5 reality TV stars talk how much they got paid to be on shows like Big Brother, Love Island and The Traitors

Ryan Fitzy Fitzgerald, who was one of the original contestants on Big Brother back in 2004, has said he got paid a daily allowance when he took part in the Aussie version of the show.

While speaking on his Nova Breakfast Show on Tuesday (September 17), he said: “A lot of people thought that we got paid a motza when we were on Big Brother. It was $100 (around £75) a day.”

He said, however, that the amount he got paid didn’t put him off as he didn’t really have any expenses during his reality show stint. He told the Daily Mail: “This is the thing. I was in there for three months and you're not spending that money on anything so it's a long time. It's a good little whack when you get out.”

Fitzgerald, who finished fourth on the show's fourth season behind winner Trevor Butler and runners-up Bree Amer and Paul Dyer, also said that the contestants were given other perks to boost their low paychecks.

In the Daily Mail interview, he said: “Back in 2004 when I was on Big Brother, I mean I finished fourth, but I left the show with a Mitsubishi Lancer, a trip to New Caledonia, I think I got a TAG Heuer watch, which I've got somewhere around here.”

Elsewhere fellow Big Brother contestant Nadia Almada, who appeared on the UK version in the same year as Fitzgerald but went on to win, has also been speaking about how much she got paid.

Appearing on BBC’s What Happens When . . . You Win A Reality Show Almada, who won the fifth UK series, claimed: “It was the best series thus far and it was the least amount of prize money.” She added: “Figure than one out.” She explained, however, that money was deducted from the prize pot if the house mates “misbehaved” and admitted she “maybe was an accomplice or a culprit”.

Almada went on to admit that she had been £20,000 in debt before entering the famous Big Brother House, so the first thing she did when she left was to clear her debt. But, she was still left with “forty something grand”. The self-confessed “big spender” said: “I went crazy with wanting to buy things and I didn’t necessarily need it.”

In the same BBC programme, Race Across the World 2024 winner Alfie Watts, aged 20, said that he and his friend Owen Wood shared a £20,000 prize fund - but he doesn’t have any of his half left now. He explained: “It’s completely gone on travelling” and said he’s been to 28 different countries which he became the youngest ever winner of Race Across the World.

Love Island 2022 winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu was also interviewed for What Happens When . . . You Win A Reality Show. She shared £50,000 with her now ex-partner Davide Sanclimenti. “The transaction of the £25,000 going in your account happens after two nights. I’d never had that much in my account and, for me, I didn’t want to touch it,” she said. She also revealed she has not spent the money, two years after her dating show win. She added that she is saving the money because it’s a “memory” - but has since added more to the prize pot.

Aaron Evans, winner of the first series of The Traitors UK in 2022, also revealed more details of his £33,000 winnings on the BBC documentary. He said he didn’t get paid immediately after winning the show, and instead got half of his winnings a month after the show finishes.

He went on: “I remember keeping it in my bank account for a while and then I went out for a couple of meals and I was like ‘I can’t spend any of this money’ so I ended up sending that to my mum.” The second half of the money was paid to him the following month, and while he said he spent “a bit” of that too he also said the “majority” went to his mum.

What Happens When . . . You Win A Reality Show is available now on BBC iPlayer.