Getty Kristen Doute
Kristen Doute shared some details about the pay on “Vanderpump Rules” and revealed that in the first season of the show, the cast was barely making any money, and they were pretty “broke” by season 2 and season 3.
She made the comments during an appearance on the “Good Guys” podcast on May 29, revealing that around season 2 and season 3 of “Vanderpump Rules,” they were “The most broke we’ve ever been because then all of a sudden we couldn’t really work those shifts [at SUR] and we weren’t making, you know a ton of money on the show by any means.”
Doute was asked how much they were making at the time and she said they weren’t paid by episodes but rather given “a little chunk for the whole year, essentially.” The co-hosts asked if it was less than $100,000 and she laughed. “Like way [less],” she shared. “Season 1 we made 10 [grand]. It was actually 5 and then they added an additional 5.” Doute also confirmed that they didn’t receive residual pay either.
Doute then revealed that the cast started getting paid more around season 4 and season 5, when they were paid per episode instead. “And I think that’s because Bravo started ordering more episodes,” she revealed. “And we still film for the same period of time roughly but if the content is there, they’re gonna order more episodes… It’s all about the content, how much you wanna give, how much story can you give.”
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Kristen Doute Spoke About How It Was Filming ‘Vanderpump Rules’ When the Show Became Popular
During her podcast appearance, Doute spoke about when the cast started realizing that the show was becoming very popular. “When season 2 was airing, season 3 was airing and we were actually still working at SUR,” she shared.
“We realized things were bigger around like season 2 airing, season 3, because we were still working at SUR and it became really difficult to actually wait tables,” she added. “Because we’re serving alcohol, people get very brave, the customers, and now they’re like giving advice and they’re telling us like either we’re shitty people, we shouldn’t be friends with this person, we should be friends with this person, and I’m like, do you want like olives with that martini?”
Doute also explained that at the beginning of each season, the producers will have a meeting with the cast and ask them what’s going on, what they missed in the off-season, and the relationship details of each person. “Every scene we film is probably 2 hours long,” she added. “But as you can see when you watch it, maybe you get 2 minutes, 5 minutes, sometimes not at all, sometimes scenes don’t even air.”
Kristen Doute Returned Briefly to ‘Vanderpump Rules’ After the ‘Scandoval’ to Support Ariana Madix
Doute made her return to Bravo after news of the “Scandoval” broke as her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval was revealed to have cheated on Ariana Madix, who has by now become Doute’s good friend. The “Vanderpump Rules” producers filmed an extra episode for the season showing the fallout of the couple’s split and Sandoval’s affair with Raquel Leviss.
During the episode, viewers saw Doute visit Madix and bring some healing crystals to perform a cleansing ritual for Madix. Doute also appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” after news of the scandal broke to share her thoughts on the whole situation.
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