This is the WORST Shark Tank Product I Have Ever Seen!!!
You know how some people say there are no bad ideas in entrepreneurship? Yeah… I’m gonna have to push back on that one.
I’ve watched a lot of Shark Tank. Like… too much Shark Tank. I’ve seen everything from billion-dollar businesses to dog breath spray to people selling rocks. But this one? This one takes the cake as the worst Shark Tank product I’ve ever seen and I’m going to break down why.
Let me take you back to one of the most ridiculous Shark Tank pitches I’ve ever watched… a man walked into the tank and tried to sell the sharks on… a fart-scented candle. Yep. You read that right.
The company was called Original Man Candle, and the whole idea was to create “manly” scented candles. The lineup included things like “new car,” “golf course,” “bacon,” and yes fart. Apparently, this was the “best-seller”. I don’t even want to know who decided to make that the best seller and buy all the fart scented candles. But unfortunately I can probably make a good guess… a frat house?
The founder, Johnson Bailey, came in asking for $50,000 for 25% of the business valuing this candle operation at $200K. And for a moment, I actually respected the hustle. He’d managed to get his candles into 400 stores already, which sounds impressive until you find out he only made about $53K in total sales. That’s roughly $130 per store. Over several years. Not exactly flying off the shelves.
As he passed around samples of the candles, you could see the sharks trying to keep a straight face while sniffing things like “urinal cake” and “barbershop.” Kevin O’Leary looked personally offended. Daymond tried to keep it together. Robert looked like he wanted to leave the set. You know it’s bad when a billionaire is physically recoiling from your business.
And here’s the thing. It wasn’t even that funny. It didn’t have the charm of a novelty gift or the real-world utility of, well… any product. It just felt like someone had a college dorm idea and decided to run with it without ever stopping to ask if it made sense. Like he said “Haha wouldn’t it be funny if candles smelled like gross stuff?” and then accidentally spent $30,000 bringing it to life.
To no one’s surprise, the sharks all passed. The product had no real growth strategy, the branding was weird, and the founder didn’t exactly inspire confidence. He was hand-pouring candles in his garage and calling that scalability.
And yet, after the show, a local investor actually put in $65K for a 35% stake… only for the founder to end up bankrupt shortly after. The investor ended up taking control of the company, and while it technically still exists, it’s mostly a forgotten footnote in Shark Tank history; like a bad dream you only remember when someone lights a suspiciously terrible candle.
Moral of the story? Not every “funny idea” is a good business. And if your product makes people gag on live TV, maybe rethink the business model before asking for $50K.
But hey, at least the pitch didn’t stink… oh wait, yes it did. Literally.
I appreciate reader feedback, so if you enjoyed today’s piece, let me know with a like or comment at the bottom of this page!