Reality Show Prize Money: Ranking ‘Survivor,’ ‘The Challenge’ and More

Credit: Courtesy of Networks

Reality Show Prize Money: Ranking ‘Survivor,’ ‘The Challenge’ and More

Rolling in the dough! Reality TV shows can be grueling, awkward and time-consuming, but for many contestants, it’s more than worth it based on the prize money they can win at the end. Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, who has won seven of his 20 seasons of MTV’s The Challenge, has taken home a whopping $1,184,720 in winnings. When it comes to an individual season win, The Challenge, has ranged in what the top competitor takes home, with the grand prize totaling $900,000, split between two people for 2021’s The Challenge: Double Agents. Baking shows also have a wide variety of seed money, with some series only giving a cake stand to the champion and others awarding the top chef a restaurant job and salary. Talent competitions, however, have the most inconsistencies with regard to prizes. For years, The Voice coaches have been vocal about how the winners of the singing competition don’t appear to get the proper support from the record label that signs them as part of their winner’s compensation package. “We work with these artists and give them this tremendous workshop and get them to the end of the show, and I think the work that we do on the show is amazing,” former coach Adam Levine told reporters at a press conference for The Voice‘s season finale in December 2017. “We give these guys this incredible platform and this really rare thing, a lot of exposure and airtime. Once we pass the torch, it is the record label that completely destroys that.” [jwplayer jGgFKWPI-l3ahXupL] Blake Shelton chimed in, saying, “My last two winners never even had an album released.” The country crooner put the blame squarely on the record label that NBC has teamed up with, noting that the singers themselves have the support from fans to warrant a big album release. “They have a fan base by the time this show is over and the hardest thing, as all four of us [coaches] know, is to have fans,” Shelton explained. “Every single one of those guys have fans and [the record label] manages to take a gimme and completely ignore it and do it the wrong way. It is their fault.” The “God’s Country” singer even went as far as to challenge Universal Records to pay attention to season 11 winner Jason “Sundance” Head and give him the platform he deserves. "This is the guy that I think can break the mold and become a star out of this show. And I give my word that I'll put my work in, and I know he will,” he added. Scroll down to see the reality show prize numbers from worst to best: [podcast_block]

Credit: Courtesy of Networks

Reality Show Prize Money: Ranking ‘Survivor,’ ‘The Challenge’ and More

Rolling in the dough! Reality TV shows can be grueling, awkward and time-consuming, but for many contestants, it’s more than worth it based on the prize money they can win at the end. Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, who has won seven of his 20 seasons of MTV’s The Challenge, has taken home a whopping $1,184,720 in winnings. When it comes to an individual season win, The Challenge, has ranged in what the top competitor takes home, with the grand prize totaling $900,000, split between two people for 2021’s The Challenge: Double Agents. Baking shows also have a wide variety of seed money, with some series only giving a cake stand to the champion and others awarding the top chef a restaurant job and salary. Talent competitions, however, have the most inconsistencies with regard to prizes. For years, The Voice coaches have been vocal about how the winners of the singing competition don’t appear to get the proper support from the record label that signs them as part of their winner’s compensation package. “We work with these artists and give them this tremendous workshop and get them to the end of the show, and I think the work that we do on the show is amazing,” former coach Adam Levine told reporters at a press conference for The Voice‘s season finale in December 2017. “We give these guys this incredible platform and this really rare thing, a lot of exposure and airtime. Once we pass the torch, it is the record label that completely destroys that.” [jwplayer jGgFKWPI-l3ahXupL] Blake Shelton chimed in, saying, “My last two winners never even had an album released.” The country crooner put the blame squarely on the record label that NBC has teamed up with, noting that the singers themselves have the support from fans to warrant a big album release. “They have a fan base by the time this show is over and the hardest thing, as all four of us [coaches] know, is to have fans,” Shelton explained. “Every single one of those guys have fans and [the record label] manages to take a gimme and completely ignore it and do it the wrong way. It is their fault.” The “God’s Country” singer even went as far as to challenge Universal Records to pay attention to season 11 winner Jason “Sundance” Head and give him the platform he deserves. "This is the guy that I think can break the mold and become a star out of this show. And I give my word that I'll put my work in, and I know he will,” he added. Scroll down to see the reality show prize numbers from worst to best: [podcast_block]

Credit: YouTube

Great British Baking Show

The bakers are not compensated for their time on the British series, nor is the winner given any sort of monetary prize. Instead, the winner gets the coveted title, a cake stand, flowers and recognition as they move forward with any baking career moves.

