Kevin O’Leary Holds Back Tears Sharing How Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban ‘Saved’ Him From Financial Ruin

Tears welled in Kevin O’Leary’s eyes as he recalled a time that Shark Tank costar Mark Cuban got him out of a rut.

During a recent appearance on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, Kevin, 70, opened up about his time in the political sphere in Canada in 2017. The business investor ultimately had to drop out of the political race because he didn’t speak French “well enough.”

“I was leading in the polls, dramatically, until I hit Quebec,” Kevin explained. “I’m dyslexic, I’ll never learn French. And it also leads to a story about Mark Cuban that is very important when people pit us against each other, a lot.”

Kevin went on to say that in the Canadian system, you have to “pay back your losses, if you’re a loser in a race at $1,600 per contribution by only Canadian citizens. You can’t pay back your own debt. And if you fail to do it in 24 months, you can be put in prison.”

“I was $2 million in the hole, and I wanted to write the check and just clear the books, and the government said, ‘No, you can’t do that. You’re going to be subject to the laws of the land,'” he remembered. “So I called up Mark. I said, ‘Mark, I’m in trouble here. I need to hold an event where I can sell a lot of tickets to a lot of people who are going to attend, and I need you to fly up here and be beside me on the stage.'”

Kevin then got emotional recalling Mark’s reaction to the frantic phone call.

“He didn’t even blink. He was on the plane the next day,” Kevin said. “He never even questioned it. He said, ‘Where do I have to be? I’ll be there.’”

Kevin got choked up and was fighting tears and said and needed a moment to compose himself after recalling Mark’s kindness. He took a few sips of water during the emotional conversation.

“Well I did not have that on my bingo card, Mr. Wonderful getting emotional,” host Chris Wallace said, to which Kevin replied, “I owe him a lot for that. He saved my ass.”

Kevin has been a panelist on Shark Tank since season 1, which began in 2009. Mark first appeared as a guest shark in season 2 before becoming a full time panelist in season 3. Viewers have loved seeing their onscreen dynamic play out over the years, but were sad when Mark announced that season 16 of Shark Tank would be his last.

“I’m leaving just to spend more time with my kids — they’re teenagers now. When they were younger, my wife and I got to tell them where to be and when; now they ain’t listening to us,” Mark told The Wrap of his departure from the business reality show. “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.”

Season 16 of Shark Tank premieres Friday, October 18, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.