Salary

JILTED ARIANA MADIX IS MAKING THE MOST OF IT

We don’t watch Vanderpump Rules, but a lot of people do, so we want to share this latest tidbit. Our reality show source says that Ariana Madix (she was the one who got cheated on) is asking for a HUGE salary increase if Bravo wants her back next season. Ariana wants NOTHING to do with her ex, Tom Sandoval and his new flame, Raquel Leviss, and the only way she will share screen time with them is if producers show her the money. She knows producers are delighted with all the publicity the cheating scandal brought the show, and they want her back. Ariana is asking for the SAME amount Lisa Vanderpump makes per episode, (no, we don’t know the exact amount but it’s substantially more than anyone else on the show.) Ariana’s career, aside from reality TV, is taking off – she just filmed a made-for-TV movie, and is slated to appear on Dancing With the Stars – so unless the offer is too good to pass up, she’s ready to walk!

FRIENDS REUNION: SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR

Seems like the cast of Friends has been dropping hints about their upcoming reunion for YEARS now – they finally agreed to do it and be the big draw when HBO Max launches its streaming service in May. The reunion was scheduled to film on March 23 – 24 on the show’s original Warner Bros set, BUT coronavirus shut them down. Bad news for HBO Max’s debut, which will go on with Friends reruns instead. The reunion WILL be rescheduled and cast members definitely are up for it – they’re getting paid almost 3 million each for the special– remember, during the last season of Friends they each earned a historic million dollars an episode.
Photo: NBC

MICHELLE WILLIAMS FEELS BETTER TODAY

Overnight the Most Hated Man in Hollywood has redeemed himself! (Somewhat) Mark Wahlberg proved how he earned that Forbes title Most Overpaid Actor. Little did he know when he pocketed 1.5 million for reshoots for All the Money in the World that the paycheck would come back to haunt him. The movie’s star Michelle Williams did the reshoots for less than $1000 and the director assumed that everyone volunteered to work the reshoots free. When the news leaked that Wahlberg (whose contribution to the movie is debatable) was SO overpaid – both he, and the talent agency representing BOTH Mark and Michelle, looked REALLY BAD. Frightened lawyers announced today that Mark is donating his $1.5 million to the Time’s Up fund in Michelle Williams’ name and the talent agency is donating half a million in her name. Smart move.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

BIG BANG THEORY CAST MEMBERS ACTUALLY LIKE EACH OTHER!

We are SO impressed with The Big Bang Theory cast taking a pay cut so the two most recently added members can get a raise! This NEVER happens in Hollywood. Agents generally step in to make impossible demands and turn everyone against each other. Of course this series is a gold mine – it’s made a billion dollars world-wide, but that doesn’t stop leading characters from wanting MORE. Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg each agreed to cut their pay $100,000 a week so Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch can get a raise of $250,000 each. No surprise that this is a super-nice cast – last year Josh Brener, who was on the show for 3 years, found our runaway Bedlington Terrier trotting down the street and went out of his way to call and deliver Elvis back to our house. He said “I‘d like to have kept him but I already have too many dogs!”

JERSEY SHORE: THEY GOT WHAT THEY WANTED

Frankly, we are STAGGERED by the pay raises the Jersey Shore cast got for season 4. After considerable negotiation, all contracts have been renewed and, according to Eonline, the Jerseyites are getting a hundred thousand dollars each per episode! (Last season they took home $30,000 apiece.) Notoriously frugal MTV is forking over THAT much for their darlings to party and socialize in Florence, Italy. How lucky can you get? Of course, they do have to put up with Sammi and Ronnie’s inane bickering….

HOWARD STERN DOESN’T WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW HE GOT A 100 MILLION DOLLAR SALARY CUT

We were a bit turned off by Howard Stern’s tirade on his Sirius radio show because someone had leaked that he had taken a pay cut. Apparently he lambasted the deal-makers at Sirius. (We heard this second hand because we don’t subscribe to Sirius.) Anyway, Howard was apoplectic at the idea of people thinking he accepted LESS than his contract five years ago (before the recession) for 500 million dollars. Analysts at The Hollywood Reporter say Howard with take home the same paycheck but lose the stock portion of his compensation, resulting in a salary of about 400 million for the next five years. Of course he might work less than his current four days a week – sure to upset his fans. Somehow we liked the OLD Howard better – when we could afford to listen to him and his income hadn’t moved into the stratosphere.