A thousand attendees in the ballroom of the JW Marriott in Orlando went rigid. If the other folks wearing Inc. 5000 conference lanyards in that room felt anything like I did, they were simultaneously praying that Lemonis would not call on them -- while also racking their brains for something to say in case he did.
"If you look away, "Lemonis said, scanning everyone's petrified faces as he paced down the aisle, "I'm probably going to pick you."
Lemonis is a multimillionaire investor and the host of CNBC's The Profit, a reality show on which he invests in ailing small businesses and counsels the owners on how to turn them around. Any good reality show, it goes without saying, knows how to frame its subjects' fears and flaws in cringe-worthy close-ups. It turns out Lemonis can produce this sort of raw emotional spectacle before a live audience, too.
Lemonis is a multimillionaire investor and the host of CNBC's The Profit, a reality show on which he invests in ailing small businesses and counsels the owners on how to turn them around. Any good reality show, it goes without saying, knows how to frame its subjects' fears and flaws in cringe-worthy close-ups. It turns out Lemonis can produce this sort of raw emotional spectacle before a live audience, too.
