The billionaire businessman has been a staple of the ABC reality TV show since he first took his seat in the iconic shark’s chair during the show’s second season in 2011.
Depending on how online you are, you’ve probably even seen this meme make its way around social media a few (thousand) times.
Last year, the ‘Cubes (can I call him that? Why not) revealed on the All the Smoke podcast that he’ll be departing the show following its upcoming 16th season — marking the end of an era for the show and reality TV in general.
Now, in a new interview with the Wrap, Mark revealed why he’s leaving the massively popular show — and if his days on reality TV are numbered, too.
During the chat, Mark revealed that his main reason for departing the show is to spend more time with his children — which makes sense.
“They’re teenagers now,” he said. “When they were younger, my wife and I got to tell them where to be and when; now they ain’t listening to us.”
“We shoot in June and September, and just getting the opportunity now when they’re getting out of school to be able to spend time directly with them, that’s important. I’m tired of missing that.”
Mark also said that, even though he’s been “getting asked” if he’ll return to reality TV in some form after his Shark Tank departure, he doubts he actually will. But! If you’re familiar with the show’s segments in which the sharks check in with their investments, then you know that you might catch Mark on the show even after he’s long gone — for a bit, anyway.
“I still have to do updates with the companies that I’ve invested in,” he explained. “So I’ll come back and visit, do my updates and I’ll turn it over to somebody.”
So there you have it. The question is — who’s your dream Shark Tank investor that you’d pick to replace Mark? Feel free to tell us in the comments.
