Tuesday night marks the third-season finale of “The Profit,” CNBC’s top-rated show in which Marcus Lemonis — the chairman/CEO of Camping World — buys into struggling small businesses hoping to turn them around.
In May, Lemonis begins shooting his new CNBC series, “The Partner,” a competition show in which the grand prize will be an equity stake in all the investments Lemonis has made on “The Profit.” The winner will be awarded a three-year contract to work side-by-side with Lemonis (at $166,000 per year).
Lemonis, 43, talked to The Post about “The Profit” and about overcoming his “pretty shocking background” — he was overweight, sexually abused as a child, suicidal and had an eating disorder.
How do you juggle shooting “The Profit” with your full-time business ventures?
I’ve been shooting this season since July and we just finished a week ago. It’s a very long process. If we shoot eight hours in a given day there’s plenty of time to do other things. I do core work in the morning, at lunch and at the end of the day. It’s not a lot of personal time, but I don’t have kids — and I don’t play golf, tennis or cards … so I’m able to have more free time than most people. But it’s challenging for me; there are moments during the season where I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t completely out of gas.
Why do you think “The Profit” is so popular?
CNBC may not like to posture the show this way, but it’s a show about the human mind and emotions, using business as a backdrop. It’s not a business show that has people in it — it’s a show about people. What fans [of the show] like is that they can watch people repair themselves or wreck themselves. I don’t really believe I’m the one fixing people. Some say it feels like a mixture of “Dr. Phil” and Oprah, but my goal is to put people in a situation or context where they’re able to fix themselves — or not.
Do you talk about your personal struggles publicly?
Yes. I do presentations around the country to corporations and non-profits about what makes me tick: vulnerability and transparency. I was an only child with two wonderful parents. I was born in Beirut and lived in an orphanage and was adopted by a big American-Lebanese family and grew up in Miami. I was always very alone and socially awkward and that prompted me to eat as a safety net, a coping mechanism. Then I was more overweight and even more uncomfortable and then I developed an eating disorder and had suicidal thoughts. I was molested as a child by a family member. My mom passed away a couple of years ago and never knew about it. I didn’t want to tell her while she was alive.
I always tell people I’m giving them all that information not to feel sorry for me but to create a level of relatability. If you want to succeed in business you have to relate to people … and vulnerability is a giant part of being relatable.
Marcus the money man
In Tuesday night’s season finale of “The Profit,” Marcus Lemonis will revisit several of the small businesses in which he’s invested — catching viewers up on how each of these enterprises is faring. Here’s a snapshot look at how much Lemonis invested in each business:
