No Dough in Dancing Show
9th April, 2007 Dancing with the Stars' celebrity contestants will get another shot of fame as they sweep their partners - and record audiences - off their feet. But the celebs would not be getting a fortune for starring in the hit reality TV series. A Dancing with the Stars insider told Sunday News that while the likes of Paul Holmes, Frank Bunce and April Ieremia have been spending hours learning to foxtrot and rumba for the latest show, they had been earning as little as $12.50 an hour. That compared with overseas contestants, who could earn up to $345,000 a series. "It's like a fulltime job - these guys are putting in eight hours a day five days a week," the source said. "They're used to earning good money but what they're getting at the moment doesn't even cover childcare." The celebrities, partnered with professional dancers, were put through six gruelling weeks of training before competing in the knockout competition. While DWTS attracted one million viewers for each of its previous two finals, the source revealed the stars got just $500 a week for rehearsals before receiving $3000 for each show they survived. While the pay scale was similar in Australia, contestants on the other side of the Tasman were believed to get a signing-on fee of more than $50,000. The UK series reportedly paid its celebs more than $275,000 a series, while Paul McCartney's former wife, Heather Mills, was said to have been paid $345,000 for appearing in the US version of the show.. Last year's most talked about contestant Rodney Hide, left, was unwilling to comment on the New Zealand show's pay rates. He admitted it was like taking on a fulltime job. "I was putting in every spare hour I had and then some," the ACT leader told Sunday News. "And once the show started it became total because you had to learn at least a dance a week -it's a huge commitment." A DWTS spokesman said: "The fees are a private matter between the production and each star." The third series of the hit show begins on TV One on Tuesday and is expected to run for eight weeks. Source: Stuff.co.nz Copyright © Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2007. All rights reserved. |
