How Much Do Celebs Make on 'Dancing With the Stars'?

By Rob Shuter Posted May 4th 2011 10:01PM

'Dancing With the Stars' is one of the more profitable shows on TV, making hundreds of millions each season through ad revenue, but, how much of that bounty is going to the celebrity contestants?

"When you sign up, every contestant gets $150,000 for 6 weeks rehearsals and the first two shows," an insider with knowledge of the arrangement tells me. "Then every week you survive you make an extra $10,000 then $20,000 then $30,000 and so on, so the winner takes home $350,000."

Which sounds like a huge amount of money, but not to one past contestant, who complained to me this week about 12-hour work days and "ridiculous" amounts of "stress and strain" on the body.

"The show doesn't pay for massages or anything else," the former contestant, who is not part of the current cast, alleges. "The amount of physical stress and strain they put your body through, rehearsing six days a week, eight hours a day, is ridiculous."

My source said "I have never worked so hard in my life" and described one particularly busy performance day: "Our call time was 6:00 AM and we were rehearsing with the band by 8 and then live on the dance floor that evening. That's a 12-hour day."

And although I agree it doesn't feel right that the cast of 'The Jersey Shore' earn far more than Kirstie Alley and crew, I say welcome to the real world, where we pay for own massages too!

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Tags: Dancing With the Stars