Jon and Kate: How Much Money Is at Stake
The Gosselins make up to $75,000 per episode on their TLC hit, Jon & Kate Plus 8, for a 20-episode season — and that’s not even counting all their freebies!
As the Los Angeles Times reports that TLC is scrambling to find a way to revise the May 25 season premiere given the latest news on the couple, the delicate balancing act of how to incorporate reality into a heavily produced “reality” show is in the balance.
For the Gosselin clan, it’s not just their show — but their lifestyle — that hang in the balance.
Kate, who grew up in a trailer park and didn’t go on her first airplane ride until her honeymoon to Disney World, now flies only first class for speaking engagements (mostly paid for by churches), sells signed photos of her kids for $20 a pop at appearances, and received a free tummy tuck after giving birth (Jon received a free hair transplant). A family source says while pregnant with the sextuplets, she grew “obsessed” with how many goodies the famed McCaughey septuplets received in 1997.
Jon, now a stay-at-home dad, was fired from his job at Style Craft Corp in 2004 after “spending much more time” on a “quest” for freebies than working, the company’s owner, David Rothermel, tells Us. (Rothermel finally has spoken out after growing furious at the couple’s well-worn claim that he was fired because the company didn’t want to insure his family.)
“Instead of keeping the attention on their kids, they’ve let the attention turn to money and fame,” says a family source of Jon and Kate, who, according to Nielson Media Research, are ranked No. 8 on the list of cable shows with the most product placement.
Marc Berman, senior television editor at Mediaweek, says producers cannot continue to portray the Gosselins as an everyday family trying to raise eight kids.
“Their lives have changed – they’re not struggling anymore,” Berman tells Usmagazine.com. “They’re eating at fancy restaurants now. Yeah, they still have eight children, but things are different.
See how much free stuff the Gosselin’s have gotten (it’s CRAZY) after the jump!
- Free beds
- Front-loader washing machines
- New furniture
- Free solar panels for “Going Green” episode
- Clothes from Gymboree and Gap
- Mady & Cara birthday at American Girl Place (2 dolls and birthday package for 2 adults & 2 kids): $710
- Trip to Florida Key’s for Jon’s 30th birthday
-Tickets to Dutch Wonderland amusement park: $309.50
-1/2 an organic cow from Natural Acres Farm: $1,395.00
-Tickets to Philadelphia Zoo: $104.00
-Tickets to Walt Disney World: $654.00 per day
- Utah house rental (estimate: $5,000), ski lift tickets $72 for six days), ski school lessons ($140 per child)
- Upright piano, which they got rid of when they moved into their new $1.1 million home : $5,550-$6,350
- Violin: $100-$300
- Old house re-carperted
-Crayola Factory Tour: $90.00
-Teeth Whitening (for Jon & Kate): $1,310 (average price for 2 adults)
-Hair plugs (Jon): $5,200 (average cost)
-Sesame Street Place tickets: $509.50
-Day with Thomas the Tank Engine: $180.00
-Beach trip to North Carolina, house rental, Jeep tour
-Sight & Sound Christian theatre tickets: $236.00
-SkyBox at Phillies game
-LegoLand tickets: $550.00
-San Diego Zoo tickets: $278.00
-Grand Wailea Resort (Hawaii) for 2008 vow renewal: Suites range from $725-$1,080 per night.
-2 purebred German Shepherd puppies: $1,000-$3,000 per dog
- Please Touch Museum tickets: $150.00
- Giants grocery store: $5,000 in gift cards and a year’s supply of diapers
In order for the show to survive, Mediaweek’s Berman says the Gosselins need to be upfront with the audience.
“They’re now a celebrity couple,” says Berman. “The emphasis of the show has changed, and they need to address how they’ve evolved.”
“If they don’t evolve the show, I think the audience is going to be upset,” he tells Us. “You can’t fool an audience.”
May 13th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Good for them, ’cause I remember when they first aired that 2 hour (?) documentary, they were really struggling but they didn’t ask for people to give them free stuff.
At the same time however, it’s a little unfair to everyone else who has 1, 2, 3, 4 kids and can’t show their lives on reality TV like the Gosselins and the “18 Kids and Counting” Family and “Table for 12″ family and make $75,000 an episode when I’d say the average of the majority household income of the nation’s population makes about that much or less in a YEAR. Now more and more families are becoming publicly known through these TV series and that’s exactly why people like Octomom are getting so much publicity and might/will get a show of her own and make her super loaded which is the opposite of what should be done!
I mean, honestly, do we have to have more than 8 kids now to be ‘better’ than everyone else?
I think it’s become a whole act of publicity after Jon & Kate aired their show.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:23 am
My mother was the youngest of 10 children. Somehow my grandparents managed to make it, keep their family housed, clothed, and fed, without help from anyone else.
