If you're willing to sacrifice your dignity for a paycheck, Real Housewives isn't a bad gig. The first ladies of Bravo rake in big bucks to cause a ruckus and argue; in addition they get a massive platform for which to launch their products and tirelessly promote them. Of course, Bravo/NBC takes a cut of the profit but the ends justify the means, right?
RadarOnline decided to breakdown who earns what for the network. As to be expected the biggest earners are the biggest drama creators or have the most devoted fan following.
Teresa Giudice, whose family drama has catapulted Real Housewives of New Jersey to the top of the most-watched list for Bravo, earns an impressive $600,000 per season.
Teresa was able to renegotiate her contract and fought for a higher salary for season five, along with conditions, i.e. getting to add a friend or two to the cast. Rumor has it Teresa is by far the highest earning Jersey lady, beating out fellow veterans Caroline Manzo and Jacqueline Laurita. There's also rumors that Teresa is in talks to develop a cooking-lifestyle spinoff!
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Moving on, the only two Real Housewives of New York to survive the massive cast restructuring have been rewarded handsomely. LuAnn de Lesseps and Pinot Singer got big-time paybumps after they got resigned for the fifth season and raked in a whopping $500,000!
However, ratings allegedly weren't as high as Bravo hoped even with the addition of three new Housewives. Bravo is looking to add another girl or two for Season 6, which has not yet started officially filming. Other reports stipulate that LuAnn may leave the show despite her bootycall with a St. Barth's pirate being one of the biggest drama storylines of last season.
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Also earning a huge paycheck is OG of the OC (and the longest living Housewife in all the franchises), Vicki Gunvalson. Vicki who has spent seven years on Real Housewives of Orange County and recently re-signed for season 8 despite all the drama with Brooks Ayers earns $450,000. That's a massive chunk of change and much higher than her fellow castmates.
Alexis Bellino reportedly earned $150,000 for the two seasons she appeared on the show and nearly walked after Bravo refused to bump her paycheck, despite all the drama she caused in season 7. Eventually Alexis came to her senses and decided to come back for the 8th season.
NeNe Leakes is also earning big bucks. There's been reports that she is the highest earning housewife of all times landing a cool $1M per season for being Andy Cohen's favorite and for making Real Housewives of Atlanta the most popular of all the franchises. Last week's episode garnered over 3.5 M viewers.
NeNe has paralleled her success on Housewives into two network sitcoms, yet Radar claims she only makes $350,000 per Housewives season for her efforts as the catchphrase queen of RHOA. I personally have my doubts and really seriously think she earns much more, especially since the site reports she's earned over $4.5 million dollars from her RHOA related ventures over the past five years.
No word on how much the ladies of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills earn, but previous reports have stated Lisa Vanderpump earns $350,000 and Kyle Richards earns $200,000 with Kim Richards and Taylor Armstrong earning a measly $100,000.
[Photo Credit: BravoTV.com/Twitter]
TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THE HIGHEST EARNING HOUSEWIVES? DO YOU THINK NENE MAKES LESS THAN VICKI AND LUANN?
