What does the cast of Before the 90 Days get paid? Did Rosemarie get compensated for being on the show?
TLC’s 90 Day Fiance and spinoffs like Before the 90 Days draw in millions of viewers. Sometimes the people featured on these reality shows can spin this exposure into lucrative and longterm careers. Other times, they fade into virtual obscurity. No matter how the dice rolls for people who choose to participate in these types of shows, they are offering up a huge part of their lives for the entertainment of millions and generating lots of advertising income for the network and production company. It’s only fair that they should be compensated for their participation. How much do they make? Do foreign participants like Rosemarie Vega get a paycheck too?
How much does 90 Day Fiance and Before the 90 Days pay?
In 2017 Starcasm reported that Chris Thieneman and his wife Nikki, who appeared on the show as friends to castmember Chris Thieneman, confirmed that David received $1,000 per episode to be on the show.
A 2018 report by RadarOnline claimed that castmembers of 90 Day Fiance received “no more than $1,500 per episode,” and Before the 90 Days participants only receive “$500 to $1,000” per episode. This is not that much cash considering the advertising revenue these shows generate from millions of viewers on TV and streaming online.
To further complicate matters, each couple only gets one paycheck. The U.S. residents receive the payment, and it’s up to them to pay the international castmember. With couples that stay together, this arrangement seems fair, but for a couple like Ed and Rosemarie, who are not on good terms, it leaves Ed with all the power over the payday for exposing their lives to millions of people.
Is Rosemarie getting paid for being on the show?
Rosemarie is adding some sugar to her sour experience with Ed Brown by building a large social media presence. She started a YouTube channel that has over 250,000 subscribers despite only have two vlogs up, and her Instagram account is even more impressive with over 400,000 followers. This type of influence can lead to better financial security for her and her son Prince. However, it’s unclear if she’s received any direct compensation for being on the show. In fact, it’s more likely that she’s not.
She hasn’t straight out said that Ed, who has filed for bankruptcy twice, did not share the TLC paycheck with her, but she did blast him in a now-deleted Instagram video for not giving her anything besides lingerie. Even that gift was given with an admonishment for her to brush her teeth more frequently. “I got you a cute toothbrush because your breath is not pretty,” Ed clumsily told a woman he was supposedly planning on marrying.
““”Ed, how dare you make me embarrassed in front of a million people!” Rosemarie starts off in her impassioned video. “People, don’t believe him. He doesn’t really care about me. He just wants to be famous, that’s why he’s doing that. He did not even give me any gifts except bra and panties. All the words out of his mouth are lies. It’s not at all true. He did not care about me, especially my son. I always talk about you. You are always liar. You are a liar. It’s fake. All this is lies.”
On April 30, Rosemarie also took to Facebook to slam Ed. In this post, she accused him of using her for fame and pointed out that any expenses shown on camera were paid for by the show.
These aren’ the only times Rosemarie has given Ed a read. She rallied the Before the 90 Days audience by telling Ed off after he revealed to her that he didn’t want to have kids. This was the last straw for Rosemarie, who desperately wants to have another child, and had already put up with so much from him. She called him out for not being honest about his height before she met him, for making her take an STD test, and for gifting her mouthwash as a passive-aggressive callout about her breath. Rosemaries has a stomach ulcer that affects her breath and felt embarrassed about having her breath pointed out on television. She didn’t mention it during this scene, but Ed also pointed out that he didn’t like that she had not shaved her legs.
“I’m disappointed because you always embarrassed me,” Rose assertedly told Ed. “I think you don’t love me. I’m done.”
This was the almost unanimous audience reaction when Rosemarie delivered those lines
Ed’s also currently under fire because an ex-coworker has come out about having been sexually harassed and assaulted by him in the past.
Amelia Cunningham is a Starcasm writer and editor @AmeliaStarcasm
