The funny thing with all of these reality shows is it’s really hard to imagine committing to publicly embarrassing yourself on national television…especially if there is no monetary compensation.
So I am always really curious to know if these stars get a pay check for their less than flattering performances. And I found this great little snippet on a reality TV forum where Southern Charm star Jennifer Snowden, 33 weighed in to answer some questions from fans.
So are Southern Charm cast stars paid to be on the show?
Jennifer answered the question about pay inadvertently by answering the question about whether or not she had slept with Thomas Ravenel. (Also an interesting nugget of intel).
“So glad you mentioned this!! Ok when Thomas said “she’s been in my bed a few times” – he wasn’t referring to he & I. My boyfriend at the time, Andre, was renting Thomas’s house on Church Street (furnished) so he was making a joke about that, not saying I had ever spent time with him in his bed. Because I definitely have not. That was made clear at the dinner but for editing purposes it was left out for obvious reasons.”
So here is the gem that gives us some insights into the behind the scenes shuffling that producers do to amplify their scandalous storylines.
Jennifer says,
“And I didn’t just show up to events: I was contacted by producers to be a cast member on the show. I have a contract & was paid. Not everyone is. So…being at any filming ‘event’ was because I was doing my “job” as a cast member, not crashing a party. But I understand how it looks that way when you’re not familiar with how reality shows work; until I was on the show I didn’t know how it worked either & boy is it a convoluted process!! For better or worse, I’ve not since been able to even watch reality shows & that’s about the only tv I enjoy.”
So I guess tonight when Snowden goes to Patricia’s flamingo party to confront T-Rav she was “just doing her job”.
Obviously it means producers really wanted to create the illusion that T-Rav had slept with Snowden. I don’t know why since there is NO shortage of drama swirling around T-Rav! Why did Bravo feel they had to make some up?
I guess because they wanted a face to attach to the scandal.
Interestingly this revelation lends credence to allegations that the show may be a tad bit scripted. In fact remember in season 1 when it came out that Jenna King’s role on the show was a sham?
Anyhow looks like Southern Charm producers wanted to give Snowden a bigger role on season 3 because she is at the center of a lot of drama as a result of her friendship with Kathryn Dennis….which makes me wonder if her friendship with Kathryn is genuine or part of her “job”.
This also begs the question ‘who is NOT paid?’ And given last Monday’s episode showing Landon Clements begging her wealthy father for some money I have to suspect that Landon is one of the unlucky ones who does not get a paycheck.
If I had to guess I would say that Ravenel definitely gets a nice check as does Whitney Sudler Smith given that he is a producer. I also suspect Cameran Eubanks is paid, or at least was paid in the beginning because she was a sort of big D-Lister (from Real World) that could draw viewers.
As far as Shep Rose and Craig Conover? I don’t know. Probably not Craig since Craig is just a working class boy from Dagsboro Delaware with no connection to Charleston royalty and he is a major status seeker who would do the show for nothing..and since he had to move back in with his parents after last season wrapped and he lost his job.
I think Shep would do it for nothing because he is so laid back and so wealthy he doesn’t need the cash, but he also has a nice pedigree for the show.
Source: Bravo
How bout Kathryn Dennis? Her baby daddy Thomas Ravenel revealed that Kathryn is paid a 6 figure salary for being on the show…not bad considering T-Rav pays her paying $3,100 a month for rent on top of that.
What do you think?
Doesn’t matter who earns what or is worth whatever… We enjoy watching because it’s one of those mindless; fun-to-watch shows that ends up to be harmless as long as the kids are loved and well taken care of…
The main characters all get paid. It’s standard to pay all the contract players. The ones that appear on the opening credits get usually 10k/ episode for the first season. Whitney probably got more than twice that because he is also producer. Some can negotiate for more. For example, Cameron because she already has some recognition probably got more than 10k. And if the show is picked up for subsequent seasons they can negotiate for more per episode. So by the 4th season they can do maybe 25+ Per episode, depending on the character and the show’s popularity. Day players like cooper and Jon the butler get less per episode. Some times substantially less, as low as a few hundred per episode.
thank you. Yes I think you are probably right. It was just interesting that Snowden makes a point to say “not everyone is paid” on the show. I’m still super curious about that…like did producers lie to her so she’d sign on?
Or is it true. I actually could see Craig doing the show for free because he is such a status seeker, but who knows exactly what the contracts say.
Also Kathryn Dennis…I could see her not being paid because the only reason she got a part on the show was because she got knocked up by T-Rav and given that she is close w/ Snowden maybe thats why JS said that.
I am very curious if anyone inside the SC show can tell us.
@Christine Lo, you sound so naive by thinking anyone is working for free but SC did an excellent job of trying to clarify it for you. Reality TV or not, it’s not called Show Business because people work for free. As SC mentioned, people who are more recognizable usually get paid more, even though they don’t need the money, but nobody on TV works (yes it is a job when money is involved) for free, on screen talent or behind the scenes.