Maven reveals how much he was paid to be on WWE Tough Enough.
Maven was the inaugural winner of WWE Tough Enough and it was the first reality show he was ever part of. In his new YouTube video, Maven dives into his history on reality shows and reveals how much he got paid to be a part of WWE Tough Enough for nine weeks.
Maven reveals that for that inaugural season, which started in 2001, he was paid by MTV as opposed to WWE. Maven says he was paid approximately $300 a week for a total of around $2,700 for the entire nine-week experience.
"Although Tough Enough was a WWF production, their partners were MTV and since Tough Enough was going to air on MTV, MTV was actually the ones that paid me," he recalled. "Every Friday, I producer from MTV would walk up to every remaining house contestant and hand deliver us a check. This was long before the days of direct deposit and I remember, I actually kept every check. I never cashed any of them until the end. But how much was it?
"Well, on Tough Enough, we got paid, per week, $300, well $300 and a few bucks, but $300 each and every week," he continued. " Now. I know you're probably thinking, 'Oh, Maven, a lot of these a lot of these reality stars, they make so much more.' Well, this was at the beginning of the reality show boom, this was 2001. This was back when people knew about reality shows, but not many people were making a living off of being on reality shows. That $300 I was happy to get each and every week. Now, that $300 went a lot farther considering MTV and WWF provided all of our housing, they provided all of our transportation, the only thing I was on the hook for was paying for my food. My food expenses [were] probably around $50 a week. So for being on the show, I was netting about $250 a week. Since I was on the show [for] the entire nine weeks, my entire payment for my whole time on Tough Enough was $2,700."
Maven went on to reveal how much he was paid for his first year as a professional wrestler.
"So, for that first contract, my very first year as a WWF wrestler, I was guaranteed $50,000. $1,000 a week. I would go on to make way more than that," he said.
Fans can learn more about how much Maven made throughout his entire WWE career at this link.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Maven's YouTube channel in addition to linking back to this article and giving Fightful credit for transcription.
