Wait, Why Didn’t Brittany Cartwright Get Paid For ‘Vanderpump Rules’?
You’d think that reality TV stars are raking in the cash, with many shows turning regular people into massive celebs. Of course, in Australia, the Married at First Sight cast capitalise on their 15 minutes of fame, usually in the form of a podcast, ~influencer~ deals, or joining OnlyFans.
But there’s a few reality TV participants who have started to speak up about their less than lucrative deals, with Love Is Blind’s Nick Thompson claiming he was treated like a “prisoner” on the Netflix show. I’ve had first-hand experience as a reality TV producer on shows similar to The Block and MAFS, so it doesn’t come as a huge shock. But still, it seems like it’s probably time for things to change.
Vanderpump Rules is a spinoff from Bravo’s big Real Housewives show, and it has proved to be a ratings beast. Thanks to Tom Sandoval cheating on Ariana Madix with Raquel Leviss (you know, ‘Scandoval’), Season 10 reached an average of 11.4 million viewers in the US alone. And there was at least one view from Australia in the form of me.
The cast of Vanderpump Rules. Photo credit: Bravo, Vanderpump Rules
Brittany Cartwright first appeared in Vanderpump Rules Season 4, but has revealed she was “broke” and found herself struggling, even though she was on the hit show.
“I didn’t get paid my first season of Vanderpump Rules – until the very, very end. I was broke,” she said on her When Reality Hits podcast. “It took a lot out of me.”
She chatted about how tough it was to do long distance with her then-boyfriend, Jax Taylor, who she’s since married.
“It was costing her… this is the beginning of the show and it was costing her $800 to $900 USD [to visit me],” Jax said. “She was in Kentucky [working at a bar and Hooters] and $800 is a lot of money [to spend on plane tickets].”
“It was three months in. Because I had to work, I was going back and forth to see you. I was at work for a week and then would see you the next week. It was like two months,” Brittany added.
Brittany Cartwright and Jax Taylor. Photo credit: Bravo, What Happens Live With Andy Cohen
How much do the Vanderpump Rules cast get paid?
Kristen Doute lifted the lid on how much she was paid for Season 1, and I’m just gonna say it: they were robbed.
“We weren’t making you know, a tonne of money on this show by any means. Like, not episodic,” Kristen said on The Good Guys podcast. “Season 1, we made $10,000 [USD]. It was actually $5,000, and then they added an additional $5,000.”
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Jax actually weighed in on the convo during Heather McDonald’s Juicy Scoop podcast, claiming he didn’t do too badly. Nobody knew how big the show was going to be, so his Season 1 package was reasonable.
“[I was paid] $15,000 USD to do the whole season. They were giving us a lot. There [were] incentives and right off the bat I was getting promotions and deals and things like that,” he said.
It seems like the cast got fed up with their deals, and The Hollywood Reporter claims the main cast members now rake in $25,000 USD per episode. The latest season had 15 episodes, so that’s a tidy $375,000 USD per person.
No wonder Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss are set to return for Season 11, even after being torn apart by Ariana Madix during the reunion.
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Image credits: Bravo, Vanderpump Rules, What Happens Live With Andy Cohen