Shark Tank Season 18 officially has its premiere date and cast — and it is one of the most talked-about lineups in the show's 18-year run. ABC has scheduled a two-episode premiere for September 30, 2026. Jewelry entrepreneur Kendra Scott will join the Tank as a permanent, full-time Shark, while YouTube megastar MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) will appear as one of several high-profile guest investors. Meanwhile, away from all the casting news, a Season 15 alumnus is making headlines for a very different reason: Sorsoap co-founder David Restiano has traded the pitch room for the soccer sideline.

When Does Shark Tank Season 18 Premiere?

Shark Tank Season 18 premieres Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. The season opens with two back-to-back episodes. Beginning Wednesday, October 7, the show moves to its regular 10 p.m. ET/PT time slot.

Date Time What Is Airing
Wednesday, September 30 9 p.m. ET/PT Two-episode Season 18 premiere
Wednesday, October 7 onward 10 p.m. ET/PT Regular weekly time slot
The next day On demand Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers

ABC confirmed the schedule on July 27 as part of its fall 2026 premiere announcement. The move keeps Shark Tank on Wednesday nights, where it shifted for Season 17, but gives the premiere an earlier start and a two-episode launch. ABC says its original programming will stream the following day on Hulu and through Hulu on Disney+ for eligible bundle subscribers.

Two Guest Sharks Earn Full-Time Seats

Season 18 marks the first time two guest Sharks have been promoted to the permanent panel in the same season. Kendra Scott and Rashaun Williams — both of whom rotated through the guest chair in previous seasons — are now full-time fixtures. The moves come in the wake of Mark Cuban's departure at the end of Season 16, and help reshape a permanent panel that had been largely unchanged for years.

Kendra Scott

Kendra Scott isn't a new face in the Tank — she first appeared on the show in Season 12 and has returned as a guest Shark multiple times since — but Season 18 marks her first run as a full-time member of the permanent panel. Scott is the founder, executive chairwoman, and chief visionary officer of the billion-dollar jewelry and lifestyle brand that bears her name.

The origin story is a classic Shark Tank-style underdog narrative: in 2002, Scott launched her jewelry line out of a spare bedroom in Austin, Texas with just $500 to her name. Today, the company employs more than 3,200 people, operates over 170 standalone stores, and sells fashion, demi-fine, and fine jewelry, watches, engagement rings, home accessories, a men's line, and the western-inspired sub-brand Yellow Rose by Kendra Scott.

Scott is also one of the most prominent philanthropists in the entrepreneurial world. Since 2010, she has made over $70 million in monetary and in-kind charitable contributions. Her Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KS WELI), founded in 2019 at the University of Texas at Austin, supports the next generation of female founders. The Kendra Scott Foundation, launched in 2023, focuses on women and youth health, wellness, education, and entrepreneurship — including the "Kendra Cares" program, which brings jewelry-making experiences to pediatric hospital patients.

In 2022, Scott published a memoir recounting her entrepreneurial journey. She serves on the board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Joining the permanent panel puts her alongside Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Kevin O'Leary, and Daniel Lubetzky.

Rashaun Williams

The second promotion is Rashaun Williams, who first joined the show as a guest Shark in Season 16. Williams is a venture capitalist and Chief Investment Officer at Harbinger Sports Partners — a firm that sits at the intersection of sports, media, and technology investment. His background is a different flavor from most of the permanent panel: less consumer brand, more institutional capital. That mix of perspectives is exactly the kind of thing a show built on entrepreneurship needs as the businesses walking through the door get more sophisticated.

MrBeast Is Coming to the Tank

If Kendra Scott's addition is the credibility headline, MrBeast is the cultural moment. Jimmy Donaldson — better known online as MrBeast — will appear as a guest Shark in Season 18, joined by Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries. With over 340 million YouTube subscribers and a business empire that spans chocolate (Feastables), ghost kitchens (MrBeast Burger), and Beast Industries' broader media and consumer goods operations, Donaldson is one of the most recognizable names on the planet — and almost certainly the youngest guest in the show's history.