It takes a village? Sorry, I disagree. Your choice, your responsibility.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I will NEVER watch that show. I am sorry but $75G per eppy. I refuse to contribute to that. YOUR CHOICE TO HAVE THOSE KIDS, SO PAY FOR IT YOURSELF.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Oh please… This is what fame has done to them. You NEVER hear about the kids anymore, it’s now about both of them. But if I were the husband, I would have left this stupid nagging selfish bitch a long time ago. Nothing excuses the way she belittles this fool. But whatever… There’s NOTHING special about this family. The only victims in this so-called “scandal” are those children. This worthless woman is using this to her advantage and selling her story to the highest bidder and trying to come off as a victim…. Just goes to show you, take the bitch out the trailer park… You get the gist!!!
May 13th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I’m getting really tired of women having large families and using the kids to cash in. It’s getting really old.
May 14th, 2009 at 3:16 am
it’s really unfair for the kids. and its really unfair for audiences. here they portray them as actually paying for the stuff, which they actually get for free. you think that with the amt of money they get paid per ep, they would actually pay for the birthday presents for the kids or something. it just shows how ungrateful the parents are, i really hope such values dont get passed on to their 8 kids. the kids may be lucky since they get all these freebies and experiences that other kids dont normally enjoy, but i hope they dont ride on these sorta foundations for their future. its getting quite disgusting now that all this is being revealed. i think its not just ‘over’ for their marriage, its over for the show.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:59 am
I agree that it seems to be progressing more and more to Jon and Kate\’s relationship and less about the kids. In so many of the early episodes I wondered why they were dragging these kids to places that they were to young to appreciate. We never planned trips to amusement parks, football or baseball games, museums, etc. until they were old enough to know what they were seeing and appreciate the experience. These 8 kids are dragged around despite whining, crying, melt downs and getting yelled at and listening to Kates shrill voice and over reaction to a spill or ice cream on an outfit. That\’s how kids learn! They may make messes, but they are learning.
Yes, I have felt for a long time that Jon is abused by Kate and has become more and more quiet…..if she were less self-centered she would see the writing on the wall.
I hope they work out their problems and get back to the kids…..what is it like in school?…..what about some enteraction with grandparents (if that relationship is salvageable)….attending church….Cub Scouts, Browies….T-ball….Soccer!
May 16th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
In response to Dumb\’s comment about \"struggling during the early years\": Keep in mind the twins and sextuplets were the result of fertility treatments. Jon & Kate chose to bring eight these kids into the world (although Jon didn\’t want any more kids after the twins but Kate pushed for a boy). Also, the Gosselins received disability benefits for the sextuplets because they were premies.
From the beginning (off camera), Kate sought and received financial help and donations from all over the place, so to say they didn\’t ask for assistance is not accurate. By the way, their website still accepts donations (although it says they forward a portion to charity) even though they make $75k per episode, in addition to the money earned from speaking engagements, etc….
They have successfully turned their once real family into a money making enterprise and unfortunately, I believe the children are the ones to lose because the reality is now a nightmare.
May 16th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
In response to Dumb’s comment about “struggling during the early years”: Keep in mind the twins and sextuplets were the result of fertility treatments. Jon & Kate chose to bring eight these kids into the world (although Jon didn’t want any more kids after the twins but Kate pushed for a boy). Also, the Gosselins received disability benefits for the sextuplets because they were premies.
From the beginning (off camera), Kate sought and received financial help and donations from all over the place, so to say they didn’t ask for assistance is not accurate. By the way, their website still accepts donations (although it says they forward a portion to charity) even though they make $75k per episode, in addition to the money earned from speaking engagements, etc….
They have successfully turned their once real family into a money making enterprise and unfortunately, I believe the children are the ones to lose because the reality is now a nightmare.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:57 am
They have never asked for one free thing!! This list is not accurate!
People get a life and stay out of theirs!!
Just a note – for anyone that saw the episode with them purchasing the side of beef – Kate actually wrote out a check – Don’t you people think if it was free the rancher would want the public to be aware of it?
And so what if they do receive free things!!! More power to them.
Leave them alone! Let them live their lives and if you want to be a part of it watch their show!!
May 21st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I bet from the start when she heard about having that many babies…she thought money, free things! They don’t work but live off of their children! People are outraged by the Octo mom, but come on.
Yes, they have 8 children, but many people have that many children just not a once.
It was so insane to lie on tv about his job firing him because they didn’t want to give health care to the child, didn’t they think someone would check into that, or his office make a statement about it?
If it wasn’t for the children and TLC they would be living in that last house.
Children grow, and they can’t use them for ever!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 8:23 am
all i am going to say…money changes everything….