“There’s Somebody In Your Ear Screaming”: Charles Barkley Enlightens Ernie Johnson On Shark Tank’s Intensity

Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson have entertained the NBA community for over 2 decades. Barkley’s I-will-say-what-I-want personality and Ernie’s ability to reel him in have kept the duo on top of the Sports TV world for so long. This chemistry that they share was also the reason the two started their newest venture together – the Steam Room.

The podcast features candid conversations which was on full display when they hosted the former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban. Cuban told the hosts many stories from his life – from his time as the Mavericks owner to being a Shark on the popular show Shark Tank.

While listening to one such story, where Cuban talked about Shark Tank competing with Desperate Housewives, Barkley recalled how Cuban once approached him to be a guest ‘shark’ on the show, which he gleefully accepted. Barkley appeared on the show in 2018, in the 10th season of the show. Barkley described the overall experience as incredible and claimed the whole environment was intense. He said that in an attempt to not be in another shark’s way, he was relatively quiet throughout the pitches, but he had producers yelling at him through his earpiece, telling him to make bids and try to throw the other sharks off.

“It’s intense, man. It really is. There’s somebody is your ear screaming cos you don’t want to step on anybody, but they’re like, ‘get in there!’ And I was like it’s very intense. They’re like ‘Are you interested?’ and I’m like, ‘No’, and he says, ‘Then jump in and say you’re out!'”

Of course, Chuck is no stranger to the art of investments. Since his retirement from the NBA, The Round Mound of Rebound has had his finger in many a pie, all in order to keep his passive income flowing, including ventures like NeuroVice, which is a company specializing in medical device technology aimed at enhancing the patient experience

But while he initially stayed out of the Sharks’ way, Barkley eventually made a successful bid and walked away with 20% equity in Cave Shake for $250,000.

Charles Barkley’s Cave Shake deal

Holly Heath and Billy Cavallaro are the co-founders of Cave Shake, a company that makes healthy vegan shakes. Barkley was the only shark interested in their product when they came on the show, and he claimed it was something he felt strongly about. After retirement, Barkley admitted he let himself go a bit, not taking enough care of his diet and body.

In Cave Shake, he saw a way to allow others to stick to a proper healthy diet, without the need for a lot of preparation food-wise. Heath and Cavallaro wanted to offer 10% equity in their company for $250,000. Barkley convinced them to give him 20% for the same price. Since no other shark had any interest, they ended up accepting Chuck’s offer.

But Barkley was far from just being a silent investor. After all, it was a product he liked a lot. He oversaw a few changes to their company, with the first being a change in the product’s name. In an interview with Biznob, co-founder Holly Heath revealed the company changed its name from Cave Shake to Space Shake as part of the deal’s conditions.

There is no information available about the company’s current net worth, but Charles Barkley’s investment and ideas have seemed to help, as it is still very much in business.