by Gina Scarpa

On tonight’s episode of Shark Tank, Craig French heads into the tank first to pitch his fashion idea.  The Long Island native has a clothing company called Crooked Jaw that is in need of a little help.  In particular, he’s hoping for assistance from shark Daymond John, the founder of FUBU.  Craig asks for $200K in exchange for a 20% stake in his company.  While the sharks love his backstory, Daymond feels that there are ten thousand other guys out there like him.  Considering Daymond isn’t too impressed with the brand, no one else really is either.  Every shark opts out but Kevin O. offers to buy some of his clothing.  Craig turns it down (probably a stupid move) and walks out with nothing.

Up next is Robert Allison of Las Vegas.  Robert has come up with an invention, the Lifebelt, that stops teen drivers from starting their cars unless they are wearing a seat belt.  He wants $500K for a 10% stake in the company.  The cost of the installation is $229, which is definitely a bit pricey.  Robert suggests pitching this idea to car companies instead of trying to sell them in stores because they’d make a killing if they bought.  Kevin O. says he’ll buy the patent completely for $500K and never wants to hear from him again.  Robert counters and offers $1 million for the patent and says he can call him once.  If you can believe it, he turns that down and also walks out with nothing.  WHAT THE HECK IS HE THINKING?!

Susan Knapp heads into the tank to pitch her company, A Perfect Pear, from Napa Valley.  She wants $500K for a 15% stake.  She boasts over $700K in sales of high quality food and wine products.  The sharks are a fan of her food but wonder why she needs the money or can’t get financing through a bank.  The economy and the lack of ability to get credit is really hurting Susan, which is why she needs the sharks.  Kevin O. offers $500K but wants 70% - she says no.  Daymond offers $500K for 51% while Kevin H. offers the same for 50%.  Robert teams up Kevin H. on the deal and Susan asks for a minute to think about it.  When she returns, she asks for 51% but Robert immediately shoots her down.  After struggling with what to do, she decides to say yes to Robert and Kevin H.  Smart lady.  Put that pride aside in the name of financial success!

Mary Ellen Simonsen is up next with her idea, the sticky note holder.  She wants $100K for a 20% stake, which… for a sticky note holder… is asking a bit much.  How is this worth half a million dollars?  I certainly don’t get it and neither do the sharks.  On top of that, she hasn’t even sold one unit yet!!  No surprise here – everybody’s out.

Last up is Marc Furigay, a Chicago high school teacher.  He started to notice that his students had a hard time getting into what they were reading, particularly Shakespeare.   He has come up with Classroom Jams, an educational record label and publishing house.  Basically, he writes songs about Shakespeare plays, like Romeo and Juliet, to help students relate more to the storyline and understand what’s happening.  He wants $250K for a 10% stake in the label but doesn’t want to give up the rights to the songs.  The sharks ask him to leave so they can talk privately and when he returns, he’s faced with a tough but interesting offer. 

They’ll give him $250K for the entire company but he’ll get 5% royalties for the rest of his life.  Robert makes his own offer - $250K for the entire company but Marc will have the option to buy 49% back and gets no royalties.  Marc wants to be a partner with the sharks but they're not having that.  Robert comes back with another offer: $250K for 51% of the company and Marc gets to retain 49%.  After thinking it over, Marc rejects Robert's offer and asks for a high percentage of royalties, which is turned down by the sharks.  Marc ultimately decides to take the deal offered by all five sharks and the guy will hopefully be making money for the rest of his life!

Shark Tank airs Sunday nights at 9pm ET on ABC.

(Image courtesy of ABC)