How Much Reality Stars Get Paid for ‘Bachelor,’ ‘The Challenge’ and More

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How Much Reality Stars Get Paid for 'Bachelor,' 'The Challenge' and More

Getting paid to live! Whether competing on TV for a cash prize or simply being filmed while living your day-to-day life, reality television stars almost always get a paycheck — and it may be bigger than you think. In 2021, Jason Tartick launched a "Trading Secrets" podcast, during which he is focused on "break[ing] the stigma that we shouldn’t be talking about money," shining the light on reality television. “Once a month, our goal is to do a reality TV series,” the Bachelorette alum told Us Weekly at the time of his podcast. “And we want to cover every single reality TV show out there to understand the differences — how are these people compensated? How have they been compensated after the show? Did they go back to work? Did they lose their job? How much did it cost to go on the show? Did it positively or negatively impact [you] … maybe you had to seek other expenses, such as therapy or things like that, and what is the cost of that? We want to uncover all that." During his podcast, Tartick not only opened up about his own salary during his time on reality TV, but he also interviews stars from various shows to find out what they made and what they spent when going on different series. [jwplayer spYLcJ13-zhNYySv2] Although most stars aren't allowed to detail their contracts, many have been open about the amount of money they've spent going on a reality show. Elena Davies shared in 2021 that she spent around $5,000 on makeup, Botox, clothes and hair products before competing on season 19 of Big Brother. Jillian Harris, who appeared on season 13 of The Bachelor and went on to become the Bachelorette, shared that while the women received goodie bags, half of the clothes didn't fit. "That was it. The girls do have to bring all of their own clothing and of course, they want to be wearing the best clothes EVER to be seen on TV in," she wrote on her blog in 2016. "I had remortgaged my house and I spent something like $8,000 on clothing." With Bachelor Nation, there's always also the opportunity for spinoffs or specials. The original Bachelorette Trista Rehn, for example, was paid $1 million for her ABC wedding special to Ryan Sutter in 2003. Scroll through the gallery below to hear more from reality TV stars about their salaries: [podcast_block]

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The Bachelorette

Season 11 star Kaitlyn Bristowe claimed in April 2023 that she was initially offered $40,000, but hired a lawyer and asked to be paid the same amount as season 19 Bachelor Chris Soules.

“He changed a lot and negotiated my contract big time for me,” she said on the “Trading Secrets” podcast. “One of the executive producers said to me, ‘You got an entertainment lawyer, and you're asking for this amount of money? I'm sorry. I thought this is about love for you.’ F—k off! It's about love and money, OK? They go hand in hand for me right now. Because they said you're going against Britt [Nilsson], I was like, ‘I’m not doing it.’ And then I said, ‘I’ll only do it if you paid me as much as you paid Chris Soules.' I said I wanted to make the same as he did.”

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Dancing With the Stars

“You get a bonus every week that you make it,” Bristowe, who won season 29 of DWTS, said on “Trading Secrets,” noting that the runner-ups make the same as the winner. “The final four are in the final episode, they all get paid the same. … But your signing bonus, I think you can negotiate a bit, like, to sign to say you're going on the show.”

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Laguna Beach

While discussing the beloved early aughts MTV series on the podcast "Back to the Beach," Kristin Cavallari revealed how much the cast made for the first season. “I think $2,500," she said during a July 2022 episode of the show. Her cohost Stephen Colletti, however, remembered things differently: “I don’t even think it was that much. I think it was $2,000. Lauren [Conrad] and I renegotiated for season 2. It was going to be our last season! We were like, ‘We’re out of here!'”

Credit: Netflix

Love Is Blind

According to a lawsuit filed by season 2 contestant Jeremy Hartwell in July 2022, the Netflix show pays $1,000 per week, up to $8,000 for the length of filming the show. One of the allegations in the suit was that the production paid “less than half of the applicable minimum wage rate of $15.00 per hour” in California, claiming the cast worked up to 20 hours a week.

“Resultantly, these workers were effectively [paid] as little $7.14 per hour. … Less than one-third of the minimum overtime rate of $22.50 per hour, and less than one-fourth of the minimum double-time rate of $30.00 per hour pursuant to the applicable Los Angeles City and County minimum wage ordinances,” the docs state.

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RHONY

Carole Radziwill said on a November 2021 episode of the “Behind the Velvet Rope With David Yontef” podcast that the “first year” of RHONY, “everyone gets paid $60,000.” However, hair and makeup costs were then taken out of that.

“I was like, ‘I’m not doing it for [$60,000]. I’ll do it for a hundred.’ They had blown up the show at that point and right. They’d fired like four people … I guess they were desperate,” she said. “I only found out … that Heather Thomson and Aviva Drescher didn’t get $100,000 because then the second season we were negotiating and they gave us $150,000. Heather thought it was great. I’m like, ‘It’s not that great.’ And then I realized they had just paid her the $60,000. Of course, I immediately told her because I wasn’t gonna like pretend or lie to her.”

Credit: MTV

Ridiculousness

Rob Dyrdek detailed his massive salary bump during Rob & Big, Fantasy Factory and Ridiculousness.

"I was probably getting $35K an episode of Rob & Big, and they offered me $125K an episode to do a fourth season of Rob & Big or do another show," he explained on the "Trading Secrets" podcast in July 2021.

