How Much Dancing With the Stars’ Contestants Make & More Show Secrets

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Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller, the stars of Traitors, are hoping fans will continue to support them when they compete on season 35 of Dancing With the Stars later this year.

Even though Higgins jokingly said at a Hulu event on April 22nd that she’s not a great dancer, being cast on her favorite show shows she definitely impressed them with her skills.

I really believe in the power of manifesting things you want,” the former Love Island UK contestant shared. “I actually put this goal on my vision board, and now it’s coming true, which is incredible! I know it’s going to be challenging, but I’m determined to give it everything I’ve got because it’s something I really want to do.

Miller is similarly ready to cha-cha her way to a victory. 

After finding out her ex, West Wilson, is dating her former best friend, Amanda Batula, the Summer House star is ready to move on. She shared that she feels like now is the perfect time to start a new chapter in her life and is excited to share it with everyone. She’s especially looking forward to having fun and putting her energy into dancing.

We still don’t know all the celebrities who will be competing for the Mirrorball Trophy, though Rosie O’Donnell has said she won’t be participating and Olympic skater Alysa Liu isn’t interested. Recent winner Robert Irwin would love to see his mother, Terri Irwin, compete. However, we’ve gotten some details about the show’s complex dance routines.

We’ll explain everything in detail, starting with how the contestants are matched with the professional dancers and finishing with how much prize money is awarded.

Before the actors, including Higgins and Miller, get fully dressed in their sparkly costumes and finish their tans, here’s a sneak peek behind the scenes.

In 2019, Variety reported that celebrities appearing on Dancing With the Stars initially earn around $125,000 for rehearsals and the first two weeks of the show. According to sources, contestants who advance further receive additional payments each week, potentially bringing their total earnings to as much as $295,000.

However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.

The radio personality shared on Jason Tartick’s podcast, Trading Secrets, in September 2025 that the show’s pay structure was unusual. They explained that they didn’t earn anything for the first episode, then made $10,000 for the second. After that, the pay increased, going from $10,000 to $20,000 per episode. If you stayed on the show long enough, you could eventually earn around $50,000 per episode.

In addition to a salary of about $110,000, Bones revealed he earned nearly $400,000 from the show.

ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.

Details about professional dancers’ earnings haven’t been widely released either. However, like the contestants, it appears they earn more the further they advance in the competition.

But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they’re not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.

Jenna Johnson explained on the June 2025 episode of the The Morning After podcast, hosted by Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester, that dancers are typically guaranteed work for a specific number of weeks. However, she added that contracts vary and she couldn’t comment on everyone’s situation.

Apparently not.

Professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars, like Jenna Johnson, don’t earn extra money for winning the Mirrorball Trophy—now named after the late Len Goodman. However, Johnson, who has won with both Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon (season 26) and The Bachelor‘s Joey Graziadei (season 33), says reaching the finale is still rewarding, beyond just the prestige.

She explained on The Morning After that reaching the finale means getting paid for the entire season, plus a bonus. However, winning isn’t about a large cash prize – it’s just a shared trophy for the winning couple.

That doesn’t appear to be the case.

In a 2022 appearance on the Trading Secrets podcast, Lindsay Arnold shared that her pay was reduced by more than half after she moved from being a professional dancer to a troupe member.

The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.

On the May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers’ podcast, Hot Smart Rich, Lindsay explained that people in these situations have no input. She described it as being told, ‘Here’s who you’re with, now make the relationship work.’

In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.

Jenna explained on The Morning After that the show aims to keep the cast a complete surprise until the live reveal. People often assume the show knows who’s participating and is just keeping it under wraps, but that’s not true – the cast members aren’t revealed even to the hosts. They prefer to keep the lineup a secret to capture genuine reactions when contestants meet their partners, despite leaks sometimes happening.

As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?

According to former showrunner Rob Wade, the show’s pairings weren’t random. In a 2015 interview with TopMob News, he explained that they considered height, body type, personality, and how well contestants would get along. They avoided putting people together who they thought wouldn’t connect, because the experience is so demanding. Unlike shows like The Bachelor, forcing a bad match would create a terrible experience for everyone involved – the celebrity, the production team, and the viewers. He admitted they’d made that mistake in the past, pairing people who just didn’t click.

Dancing With the Stars requires a huge time commitment. Rylee Arnold, who partnered with Stephen Nedoroscik in season 33, explained on the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis that rehearsals typically last four hours – either from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., or 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. But the work doesn’t end there; she often has meetings with producers or the creative team, practices choreography, or studies dance videos.

She says it takes over her entire life, but she loves it and is passionate about it. It’s a job that demands constant effort. They perform on Tuesdays, then rehearse straight through Wednesday to Sunday. Mondays are for camera blocking, and then the cycle starts again with another show on Tuesday.

I was so thrilled to hear Emma Slater and Britt Stewart share in a September 2025 Instagram video that they’re mostly on board with the new direction! They did mention it’s a team effort with the show’s producers, which makes perfect sense, but it’s still amazing news for us fans.

If you think the quickstep dance is fast-paced, you should see how quickly the costume department works! Costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner explained to TV Insider that they collaborate with set, lighting, and dance teams to create a unique story for each contestant’s outfit. Then, they have just five days – often only half a day per costume, before even adding rhinestones – to make everything. The department employs around 20 people, plus an external tailor shop, making it a large operation.

Steven Norman Lee, another costume designer, revealed that dancers often don’t try on their costumes until just hours before the show. While some basic pieces might be reused, most costumes are made from scratch each week.

Gschwendtner added that while they’ll reuse items for group performances or promotional shoots, they avoid reusing costumes for the actual competition. The goal is to keep the looks fresh and exciting for viewers, with each contestant wearing something new every week.

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2026-04-23 20:19