Myrtle Beach Caddy Girls owner Meghan Tarmey to be featured on ABC’s 'Shark Tank' tonight

Meghan Tarmey of Myrtle Beach vividly recollects the moment she received an email confirming her flight to Los Angeles to film an episode of "Shark Tank."

“I remember being in my car crying,” Tarmey said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is real.’ ”

It will be real for the viewing public at 9 p.m. Oct. 17, when they watch Tarmey pitch her Myrtle Beach-based business, The Caddy Girls, to the show’s “Sharks” in the hopes of eliciting an investment.

The Caddy Girls provide a combination of caddie services and entertainment for about $150 per round. They are at least minimally trained in caddie duties and their outfits consist of skorts or shorts, knee-high argyle socks, sneakers and collared golf shirts.

Tarmey’s episode will be the fifth of 26 in Season 6 of the unscripted ABC series that received the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Programming.

The Sharks are self-made multi-millionaire and billionaire tycoons who give entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their products and businesses to them on the air in the hopes of enticing a Shark to invest and take an active interest.

Though her segment will only take up about 10 minutes of the show, Tarmey, 29, said she was grilled by the Sharks for more than an hour during filming, which took place in July. “It’s like an interrogation,” she said. “It was terrifying. It was probably one of the ballsiest things I’ve ever done in my life.

“The show is all real. It is everything you see on TV.”

Tarmey was selected from more than 45,000 applicants for Season 6, according to an ABC publicist. She isn’t allowed to say how she fared on the show until it airs.

The Sharks present for Tarmey’s pitch were Mark Cuban, owner and chairman of AXS TV and outspoken owner of the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks; “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner; technology innovator Robert Herjavec; fashion and branding expert Daymond John; and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary.

Based on the genre of her business, she was primarily targeting Cuban with her presentation. “He’s the sports guy and he goes against the grain and has always been kind of cutting edge,” Tarmey said. “He is the ideal Shark I would love to work with.”

Tarmey appeared on the show with her booking agent, Lisa Richardson, and marketing director, Jessica Walters, who both also caddie.

They flew to L.A. two days before the filming, and Tarmey dreamed that she’d tank. “I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t really eat, I was sick, I was just so nervous,” Tarmey confessed. “I knew that would affect me and I kept having nightmares about being so nervous that I couldn’t speak clearly.

“. . . I just wanted to be able to be myself. Going through the Shark Tank doors, I was just so excited and happy that I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be at all. I wanted to be fun. My whole company is about being fun and upbeat and happy, and I wanted to exude that through my whole pitch. I think I did pretty good.”

The New Hampshire native started Myrtle Beach Caddy Girls in 2005 as a way to help pay for tuition during her junior year at Coastal Carolina, where she was a cheerleader.

The company spawned the more encompassing The Caddy Girls as it expanded, has also spawned related marketing and modeling companies, and has a potential reality-based television show on the horizon.

The Caddy Girls does business in 10 markets, with the most active destinations being Myrtle Beach, Florida and Arizona. Tarmey has approximately 80 caddies on the Grand Strand who have signed exclusive caddie contracts with her.

She said her business is profitable, but she applied for the show because she wants to expand across the country and add more elements to it.

“To take it to the next level, I need the Sharks’ money and connections and expertise and guidance to expand geographically and make sure we have the training programs implemented everywhere and create a more efficient booking process where we can also have golf packages and tee times on a larger scale and do more volume,” Tarmey said.

In Season 5, ABC says 157 entrepreneurs were selected to pitch to the Sharks from 35,000 applicants, 112 were televised over 28 episodes and 62 were offered deals totaling nearly $17 million.

Tarmey’s pitch is being described by ABC in written promotions as: “A lady from Myrtle Beach, SC with her own all-female golf caddy company hopes the sharks will want to drive her company into the green.”

Shark Tank continues to receive strong ratings, regularly finishing as Friday night’s No. 1 series with an average of 8.1 million total viewers per episode in Season 5 and a high of 12.9 million total viewers for the May 2 episode, according to ABC.

Last season, the program dominated its 9 p.m. time period and improved 16 percent year-to-year in total viewers and 14 percent with adults 18-49, marking its best season on both Nielsen ratings measures. “The exposure is huge,” Tarmey said.

Tarmey first contacted Shark Tank representatives in early January. She was skeptical of her chances, so rather than mail an application she had already filled out, she instead sent just an email one night with the encouragement of a couple glasses of wine. “I watch the show and everything on there is like inventions and products, not really services,” Tarmey said. “Not to mention I didn’t know if they would take us seriously because we’re like a bunch of girls.”

A Shark Tank casting agent responded with a phone call and Tarmey was eventually assigned producers in May to help her through the application and casting processes. They continued to help her develop her pitch. “They want you to get an investment,” she said.

Tarmey is wavering on whether or not to have a viewing party with friends and family. “I think I want to lock myself in my room and watch it alone,” she said. “I’m really nervous. You never know how it’s going to look. I definitely want to have a couple drinks beforehand.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2014 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach Caddy Girls owner Meghan Tarmey to be featured on ABC’s 'Shark Tank' tonight."