In a February 29th episode of The Rest Is Entertainment, co-hosts Richard Osman and Marina Hyde answered a fan question regarding Gogglebox cast members’ pay.
“How much would people on Gogglebox be paid? Is it the same for all contestants or would their pay be based on screen time?” the fan asked.
“I like ‘contestants,’” joked telly veteran and author Richard Osman.
Well, are they?
“They are,” Richard said, explaining that “they film it across two days.”
That adds up to about 12 or 13 hours of each cast member’s time, he says, “so they’re all paid for loss of earnings.”
That means the money they would have made by working their nine-to-five, but couldn’t earn because they were shooting Gogglebox, is paid back to them.
In addition, the cast members get “different sums, depending on how long they’ve been there,” according to the Thursday Murder Club author.
“Not crazy sums, but not, you know, not nothing,” he shared with Marina Hyde.
But that’s just for the show ― some Goggleboxers do ads, too
The former Pointless co-host shared that, while this is true of the show itself, Goggleboxers can dip their toes in another stream of income too.
“One of the key things is a few times a year, the Gogglebox universe does adverts for products. And some of the longest-serving Goggleboxers get to do those adverts,” he revealed.
“And for averts they’re paid the absolute going rate, which is a lot of money.”
It’s fair enough, though, Richard argues, as people “are giving up an awful lot of employment opportunities to do that show, and they’re not allowed to exploit [their association with the show] ― you never see them on other shows.”
Though you can leave the Gogglebox universe for other things, as Scarlett Moffat did, he says “that’s why so many [Goggleboxers] have been there so long.”