How Much Do The Vanderpump Rules Cast Members Make Per Episode?
Vanderpump Rules is on its eighth season and the show, originally a spin-off of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, is as annoyingly addictive as ever. With cast members including both Toms (Sandoval and Schwartz) and even Jax Taylor settling down and purchasing properties(?!) of their own, the OGs are clearly rolling in the dough.
Eight seasons of drama must pay well, but how much are these thirtysomething reality stars whose lives we can't stop watching actually earning for keeping our eyeballs glued to their every wild move? And is it enough to turn their backs on SUR and Lisa Vanderpump for good some day?
The Vanderpump Rules cast members are purchasing expensive homes
The show was first conceived as a warts-and-all look at the underbelly of La La Land, with Vanderpump telling The Hollywood Reporter, "Everybody who's waiting tables in Hollywood is a wannabe something or another. That's why it's interesting." On choosing the cast we've now grown to love, a Bravo executive explained, "As poor as they were, they were all attractive."
Indeed, longtime fans will remember Tom Sandoval's old apartment and how the microwave and air conditioner couldn't be used simultaneously, as one example of the kind of squalor these beautiful people once lived in. Nowadays, he and girlfriend Ariana Madix are in a $2 million home (via Reality Blurb), while Tom Schwartz and wife Katie Maloney-Schwartz are just minutes away in their own $1.9 millon pads (via Reality Blurb). Fellow cast members Jax Taylor and wife Brittany Cartwright also recently purchased a home in the neighborhood.
It's worth noting that as their fame has grown, so too have the amounts the Vanderpump Rules cast command for appearances. As Sandoval admitted to THR, "It starts as club appearances, and suddenly you're paid to post on social. A lot changes."
As Vanderpump Rules grows in popularity, so do the paychecks
Still, those Bravo checks certainly come in handy as the main cast of the show — the Toms, Katie Maloney-Schwartz, Kristen Doute, Scheana Shay, and Stassi Schroder — have reportedly been earning a whopping $25,000 per episode each since their contracts were renegotiated back in 2017 and 2018. That's a huge step up from the $10,000 they made on season 1. The cast earned $525,000 each for seasons 6 and 7 of the series, or possibly even $600,000 if they were also paid to appear on the three reunion episodes. If that sounds like a massive fee, it's nothing compared to how much Lisa Vanderpump makes per episode of Vanderpump Rules (hint: it's a lot).
It seems the core Pump Rules cast are here to stay too, as Sandoval and Madix revealed during a recent interview with Delish. When asked whether they'd ever considered quitting the show, Sandoval replied simply, "I have not," while Madix admitted she had but clarified, "I consider leaving a lot of things." She also joked, when put on the spot about stealing from her job, "SUR has stolen from me — my dignity."