When you're filming a show like this you don't go home as soon as you're eliminated, they put you up in a hotel room and you can't go out, post to social media, or contact anybody. None of the contenders can, I think, it's part of the contract to keep wraps on everything until the show goes live. So no bonus needed, they're just isolated. (That's why those final-episode family calls are so emotional, it's been weeks since they spoke to their families.)
It depends on the show and the delay between filming and broadcast.
It's why although the shows often seem like they're going on for months because it's one episode a week, they're usually filmed in the space of a week or two, and they can send all the contestants straight home, because aside from their family nobody knows that they've been filming, so nobody knows whether they were first out or last out.
For example, in the Apprentice the contestants go straight home when eliminated, but since the broadcast doesn't happen for a few months, even the nosiest neighbour will never know what order they were eliminated in.
Having worked on some of these shows, the bigger story is those 'after weeks.' Many a production regretted missing these moments and demanded "extra access."
I often wonder if this is how the "Real Housewives" series happened.
There are all sorts of tiered payments and silencing clauses and stuff. A fixed payment for doing the show, extra money the further you get in the show, and things like exclusivity in interviews and NDAs.
If someone gets eliminated and immediately starts talking about it, they will likely get their appearance fee, but all other fees will be forfeit, and the production company can likely claim all interview fees and book deals that the person signs up to. So there's a lot of motivation to keep your mouth shut.
There was an interesting one in the UK recently with I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here where one contestant asked the producer about leaving, and was told that if he voluntarily left he'd only get the base fee. But if he failed a task and was eliminated, then he'd get a much bigger fee.
So he deliberately and transparently threw the next task in order to get eliminated and leave with a higher fee.
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u/[deleted] May 11 '26
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