending Rs 10 crore each on the show. We said OKAY. We weren't paid anything for any episode. In fact, we worked like bonded labour for hours and hours.”

Along with Ashneer Grover, the other sharks present on the show were Aman Gupta, Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, Namita Thapar, Peyush Bandal and Ghazal Alagh. After the success of the first season, now the makers have announced its second season and released registration details for start-up entrepreneurs.