It pays to have knocked up your high school girlfriend… at least if you and your baby mama were lucky enough to have been chosen to be on Teen Mom!
The Ashley can reveal that the original dads of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter are currently bringing in big bucks each time they’re featured on the MTV reality show. It’s well-known that the girls on the show have been making bank for years for airing their dirty laundry out on ‘Teen Mom,’ but the original men are also making more per episode than many people make in a year!
According to The Ashley’s behind-the-scenes sources, the original dads— i.e. Tyler Baltierra, Gary Shirley, Ryan Edwards— are pulling in about $30,000- $35,000 per episode they’re featured on. (The salaries of the dads/boyfriends who haven’t been featured on ‘Teen Mom’ since the beginning, such as Zach Davis and Sean Austin, are less, due to them not putting in nearly as many seasons as the original OG dads.)
“The original guys are making basically what the original top girls make,” a production source says. “The money is so good that [the guys] are willing to associate with their baby mamas much more than they normally would, at least for the cameras.”
As The Ashley has previously reported, the cast— moms and dads— are only paid if they are featured on an episode in some way. (This does not mean they have to physically be in an episode. They are paid–in some form– even if they are featured via a phone call or FaceTime call.)
“It’s an incredibly expensive show [to make] now,” the production source said, adding that the cast salaries may vary if they’re appearing on one of the ‘Teen Mom’ spin-offs. “This is just for the main show.”
The production source also revealed that girls who are not married fight for their new man to be contracted as a “boyfriend,” as it pays much more than the guy would get via a basic appearance fee.
The super-sized paychecks do not have taxes taken out, as the guys (and girls) are not employees of Viacom/Paramount. This is likely why so many ‘Teen Mom’ stars have had tax troubles over the years. (As The Ashley previously reported, Maci Bookout and her husband Taylor McKinney currently have over $400,000 in tax debt to pay. In March, original Teen Mom 2 star Leah Messer was hit with new tax liens, bringing her tax debt total to more than $500,000.)
“They are 1099 [workers],” the production source said. “It’s up to them to pay their quarterly estimated taxes, which obviously is something a lot of them don’t do.”
RELATED STORY: ‘Teen Mom’ Stars Maci Bookout & Taylor McKinney Receive An Additional $350,000 Federal Tax Lien Added to Their Already Steep Tax Debt
(Photos: MTV)
8 Responses
Thank God Leah has Gary. Seriously. Even when he was broke as fuck, he still gave baby Leah the only stability she had.
However…ahem…he loves to gaslight women, pretends to be an Aww shucks type guy, and is really putting it on for the cameras.
Kristina deserves to have a special day of her own. Like a third Monday of some month each year. She is the true heroine here.
The ratings for this dumpster fire of a show can’t be enough to continue to support the ridiculous pay these guys get. It’s time to cancel it. They are not teen moms. They need to boot them all so they can get real jobs. They are not making anything of themselves. I will give Chelsea credit, at least she got out and did something with her fame to launch a career.
I said somewhere in a previous comment they need to take the whole cast of TM for one last season in which MTV tells them they’re getting cut off, and then film them trying to find actual jobs. That would be entertaining 🙂
Must be nice to get paid for absolutely nothing. Dont mind me, I’m just bitter because I actually did shit by the book, worked my ass off in college, and they’re making a lot more than me to fuck off on television. Guess I should’ve gotten knocked up as a teenager so I could have MTV milk me being on a TV series. I wonder if Amanda is getting some of that TM $ now that she’s pregnant.
this is such a bitter and sad take lol who cares this much about someone else’s money? do you feel inferior?
Do you feel inferior? Is that why you’re trolling her comment? Who cares about someone else’s comment online? See how that can get turned around on you? Take a seat. Sick of all the new trolls in this site.
Agreed! While I wouldn’t feel “inferior” to someone else making more money, I think it’s crazy that we are taught the correct track to leading a happy, successful life, and people like the cast of Teen Mom are able to make millions just by getting pregnant at a young age. If I knew I would’ve been set for life just by having a baby, I would’ve taken that deal in a heartbeat.
This is why we see Gary staying on the show despite the trauma Leah is experiencing