'Shark Tank' stars talk successes and big Halloween episode

NEW YORK -- It's the TV show where it pays to swim with the sharks. Another group of entrepreneurs will try to get money to grow their business on "Shark Tank" Friday night during a special Halloween-themed episode.

The sharks were in New York City this month to celebrate the start of season 15 and give away some of the products the show has made famous.

They are among the highest-paid stars in TV history if their profits from "Shark Tank" are added up.

"Beatbox Beverage is a $200 million plus valuation. Same with Dude Wipes," said Mark Cuban, "Shark."

These are just two of the companies backed by Cuban and each of "Sharks" has their own success stories.

Barbara Corcoran invested her own money in "Cousins Maine Lobster" back in season four.

"They worked circles around me, and I was working hard, but these guys have 50 trucks, 25 restaurants, all these franchises and they got rich because they worked for it," Corcoran said.

She calls it the "fire in the belly," the need to succeed she looks for in every new entrepreneur she meets in the tank.

"I'm sitting on the show, the door is opening. I'm hoping to God I'm going to meet me, and I can do for someone what someone did for me because someone once loaned me a thousand dollars. If I didn't have a thousand dollars, I could never have started a business," Corcoran said.

Each of the "Sharks" invests their own money in a business: reaping the rewards when it succeeds, but absorbing the losses if it fails.

"Very often I'm surprised by what blows up, and I'm doubly surprised as to what makes money," Corcoran said.

"Generally each season I've got three that are exciting, and they pay for all of my mistakes!" said Kevin O'Leary, "Shark."

To celebrate the start of season 15 some of the hits were given away.

Each is a dream made real.

"It's a massive, iconic platform. It represents entrepreneurship in America. We sold billions of dollars worth of products. We made hundreds of people wealthy. It's great!" O'Leary said.

You can watch "Shark Tank" Friday nights on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.