His appearance is a signal of where the show is heading: the entrepreneurs pitching in the Tank are increasingly digital-native, and bringing in an investor who built a multi-hundred-million-dollar enterprise entirely through social media gives those founders a genuinely useful perspective they can't get from traditional investors.

The Full Season 18 Guest Shark Lineup

MrBeast isn't the only headliner in the guest rotation. ABC confirmed the following guest Sharks for Season 18:

  • Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) & Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries
  • Mindy Kaling — award-winning writer, producer, director, actor, and author
  • J.J. Watt — former NFL defensive lineman and founder of the Justin J. Watt Foundation
  • Erin Foster & Sara Foster — co-founders of clothing line Favorite Daughter, producers, and entrepreneurs
  • Steven Bartlett — entrepreneur, investor, and host of "The Diary of a CEO" (also a Dragon on the UK's Dragons' Den)

It's a diverse roster that spans tech/media, entertainment, sports, fashion, and podcasting — and it continues the Season 17 strategy of leaning into high-profile guests to generate pre-air buzz. For a deeper look at the long history of guest investors on the show, see our complete guest Shark list.

Season 18 will air on Wednesdays this fall on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu. The series is produced by MGM Television, a division of Amazon MGM Studios, in association with Sony Pictures Television, and has earned 27 Emmy nominations and won five awards since debuting in 2009.

Life After the Tank: Sorsoap's David Restiano Returns to Soccer

While Season 18 news dominates the headlines, a story out of New Jersey is a reminder that Shark Tank can be a launching pad — but it doesn't have to define what comes next.

David Restiano, co-founder of Sor Soap (SORx Soap), has been named the new girls soccer head coach at St. Rose High School in New Jersey — his alma mater. Restiano and business partner Dr. Dan Staats appeared in Season 15, Episode 20 (aired April 12, 2024), pitching their all-natural therapeutic muscle soap to the Sharks. They asked for $100,000 for 10% equity. Mark Cuban — who used the SORx Tool Pro during the pitch and immediately felt relief from persistent neck pain — was the one who bit, investing $100,000 for 20% equity.

SORx Soap is still in business, reporting current revenues in the $1–2 million range. But Restiano, 51, has returned to something he's been passionate about long before the Tank: soccer. He graduated from St. Rose in 1992 and previously served as an assistant on the school's boys soccer staff from 2021 to 2024, including a run to the Non-Public B championship game in 2022.

"I'm very excited to get back into coaching with the girls. It's a perfect fit," Restiano said. "We're going to bring a little bit of that underdog mentality into our program. I think we can surprise some people." That underdog mentality — the same one he credits for fueling Sorsoap from concept to a national TV pitch — is now being channeled into rebuilding a St. Rose girls program that went 3-16 last season.

It's a grounded story in a world of flashy valuations. Restiano didn't exit for eight figures. He built something real, kept it going, and then went back to coaching teenage soccer players at his high school. In the Shark Tank ecosystem, that counts as a win too.

What Season 18 Tells Us About the Show's Direction

Taken together, these three stories sketch a picture of where Shark Tank is headed. Adding Kendra Scott permanently signals the show wants an entrepreneur-builder on the panel — someone who has actually scaled a consumer brand from nothing to a billion dollars, not just written checks from inherited wealth or fund capital. Adding MrBeast signals awareness that the next generation of entrepreneurs looks very different from previous ones: they grew up on YouTube, they understand distribution as a product, and they want mentorship from someone who speaks their language.

And then there's Restiano, quietly coaching soccer in New Jersey. The show has always been about more than the deal — it's about what founders do with the platform, the visibility, and the credibility. Sometimes that's a $100 million exit. Sometimes it's building a small but viable business, giving back to your community, and coaching the next generation. Shark Tank has room for both stories.

For more on the Season 17 panel and what the show has looked like in recent years, see our full Season 17 recap. And if you're curious who else has sat in the guest Shark chair over the years, our complete guest Shark guide covers all 40+.

Sources