Monday, March 12, 2012

Robert Herjavec Exits Dragons' Den

Robert Herjavec is leaving Dragons' Den.

The young immigrant tech entrepreneur from a poor Croatian family - so many good storylines - won the hearts and minds of Canadians in his career on Dragons' Den. Now he says it's time for a change.

This evening Robert reported on Twitter:
"thanks everyone for great comments -nothing but wonderful things to say about #cbcdragonsden - fantastic experience for me - chnaged my life"   (sic)

Pressed by me (and perhaps other Tweeters) for details, he Tweeted once more:

"its true-time to move on-most grateful for the opportunity 2 inspire others (in some small way) but mostly to be inspired by them in return."

Gracious, but not very informative.

My first clue was a Tweet earlier this evening from former dragon Brett Wilson, who noted Robert's decision and asked, with a wink, if this means he can get his old chair back.

The announcement upstaged the new Dargons' Den spinoff show, CBC's "The Big Decision." This week's episode featured tall dragon Jim Treliving's decision to invest in one of two flailing family businesses. It wasn't scintillating. In fact, Robert's announcement made Twitter more interesting during that hour than our National Public Network.

(The dullness wasn't Jim's fault. The companies - a fence producer and an icewine producer - were not very interesting, and both had made so many mistakes that viewers might well question either company's right to still be in business.)

Robert will be missed on Dragons' Den. Go to http://www.twitter.com/ and do a search for #robertherjavec), and you'll see how upset Canadians are. "I am also going to miss your gorgeous blue eyes and stanfields," tweeted one loyal fan.

I've seen in the analytics for this blog how popular Robert is. A lot of people search for info on him by typing in "Robert Herjavec married?".

I'm sure Robert will stay in the public eye. But we will miss the warmth, wit and sense of fun he brought to Dragons' Den.

(So far, Robert seems not to be responding to questions about whether he is leaving the U.S. version of the show, Shark Tank.)
Robert's 4 Monday night Tweets - saying goodbye. (Click pic to read)

UPDATE: The day after this post, in an email to the Toronto Sun, Herjavec said his move would have "no impact" on Shark Tank.
Score one for Hollywood.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shark tank is a crappy show compared to Dragons Den CA and UK.

It's dull, scripted and watered down much like everything on US television.

But for Robert, there must be more money in it.

Renee said...

I didn't even realise that Robert was gone until I looked up the press for the new season of Dragon's Den. Rober was absolutely my fav part of the show and I will miss him. He was the only one on the show I felt wasn't truly a shark and had a very genuine heart. I guess I will have to watch him on Shark Tank.

Marlene said...

I guess bieng a Canadian means nothing to him and his fans!! Go support the Shark Tank and move to the U.S.A.

Anonymous said...

I really like the Canadian Dragons Den and I also watch the shark tank too. It is too bad that Robert has left the show and maybe he'll be back someday? Wishful thinking. I hate to see o'leary too but time move on... I hope the doors are always open in case they want to come back.