Credit: The Food Network

Kids Baking Championship

Every season, one kid earns the title of Kid’s Baking Champion, wins a spot in Food Network magazine and takes home $25,000.

Credit: CBS

Love Island

The U.K. version of the dating series ends each season with a choice for the winning couple: Do they split the £50,000 prize (roughly $69,000) or do they steal the money and keep it for themselves? The Love Island USA winners have the choice to steal or split the $100,00 prize.

Credit: YouTube

Ink Master

The tattoo-centered show hands out $100,000 to the top artist every season. In 2020, however, the coronavirus pandemic cut filming short resulting in the top three finalists each earning an unknown cash prize.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

The Voice

The singing competition awards each season’s winner $100,000 and a record contract with Universal Music Group, Newsweek reported in March 2021. Some past seasons have also given the winner a new car.

The biggest prize for The Voice winner is the publicity they received following the show and, in some cases, booking tours with their former coaches. Shelton, for example, took season 11 winner Sundance Head on tour with him and later brought contestant RaeLynn along for his performances.

Credit: Nicole Weingart/Bravo

Top Chef

The culinary series initially gave out $100,000 to the winner of each season but beginning with season 6, the prize was increased to $125,000. When it comes to Top Chef: All-Stars and Top Chef: All-Stars LA, the winner earned $200,000 and $250,000, respectively.

Credit: FOX

Hell’s Kitchen

The cooking show not only awards the winner a cash prize of $250,000 (as a yearly salary), but the series also ends with the top chef landing a role as head chef at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants.

Credit: Shutterstock

American Idol

According to Newsweek, the singing competition awards winners a total of $250,000 in prize money, in the form of a record deal with Hollywood Records, which is given out in two sums. The winner gets $125,000 when they sign their record contract and the remaining $125,000 when they complete their album. The singers also have a budget of up to $300,000 to record the record, which is given as an advance and must be paid back against future earnings.

According to a leaked contract in 2019 from third-place contestant Madison VanDenburg, the winning artist also receives $1,000 per week as a salary while recording their album. However, the prize money has decreased in recent years, with earlier winners including Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard reportedly being awarded $1 million deals after their respective wins.

Credit: David Becker/NBC

American Ninja Warrior

The grueling obstacle course has had a variety of prizes awarded throughout the years. According to ScreenRant, season 2 had an award of $250,000, while seasons 4 through 6 gave its winner $500,000. Season 7 through season 11’s winner received $1 million.

Credit: Cliff Lipson/CBS (3)

Big Brother

Winners of the reality show get $500,000 for three months of work. During season 23, the prize money increased to $750,000.

Credit: PARAMOUNT+/MTV

The Challenge

When the MTV series debuted its first-ever All Star season in 2021, the competitors battled it out for $500,000. The Challenge: Double Agents winners, on the other hand, took home $900,000, which was split between CT Tamburello and Amber Borzotra.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

America’s Got Talent

The talent competition, which can include winners from any walks of life, awards a whopping $1 million prize, which can be taken all at once or paid out over 40 years. In addition to winning money, the top competitor lands a Las Vegas residency.

Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS

The Amazing Race

Winners of the long-running competition show earn $1 million that is split evenly between the contestants.

Credit: Robert Voets/CBS

Survivor

Year after year, fans tune in to see which contestant can survive the great outdoors. The stars of the show themselves are given a cash prize of $1 million if they are able to beat out their fellow castmates. Winners at War, which was the show’s 40th season, gifted its winner $2 million.