Jimmy Donaldson, the YouTuber known as “MrBeast,” will appear as a guest shark on ABC’s “Shark Tank” for its upcoming 18th season, debuting this fall, per The Hollywood Reporter. Donaldson will join Beast Industries CEO Jeffrey Housenbold and a slate of other guest sharks that includes Mindy Kaling, J.J. Watt, “Diary of a CEO” podcast host Steven Bartlett, and Sara and Erin Foster, co-founders of Favorite Daughter.

The guest sharks will appear alongside the show’s permanent panel: Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Daniel Lubetzky, Kevin O’Leary, Kendra Scott and Rashaun Williams. On the long-running program, entrepreneurs pitch sharks for investment, with past deals including the sale of Ring’s camera business to Amazon for $1 billion.

Donaldson’s casting comes as his business profile continues to expand. He topped Forbes’ 2026 Top Creators List for the fifth consecutive year, reporting $300 million in earnings, and his holding company, Beast Industries, spans media, food products, an analytics tool, and licensing operations, reportedly valued at $5 billion. He also became the first individual creator to reach 500 million subscribers on YouTube. His channel added 117 million subscribers in 2025 alone, the largest single-year gain in YouTube history, according to fan-run analytics account MrBeast Statistics.

Mark Cuban, the show’s best-known departure, left “Shark Tank” after season 16, telling The Hollywood Reporter he wanted “a couple of summers” with his teenage children before they leave home. This season’s guest roster leans more heavily on content creators and podcasters than in past years, which have typically drawn from traditional business executives. ABC’s approach echoes a strategy the network has used on “Dancing With the Stars,” where casting creators has been a tool for driving audience buzz.

“Shark Tank” premiered in 2009 and is produced by MGM Television, a division of Amazon MGM Studios, in association with Sony Pictures Television.

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