14 DAY TRIAL // Coming to show that you don’t need critics’ approval to make big money, Honey Boo Boo Child and her family are officially the next big thing in reality television. TLC has just upped the salaries of each member – and they didn’t even have to ask for it.
TMZ has all the figures.
Alana Thompson, Honey Boo Boo by her stage name, and her family earned an estimated $5,000-$7,000 (€3,876-€5,420) per episode, TMZ reports.
Actually, this is almost double from what previous reports were saying they were making for each episode – not including the small location fee TLC was paying them for permission to shoot in their home.
Even so, TLC bosses deemed the family was being paid less than they were worth, so all got an unexpected and, believe it or not, unsolicited pay raise.
“We're told after the second episode it was apparent to TLC they had a big hit on their hands, so network honchos approached the family and told them they were boosting their salary,” TMZ reports.
“Our sources would not be specific... but they say the increase gave them somewhere between $15,000 [€11,616] and $20,000 [€15507] an episode,” the same media outlet says.
That’s not all: showering the family with the attention only a successful reality star can dream of, the network also offered to cover various other expenses.
Sugar Bear, the head of the family, for instance, got a bodyguard / driver to accompany him all over the place after the ATV accident.
TLC even offered to move the family into a new, bigger house, but June Shannon, Alana’s mother, refused, saying she was too involved in the community there to just pack up and leave.
The network isn’t the only one looking to get June out of the house and around the country, the same report goes on to argue.
“We're told agents have been ‘swarming’ around the family, trying to sign them but June has turned them away. She says she doesn't want to make money the sole object of the show and she's worried if she signs with an agent that person will talk her into making various appearances that will take her away from her family,” TMZ says.