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If you had to live on a diet of rice and beans for weeks with no shower, no toothbrush and no electricity, you’d hope you’d be getting paid to do so.
Well it turns out that the contestants on Survivor are far from rolling in it. In fact, former contestants have spilled just how little they get paid.
In a tell-all with Mamamia in 2019, former Survivor contestants Lee Carseldine, El Rowland and Matt Tarrant revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets, including how much the contestants get paid.
And unlike the $150 allowance Married At First Sight contestants receive, the Survivors get a fair bit less.
“We only get paid $90 a day,” Lee explained. “So apart from trying to win it (and take home $500K) you aren’t doing it for the money. It’s a whole lot of hurt for not a lot gained if you don’t win.
“You’re basically being paid less than $100 to be wet, cold and hungry.”
WATCH: Survivor power couple Lee and El’s love story. Post continues after video…
Of course, if you are crowned the Sole Survivor, the money situation changes quite dramatically.
Ex-Olympian Shane Gould took home the crown for the 2018 season of Australian Survivor: Champions versus Contenders and pocketed a tidy half a million dollars.
But when the swimmer was asked what she’d do with her winnings, she answered in a very mature way.
“Yeah that’s sort of the bonus and yeah I just half to be careful and get some good advice and spend it wisely!” she told TV WEEK.
“I want it mostly to free me up to go and do good work in drowning prevention, and things with people who are scared of the water. So I can go and do projects that help people.”
Shane Gould earned herself $500,000 after winning Survivor. (Credit: Network Ten)
Jericho Malabonga won in 2017 and he told Now To Love that he put his winnings to good use, revealing “I bought a house!”
Of course we’d all like a nice half a million dollars more in our bank accounts, but for some competitors, that money is a lot more significant.
People’s Champion and King of the Jungle Luke Toki opened up about his heartbreaking family story on the show where he revealed that while both of his sons have autism, his young daughter born just six weeks before his Survivor stint was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
WATCH: Survivor‘s Luke Toki opens up about his family. Post continues after video…
”Being a father to me means everything,” he revealed on the show. “I haven’t succeeded in sport or whatever but my boys, daughter and wife that’s obviously what I treasure the most.
“If I win $500,000 it would be life-changing for my family. It’ll give my kids a future that I want to give them so that’s why I’m doing it.”
While Luke didn’t end up being crowned Sole Survivor in 2019 – that honour went to actress Pia Miranda – his story resonated so much with the show’s fans that they rallied together to create a GoFundMe campaign for him that raised $500,000. Yep, that’s the same amount as the Survivor prize money.
