Josh Peck Reveals How Much Money He Made for ‘Drake & Josh’

During Josh Peck‘s latest interview, the actor brought out the pay stubs, revealing that he did not earn as much from Drake & Josh as his fans may expect. The How I Met Your Father star said the show was not a “golden parachute” for him or his family, adding that he and his mother lived a “very middle-class life” when he was making the Nickelodeon show. Peck, 35, added that there are “no residuals” for children’s television shows stars.

“I can only speak to my experience, but I think it’s quite public that if you were on a show like Two and a Half Men or Modern Family, and you were the kid on a massive network, syndicated show… The case could be made that you’d have enough money to last you for the rest of your life,” Peck began during the April 11 episode of Dear Media’s Trading Secrets podcast. However, Peck did not have the same experience as Modern Family child stars. It is a mistake to think Drake & Josh‘s success meant he was set for life, he said.

“The reality is that when we were making the show, we did 60 episodes, and we made about $15,000 an episode,” Peck told podcast host Jason Tartick, reports E! News.. “So, when all is said and done, we were sort of left after agents and managers and taxes.”

Peck estimated he earned about $450,000 over five years, or about $100,00 a year. While that is “certainly a great amount of money,” it was “not enough to set you up for life,” Peck said. “And a lot of it, we lived on, and I’m not gonna brag: My mom and I had a used BMW five series,” Peck explained. “We lived in a two-bedroom apartment with amenities… We lived a very middle-class life.”

After the show was over, Peck and his co-stars’ remaining money went to their lifestyles. He said there is “no residuals” from children’s television shows. “It was like we had 18 months of runway, you know,” he said. “It’s as though someone had lost their job.”

Peck and Drake Bell starred as stepbrothers on Drake & Josh from 2004 to 2007, with 56 episodes produced over four seasons. They also starred in the TV movies Drake & Josh Go Hollywood (2008) and Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008). Since the show ended, Bell and Peck are no longer friends, and their ongoing feud was revived last month when Peck spoke about their relationship on the BFFS with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards podcast.

The feud began when Bell publicly called out Peck for not inviting him to his wedding, but that seemed behind them when they hugged at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. However, Peck told Portnoy and Richards he was not happy about the situation because it put his wife, Paige O’Brien, into the spotlight. He also called Bell’s apology a “five-minute performance.” Later, Peck added, “Drake & Josh is something I’ll be synonymous with forever and I’m proud of it… I want to like the guy that my name is attached to forever but unfortunately, it just sort of worked out the way that it did.”

Bell’s wife Janet later took to her Instagram Story to respond. She called Peck a “total piece of s—” and accused him of lying. “Drake apologized to your wife because you asked him nicely [too]. We actually hung out after that. Multiple times,” Janet continued, reports JustJared. “We talked multiple times since then. You’re a f—ing liar. A f—ing liar, Josh.”