When it comes to reality television shows, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! takes the cake for most outlandish in terms of what contestants are made to endure to “win.”
From consuming animal organs to crawling through or having gross concoctions dumped on you, to all manners of scary animal encounters, it’s not a show to sign up for if you are of the faint of heart.
WATCH NOW: I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! Australia 2024 Teaser Trailer.
Over the years 136 celebrities have signed up for the challenge in the hopes of being crowned King or Queen of the Jungle which would grant them $100,000 in prize money to donate to a charity of their choice.
While in an ideal world, it would be lovely if the celebrities signed up from the goodness of their hearts to raise awareness for and funds for a good cause, all contestants do actually take home a healthy pay packet to appear on the show.
And given they are made to endure all manners of insanity and forgo their creature comforts for the sake of our entertainment, we don’t blame them!
The motley crew of celebrity contestants come from all walks of life and varying levels of fame, which means that they’re each receiving considerably different salaries to appear in the show.
Most recently, season two winner Brendan ‘Fev’ Fevola revealed on his breakfast radio show Fifi, Fev & Nick that he got paid “$250,000 upfront” and then $5,000 per episode after the first two weeks in 2016.
“So you’d lay there on a Sunday and you’d think, ‘There’s another seven days, there’s $35,000, boom. Hopefully, they don’t have an eviction during the week.”
In 2023, Nick ‘Honey’ Badger Cummins reportedly took home between $250,000 and $300,000 according to an insider source who spoke with Yahoo Lifestyle, just falling short of the $500,000 he was rumoured to be paid for his infamous stint on The Bachelor in 2018.
Aussie TV legend Kerri-Anne Kennerley took home an alleged $180,000 to appear in the jungle that same year, and considering she was only there for four days after dramatically quitting that’s not too shabby!
The remaining stars from that season took home between $90,000 and $35,000.
A year earlier, Network 10 was rumoured to have paid UK import Joey Essex “upwards of $400,000” to secure the Brit and his “star power.”
And in 2017, American actor Tom Arnold was paid $425,000 USD for his short-lived stint on the show, at least according to news.com.au.
In 2021, it was celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge who was reportedly paid the most at $150,000, but these numbers still pale in comparison to the two million dollars that the late Shane Warne was offered to appear on the show in 2016.
RELATED || Here’s where I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Australia is really filmed
“I scared them off with a figure of two million bucks or nothing,” Shane later penned in his memoir No Spin.
While that number initially was declined, the network came back to him two years later.
“[My manager] rang to say we’ve got $2 million! Oh sh*t! When you throw a big number out there, you’re not really expecting to get it,” Shane revealed.
How much are the contestants on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Australia 2024 being paid?
Speaking with Pedestrian, former Love Island star Callum Hole confirmed he was being paid “good money” that was “a lot more than Love Island.”
Fellow fan favourite Skye Wheatley indicated her pay wasn’t as exciting, revealing she could “make more money being at home” where her full-time job is as an influencer.
“I do it for free,” she added. “It’s for charity, babes, who gives a f**k about the money. I love that it can be for charity and I love the opportunity. So I’m very grateful.”
RELATED || Is I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Australia real or fake?
As for MasterChef alumn Khanh Ong, after turning down I’m A Celeb “about four times,” this year he was offered “a considerable amount more” to take part.
The publication also revealed that one of this year’s celebrities was paid $90,000, conditional on lasting 90 days in the jungle, and would receive an extra $5,500 for every day after that.