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Big Brother

Davies, who competed on season 19 of Big Brother, revealed in July 2021 that they were paid $1,000 a week. “I was in the jury house, so I technically filmed the entire season. I got paid the entire 13-week stipend," she said on Dear Media’s “Trading Secrets” podcast.

Credit: MTV

Ex on the Beach

Davies also shared that when she joined Ex on the Beach two years after Big Brother, she had learned to negotiate and ultimately made the same amount of money even though she only filmed for five days.

"I want to say that my stipend was $4,500. I made it out with maybe $17,000 from this show, and that was just me really playing the game,” the reality star shared. "Even when they wanted to fly me back to shoot just my headshot — because why wouldn’t I shoot that while I was there? — I was like, ‘I want my weekly stipend.’ I flew in at 11:00 at night, and I was on the flight the next day at 9:45 in the morning. And I got paid my weekly [stipend] for that."

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The Challenge

While the stars of MTV's competition series have kept relatively quiet about their pay, a source confirmed to Us Weekly that rookies make $1,000 stipend a week and returning players who aren’t top vets make between $3,000 and $5,000. “Elite” players — think Cara Maria Sorbello, Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio or CT Tamburello — can make around $80,000 simply for arriving on day 1.

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Bachelor in Paradise

In May 2021, Dean Unglert explained that ABC offered him $400 a day for Bachelor in Paradise. "I was like, ‘Oh yeah, great. $400 bucks a day, 30 days, $12,000. That’s fantastic.’ And then I start talking to some friends and they’re like, well, ‘You should get more money because … you’re going to be, like, the guy they want most from your season [to] go to Paradise minus, like, Peter [Kraus],'" he said on the “Trading Secrets” podcast, noting that he then asked for $800 a day but ultimately countered with $600. He also revealed he made $400 a day for The Bachelor Winter Games.

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The Bachelor

When searching for the season 23 lead in 2019, Colton Underwood, Tartick and Blake Horstmann were all offered $100,000, Tartick said on his podcast in May 2021. Unglert said he was offered $75,000 the year prior, but Arie Luyendyk Jr. was ultimately named the season 22 lead. For season 23, Underwood led the season.

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Survivor

In 2018, Johnny Fairplay claimed that the first person eliminated from Survivor gets $3,500, and the jury members receive $40,000. He said that the final two receive $100,000 while the winner earns the $1 million prize. For Winners at War, for which the $1 million prize was doubled, each player was reportedly guaranteed $25,000, plus the standard of $10,000 for appearing at the reunion.

In 2021, Corinne Kaplan, who competed on Survivor: Gabon and Survivor: Caramoan, detailed the breakdown even further on Dear Media's "Trading Secrets" podcast.

“We do make money for as far as we make it. They explain it to you in very basic terms — not hard numbers. The same amount of money exists no matter how many players there are,” she said during a September 2021 episode, confirming that each star makes $10,000 to return for the live reunion. 

"Roughly the first person voted out makes $2,500, and it goes up very incrementally until you hit the jury. Then it starts going up with each jury member. So it works backward. $1 million is first place, second place is $100,000. Third place is $75,000, then $65K, $55K, $45K. Once you stop the jury, those people only make a few thousand and there’s, like, $100 difference between them."

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The Amazing Race

For first place, the winners split the $1 million prize. Second place splits $100,000 and third place splits $75,000, according to Kaplan.

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DWTS

In 2019, Variety reported that contestants make $125,000 for the show’s rehearsal period and the first two weeks. Those who make it past week three can earn up to $295,000.

In November 2021, Bachelor alum Courtney Robertson claimed she was offered $150,000 to be part of the competition series. “Each week you last, there’s, like, an incentive,” she said on the “She’s All Bach” podcast, noting she was told she'd get around $30,000 for each additional week she stayed in the competition.

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90 Day Fiance

In 2018, Nikki Cooper, who appeared as a friend of David Toborowsky on season 5 of 90 Day Fiancé, posted on Facebook that cast members get paid $1,000 per episode and $2,500 to film the tell-all special, which equals out to $14,500 for a 12-episode season.

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Teen Mom

Adam Lind shared via Instagram that his ex Chelsea Houska earned $250,000 for season 6 of Teen Mom, noting in 2016 that he had a similar salary. He added that the pair's daughter, Aubree, made $50,000 for appearing.

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Vanderpump Rules

The Hollywood Reporter claimed that the main cast members of the Bravo series earned around $25,000 an episode in 2017 and 2018, with Lisa Vanderpump taking home closer to $50,000.

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Dance Moms

In 2015, Abby Lee Miller shared that the young dancers earned $1,000 an episode for season 1 through 4, and $2,000 an episode for season 5. She added that she was earning $1,500 an episode.

Credit: Tommy Garcia/Bravo

The Real Housewives

While most of the Bravo talent has stayed mum about their salaries, Real Housewives expert Brian Moylan shared some insight in his 2021 book, The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives. According to Moylan, Kandi Burruss is the highest-paid, making nearly $2 million a season. RHOA cast overall make the most because that spinoff has the highest ratings.

Newcomer cast members usually sign on for $60,000 a season — a number Gina Kirschenheiter confirmed in her divorce filings, listing $63,000 paid by the production company and $5,450 paid by NBCUniversal. Meanwhile, Bethenny Frankel said she made just over $7,000 for her first season.

RHOD's Cary Deuber said she made "less than a Birkin" bag when she signed on, and by season 3, was making around $200,000 a season.