Kaitlyn Bristowe Shares 'Dancing With the Stars' and 'Bachelorette' Salary Secrets
The reality star is spilling all the tea!
Kaitlyn Bristowe is one of the few individuals who has appeared on both The Bachelorette and Dancing With the Stars. Back in April, the reality star appeared on her then-fiancé Jason Tartick's podcast, Trading Secrets, during which she opened up about appearing on both of those shows, according to Entertainment Tonight. It should be noted that Bristowe opened up about the secrets of the trade on Tartick's podcast months before they ultimately announced their breakup and the end of their engagement.
Bristowe first appeared on Season 19 of The Bachelor in 2015 before appearing as the titular Bachelorette for Season 11. She then went on to win the 29th season of Dancing With the Stars. After appearing on the 19th season of The Bachelor, Bristowe was asked to be the next Bachelorette. In between those two seasons, the reality star was apparently living off of $1,500 that ABC gave her as she was negotiating her Bachelorette salary. She explained, in regard to the salary that ABC offered her for a lead role on the dating series, "I think they offered me $40,000. You'd think I'd be like, 'Jackpot! Sign me up!'" Bristowe explained that she then sought out help from an entertainment lawyer, which her stepdad helped her pay "an upfront retainer of five grand."
"He changed a lot and negotiated my contract big time for me," she said. "One of the executive producers said to me, 'You got an entertainment lawyer, and you're asking for this amount of money? I'm sorry. I thought this is about love for you.' F**k off! It's about love and money, OK? They go hand in hand for me right now." As fans will recall, Bristowe was one of two former Bachelor contestants who was asked to be the Bachelorette that season along with Britt Nilsson. The suitors chose their lead for the season in the premiere, which ended up being Bristowe. Since they did things differently that season, Bristowe wanted to be sure that she was paid accordingly.
"Because they said you're going against Britt, I was like, 'I'm not doing it.' And then I said, 'I'll only do it if you paid me as much as you paid Chris Soules.' I said I wanted to make the same as he did," she explained. Even though Bristowe was "worried" that she would lose the gig to Nilsson, she noted that she "also negotiated that if it was her, I still got money." Fans know that Bristowe's reality TV journey didn't end with The Bachelorette.
Years later, she appeared on Season 29 of Dancing With the Stars. Bristowe made it to the very end of the season and walked away with the Mirrorball Trophy. As a result, she was paid a good amount for remaining in the competition for so long. Bristowe said, "You get a bonus every week that you make it. The final four are in the final episode, they all get paid the same... But your signing bonus, I think you can negotiate a bit, like, to sign to say you're going on the show."