Alex Rodriguez reportedly pulled out of an appearance on ABC‘s Shark Tank before signing on to star in a “very similar” show at NBC.
Sources told the New York Post‘s Page Six that Rodriguez was expected to make a guest appearance on the long-running reality show, in which hopeful entrepreneurs make their pitches to potential investors.
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However, Page Six reports Rodriguez will star in an NBC “business reality show,” a move that angered Shark Tank producer Sony Pictures Television.
“Alex last appeared on Shark Tank last fall and before then, he’d been on a bunch. Everyone really liked him,” an ABC source told Page Six. “But he won’t be on the show anymore as he’s been shopping around a show that is very, very, very similar to Shark Tank and Sony TV, which makes the show, got wind of this — because Alex’s people had been speaking to everyone in Hollywood.”
Another source close to the situation insisted the NBC show is not a direct copy of Shark Tank.
“This show was being shopped around — it’s not like ABC was giving Alex his own prime-time spot,” the second source said. “Alex loved Shark Tank, and the feeling was mutual. But he already has his show Back in the Game on CNBC . . . this is basically extending his deal with NBC.”
“We are thrilled to be developing a show with Alex… The show is a high-concept business show,” an NBC source told the Post.
Rodriguez, 43, started appearing on Shark Tank in 2017. Last year, he launched Back in the Game, a CNBC series in which he helps former professional athletes down on their luck work with money mentors Rodriguez also appears on ESPN and Fox Sports as a baseball commentator, and teamed up with Shark Tank star Mark Cuban to invest in retired NFL player Chris Gronkowski’s Ice Shaker.
The former New York Yankees player was in the news last month when a photo of Rodriguez using the bathroom in his luxury Manhattan apartment surfaced. As Page Six reported at the time, the photographer was likely at a Manhattan hedge fund office next door to his building.
Rodriguez later appeared on Good Day New York, where he said he has no plans to sue. Instead, he is going to invest in blinds.
“I’m certainly not suing,” the World Series champion said. “The one thing is, I actually do my best thinking there! I wasn’t ready for the picture. It is what it is … I have to invest in some good blinds, and I think I am.”
Rodriguez and singer Jennifer Lopez got engaged in March.
Photo credit: Mark Brown/Getty Images
