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Season 12.
The same six sharks, the strangest set the tank has ever used.
A rhythm worth tracking.
Season twelve trades Culver City for a Las Vegas soundstage, filming the entire run inside a strict pandemic bubble. The classic six sit six feet apart, waves and fist bumps standing in for handshakes, and the set itself looks nothing like any season before it. Twenty-five episodes prove the pitch format survives even under those constraints — the tension holds regardless of the distance.
The #05 slot.
Slot #05 of 17 in the Shark Tank Editor's Canon. Season twelve is the tank's strangest-looking run by a wide margin. Production relocates from Culver City to a Las Vegas soundstage and films the entire season inside a strict pandemic bubble — the panel spaced six feet apart, handshakes replaced by waves and fist bumps. Nothing about the pitch structure or the panel's questioning actually changes, which is exactly the point: the format's core tension holds up even under conditions nobody designed it for. That resilience earns season twelve a spot in the canon's upper half, just below the show's true milestone seasons. It's not an innovation the show chose; it's a stress test the format happened to pass.
3 moments, no spoilers.
- Premiere · a new set entirely
Watch for just how different the tank itself looks this year — a Las Vegas soundstage standing in for the familiar Culver City set, built around distancing rules no prior season had to plan for.
- Early eps · no handshakes
Watch how the panel greets entrepreneurs without the show's usual handshake — waves and fist bumps take over, a small gesture that says a lot about the year this season filmed in.
- Full run · the tension holds anyway
Watch how little the format's core tension loses despite the distance — six feet apart doesn't soften the questioning, it just looks different while it happens.