We kind of figured that Bachelor Nation was relying on unknown wanna-be reality TV contestants to have cheap salaries, but who knew it was like this even for the established personalities?!
Bachelorette alums Jason Tartick and Dean Unglert opened up a bit about the business side of the world-famous reality TV franchise on Monday, dishing dirt on Tartick’s Trading Secrets podcast.
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Quickly, the pair of Bachelor Nation vets turned to the topic of money — something fans consistently ask about. Unglert recalled how, during his time on the show, he had been something of a hot commodity after his initial appearance on The Bachelorette and was able to negotiate a higher-than-normal salary for his time on Bachelor In Paradise.
Recalling the chain of events that got him paid while still searching for love, the likable reality TV contestant said (below):
“They hit me up and they were like, ‘Hey, do you want to do Bachelor in Paradise, this other show that pays $400 a day, and you could be there for up to 30 days,’ something like that. So I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, great. Four hundred bucks a day, 30 days, $12,000, that’s fantastic.’”
But after talking to friends, Unglert decided he wanted to negotiate for more!
After all, he was just coming off a run on Rachel Lindsay‘s season of The Bachelorette in 2017, and he decided to to ask for double — $800 per day — to try to get paid while he was still an attraction for the show’s fans.
He explained his negotiating strategy to Tartick on the podcast, confirming he wound up with a $600 day rate, saying:
“At that point, I was like, out of principle, I just wanted them to pay — it could have been one dollar more — out of principle, I wanted them to pay me more than they were offering everybody else just cause I thought I was hot s**t for some reason.”
Ha! Hey, we get it, you’ve gotta get paid while you’re in demand in the reality TV game!
Still, to think those rates are for the most in-demand contestants… what does everyone else get?! (FWIW, Unglert confirmed he got nearly the same amount — “I think I went up to like $602 a day” — in his second run on Paradise, too.)
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Unglert also dished on leading man salary offers, as well. He claimed that producers approached him at one point to be the season 22 Bachelor lead with a $75,000 contract in hand. Of course, that ended up being the season Arie Luyendyk Jr. ended up taking the lead, though it’s unclear if he was offered the same contract as Dean.
For his part, Tartick confirmed his process was much the same as Dean’s, and added that he was considered for season 23 of The Bachelor alongside fellow contestants Blake Horstmann and Colton Underwood. All three were apparently offered a $100,000 salary to be the show’s lead; Underwood infamously got the job and the cash.
And while Tartick never actually appeared on Paradise, he did manage to negotiate a shockingly similar rate to Unglert’s without even realizing it! Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s new fiancé revealed he also negotiated to $600 per day, but also had a $5,000 minimum clause — in case he didn’t make it out of the first week.
Smart move!
What do U make of these Bachelor salaries, Perezcious readers?! Obviously, $400 to $600 per day is a lot when you look at it from a full year’s perspective, but filming never lasts anywhere close to a full year! Heck, it usually lasts just weeks — or even mere days, with early eliminations — and that salary number can shrink REALLY quickly!
Is all that really worth it for uprooting your life, going totally public, and risking your reputation and future on always-sketchy reality TV edits?!
Sound OFF with your take down in the comments (below)!
[Image via Dean Unglert/Instagram/Jason Tartick/Instagram/Chris Harrison/Instagram]
The post <i>Bachelor</i> Stars Reveal Salaries And WOW — That Is Way Lower Than We Would Have Guessed! appeared first on Perez Hilton.