Robert Herjavec has long approached the founders on Shark Tank with patience and understanding. He knows how personal those pitches can be and how much is riding on each moment.
Participating in Dancing with the Stars Season 20 gave him a new frame of reference. A role reversal of being perceived and judged by the judges and an audience changed the way he sees that pressure. It left him with an even deeper respect for anyone willing to take that genre of risk in public.
Robert Herjavec in Dancing With The Stars
Robert has commented in an interview explaining the phenomenon. He said, “I’ll have a greater appreciation for how people feel when they come out in front of us. I was probably the most empathetic one to begin with, but I’m gonna be in front of many, many millions of people, live, being judged by someone else, and that’s a unique feeling for me.”
He concluded his point, saying, “I understand how people feel and how much work goes into going out there.”
Robert Herjavec Opens Up About His Intense Dance Training
He had clearly done the work on himself. Shifting from Shark Tank to a dancing reality show is not an easy feat after all.
A few weeks into the training for Dancing with the Stars, Herjavec shared that his body was already responding to the training. The practices were intense, to say the least, for the former boardroom enthusiast. The good part was that he felt stronger and more in tune with his physical limits than before.
The Croatian-Canadian businessman and investor shared an anecdote saying, “I’m at the gym the other day and I’m looking at the mirror and I see myself and I’m like ‘Wow, what a great butt…Oh! That’s me! It’s amazing. I didn’t know that people had this many muscles, and every one of them is sore.”
Robert Herjavec on Juggling Work and Dancing With the Stars
Robert Herjavec was partnered with Kym Johnson at the time. In a surprising turn of events, she later ended up becoming his wife. They tied the knot in 2016. He joked that she was a saint for putting up with him and said it with clear affection. Herjavec explained that his days had started extremely early.
He used to wake up at 5 a.m. Since the majority of his business functioned on EST, he had to spend the first few hours answering emails and handling work. After the usual 9 to 5, he headed to the gym to train with Johnson.
The rehearsals went on for hours. They sometimes left him with aches or minor injuries. Once training wrapped up, he returned to work.
The Shark Tank investor’s nights usually ended late when this was going on. According to him, they even stretched around midnight or even 1 a.m. He laughed that he often forgot to eat because he was so locked in.
A Lasting Lesson From Dancing With the Stars
When it was all said and done, the experience cemented itself in Robert Herjavec’s mind. Dancing away into a world where every move was watched and scored gave him a view of the other end of the table. It was a humbling experience for someone of his stature. The grind and the constant pressure helped him better understand what it truly takes to put yourself out there.
