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Cast members on 90 Day Fiancé put it all out there, warts and all. The popular TLC show (and its many spinoffs) follows people who are trying to make relationships with a person from another country work, despite huge distances and immigration challenges. 

90 Day participants let the show’s cameras document the good and the bad of their relationships, opening themselves up for plenty of criticism from viewers. So, what do they get in exchange for baring it all? Not a lot, several past cast members have said. Being on 90 Day Fiancé doesn’t necessarily come with a huge salary. 

‘90 Day Fiancé’ stars are ‘underpaid,’ one claims

Exactly how much are 90 Day participants paid for being on the show? According to several people, it’s around $1,000 an episode. 

“We only got $1,000 per episode we were featured in,” Deavan Clegg revealed in an August 2023 Instagram Story, In Touch reported. “We paid all travel costs, parking (when filming) food most days. Sometimes we would be reimbursed for certain things like clothing.” 

Clegg appeared on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 1 with her then-husband Jihoon Lee in 2019. She said she was “severely underpaid” and after unreimbursed expenses was “close to breaking even.” Clegg also said that producers discouraged her from doing promotional work while on the show, including her monetized YouTube channel. The couple was also paid $1,500 for appearing on the 90 Day tell-all. 

Nikki Cooper, a friend of former 90 Day Fiancé cast member David Toborowsky, also mentioned the $1,000-per-episode figure in a comment on Facebook back in 2018, Reality Blurb reported. That’s on the low end of compensation for reality TV personalities, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times on efforts to improve working conditions in unscripted television. Established stars of shows like Vanderpump Rules and Teen Mom can make six figures per season. 

Some ‘90 Day’ cast members might not be paid at all 

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While some 90 Day stars reportedly make arond $1,000 per episode, others might not be making anything at all. Miona Bell, who is from Serbia and appeared on season 9 with Jibri Bell, said in 2022 that she “never got $1 from [her] presence on TV” (via Monsters and Critics). That’s because the show reportedly does not pay foreign spouses until they have work authorization in the U.S. 

“When the foreigner is in the U.S., the foreigner doesn’t get paid until after they get the work permit,” Danielle Mullins from season 2 said during an appearance on the Domenick Nati Show in 2020 (via YouTube). However, if the show films in another country, the non-American partner will be paid, she said. 

Danielle was vague about how much exactly she was paid for 90 Day Fiancé but said it was in the neighborhood of $10,000 for the entire season. Half the money was paid upfront, and the other half after the show aired in order to keep people from breaking NDAs. 

In other words, going on 90 Day Fiancé hardly results quit your job money, especially if a cast member isn’t asked back for future seasons.   

“I’ve always kept my job,” Danielle said. “You can’t live on not knowing if you’re going to be filming again.” 

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