How the heck can you make a career out of the "Real World"?!

• Just how much do people make on television? I'm not talking about the big-time tv stars with well-publicized contracts such as network stars like Friends, Oprah, Letterman, Katie Couric, etc., or the many people who get sitcom/series deals on major networks where we can guesstimate how much they are earning to the right order of magnitude. No, I'm asking about all the "little people" who fill my teevee screen. (much more inside) I find this question fascinating because, as a fairly devoted couch potato, I see plenty of TV where I can't help but wonder just how cheaply the dignity or pride of an individual has been bought. :) Specific individuals would be nice as methods of comparison to give a ballpark estimate. I'd prefer a general resource if one exists to find out what kind of money people make on the considerably- less- than- huge television shows, of all kinds. For example: before he became filthy rich hosting the highly rated "ABC/Disney Extreme Home Makeover Sears Commercial" with all his tie-in marketing dollars to boot, Ty Pennington was a lowly goofball carpenter on "Trading Spaces". So: how much do the various carpenters and designers and on-camera personalities earn from their regular or in some cases only occasional appearances on the many cable home improvement shows? Or the Queer Eye fab five- what are people like that banking from their 15-20 episodes a year while the show was hot and now... not so hot? Or other stars of minor cable shows, like hosts of regular programs on TLC, Bravo, HGTV, G4TV, VH1, Spike, etc, etc? Or sitcoms/dramas on north american cable that aren't getting boffo ratings and big-time contracts, like Ricky and Julian on Trailer Park Boys- that show's fantastic, but have they even been able to quit their day jobs in Nova Scotiaville after five seasons of TPB? We know Jon Stewart makes a couple of million for TDS, and that Chapelle had a huge contract, but how about people like the hosts of various short-lived cheesy game shows/reality shows like "Celebrity Fit or Fat" or "Real World/Road Rules Challenge"? Or for that matter, how about the parade of unemployable famewhores and way-past-their-sell-date barely famous types that are veterans of Viacom "reality" programming? I keep seeing the same people show up, and wonder if they actually make enough money from these shows each year to have it be their annual income, since they clearly aren't holding down real jobs. Are these old Real World cast members making that much from their recurring MTV reality stints that it's worth it, or do they all just take a chance at winning the big prize? When Steve-O gets his ass bit by a crocodile, or Bam Margera harasses his parents- what is MTV paying them for this privilege? Or take when some D-list celebrity like Peter Brady or Hulk Hogan or Kathy Griffin opens up their life to the tv cameras in the post-Osbournes era: how much are they getting paid to be shown in all their stupidity and venality VH1 or MTV2 or E! TV? How about when non-famous working folks from plastic surgeons and hairdressers to auto mechanics and bail bondsmen that have tv crews invade their home and work for a season- what do you get paid to have your life filmed for disposable tv entertainment? I understand that people appearing on tv talk shows, or in competitive reality are required to be paid at minimum something like $540 a day, so that when you see the minor comic talking heads on "Best Week Ever", they probably are getting a small but tidy little sum for a single day's work in a studio making pithy or snarky comments. But those who get "lucky" enough to be recurring roles/appearances such as the examples above... just how much (or in some cases, how little) are these people earning?!

• Answer:

  Each member of the fab five made only $3k / episode during the first season of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Cnn has an http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/31/television.queer.reut/ on the topic.