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How much does the cast of '90 Day Fiance' make per episode? Inside the shockingly low payscale

While the '90 Day' franchise has multiple series, its stars aren't exactly cashing the big cheques

With Season 9 of '90 Day Fiance' wrapping up, it looks like most of the couples have made it out alive and happy...for the most part. This season saw each couple go through their fair share of ups and downs, from pranks to pregnancies and of course, money issues. After all, it wouldn't be a season of '90 Day Fiance' without a whole lot of drama.

Financial woes are a running theme for the cast of '90 Day Fiance' and with good reason. With only one person allowed to work, on account of their spouse's pending visa situation, it certainly puts a chaste amount of stress on the couple. Moreover, the K1 visa process itself is quite costly, as it includes medical, travel and lawyer fees. Keeping that in mind, having an additional income by being a reality star sounds like it would provide some sort of financial relief. But turns out, that is far from the truth.

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While TLC has quite the roster of shows, the stars on '90 Day Fiance' aren't the ones cashing in big cheques. If anything, online reports suggest that the show is notorious for underpaying its cast. As reported by InTouch, in May 2018, Chris Thieneman and his wife Nikki Cooper, who are friends of David Toborowsky and Annie Suwan, claimed that the network didn't pay them for filming.

To add to it, Radar Online reported that the stars themselves didn't make much, to begin with. “'Before the 90 Days' cast makes $500 to $1,000 per episode,” a source told Radar. “'90 Day Fiancé' pays their cast members $1,000 to $1,500 per episode.” They also claimed that '90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?' does pay better, but there isn't a significant difference. To add to it, the foreigner cast doesn't get paid at all. “They can’t even get paid because they have to wait for a work permit,” the source said. “It’s, of course, different if filming takes place in their country,” they added. However, there is the fact that the series itself has multiple spin-offs, allowing the stars a chance to appear in more than one series, depending on their storylines.

There is also the fact that some of the '90 Day' stars go on to have their own shows, just as Darcey and Stacey Silva and Chantel Everett and Pedro Jimeno. While their payscale for those individual shows remains unknown, it is certainly bound to be higher than what they were making as cast members of the '90 Day Fiance' franchise.

Tune in to '90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?' on Sunday, August 28, 2022 at 8 pm ET/PT on TLC and discovery+.