The finale for ‘Dancing With the Stars’ season 33 will take place on Nov. 26 and the five couples who successfully made it to the end will clash one last time for the Mirror Ball. Last season, Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy won the first Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, but this year, a lot of attention is on Olympians Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher. If either of them wins, won’t they also get huge prize money in addition to the famous DWTS trophy?

Well, let us look back into history for this. As reported by ‘Daily Express US’ last year, the season 32 winners didn’t really get an additional amount for winning the show. All the contestants that made it to the finale received amounts for doing the show and surviving till the end and, hence, received similar pay.

In season 28, it was reported that celebrities initially took a pay cut, and it is said that former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer could make about $295,000 if he made it to the show’s finale. The amounts for each week were not determined.

However, reports suggest that celebrities are paid on a sliding scale, which starts with a $125,000 signing bonus that covers rehearsals and the first two weeks of competition. After that, the participants would receive $10,000 for weeks 3 and 4 and if they survived for the next two weeks, the money would increase to $20,000. And the ones who were lucky enough to go even further, the amount would increase to $30,000.

Finalists were given $50,000 for the semifinals or finals and the grand total would amount to $345,000. However, regardless of who won the show, the last five participants/celebrities would take approximately the same amount home. So it looks like the only thing the winner gets is a shiny trophy. But hey, we are sure the celebrities would want that trophy for themselves!

Well, all that being said, how much do the pro dancers on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ make? We wonder if they have a similar pay structure as their celebrity counterparts.

What numbers are the professional dancers looking at?

Various reports say that the celebrities received $125,000 in the opening week of DWTS. All they have to do is take the training for 20 hours/week. But this offer is only applicable to celebrities like Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher. For their dancing pro partners, the numbers are different. 

The estimates suggest that dancers may receive $1,600 per episode for training celebrities for 20 hours each week. However, rumors indicate that dancers who have been on the show for a couple of seasons have the option to negotiate better deals, with some reportedly earning around $5,200 per episode. Based on this, dancers with a big fanbase could potentially earn up to $100,000 per season of DWTS. Their pay remains consistent throughout the season, with no weekly increases. However, this is still a speculation as the show has not confirmed their salaries.

For celebrities, however, there are weekly bonus amounts, and looking at how far Nedoroscik and Maher have come, they would have collected quite a lot of bonuses. However, there is more to the show than just the trophy and money.

Several celebrities go on the show with the intention of boosting their careers and several of them have landed other projects due to their time on ‘Dancing With the Stars’. Think about how Olivia Jade or Vinny Guadagnino used the platform to rebrand their image or revive their careers.

Then, season 33 witnessed Stephen Nedoroscik who stood on the DWTS stage with a simple agenda in mind: To spread more awareness about men’s gymnastics. In order to do this, he even performed the pommel horse in an episode in October. “Men’s gymnastics made me the man that I am today. So I just want to be able to pour my heart out in this performance for my sport,” Nedoroscik stated.

Well, the finale is just a couple of hours away, and below are the five couples who will clash for a win:

• Danny Amendola and Witney Carson
• Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson
• Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong
• Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten
• Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold

Who do you think will win this season? Let us know your prediction in the comments below.