Can't buy me love?
While it's no secret that the "Bachelor" franchise pays its lovestruck hopefuls, there's long been wonder as to exactly how much these men and women actually make. Earlier this week, Bachelor Nation alums Jason Tartick and Dean Unglert gave fans a peek behind the curtain.
Dean, who first appeared on "The Bachelorette" in 2017 and was later asked to join "Bachelor in Paradise," fondly remembers his negotiation.
"They hit me up and they were like, 'Hey, do you want to do 'Bachelor in Paradise,' this other show that pays $400 a day, and you could be there for up to 30 days,' something like that," he recalled while on Jason's "Trading Secrets" podcast. "They're like, 'Well, you should get more money because you're kind of like the guy coming off the show… you're who they want most from your season to go to 'Paradise,' minus like [runner-up] Peter [Kraus], obviously.'"
Dean countered for $800 a day, but he eventually settled on a daily rate of $600.
"At that point, I was like, out of principle, I just wanted them to pay — it could have been one dollar more — out of principle, I wanted them to pay me more than they were offering everybody else just cause I thought I was hot s**t for some reason," he said.
Some time after, Dean said he was offered $75,000 to become the lead in season 22 of "The Bachelor," which eventually went to Arie Luyendyk Jr.
He later come back for "Paradise" in 2019, and remembers asking for $20,000 an episode, which he admits is an "absurd amount."
"When I said it, too, I was so vindicated. I was like, 'They're not going to get me for a dollar less than what I need,'" he said. "Then, eventually, as time wore on, I was like, 'Screw it.' I think I went down to like $602 a day."
On his second stint in "Paradise," he met current girlfriend Caelynn Miller-Keyes.
Jason, meanwhile, touched on his financial experience, too. After his run on Becca Kufrin's season of "The Bachelorette," Jason said that he, Blake Horstmann and Colton Underwood were all offered $100,000 to become "The Bachelor," which eventually went to Colton.
Jason, who's now engaged to former "Bachelorette" Kaitlyn Bristowe, never went on "Paradise," but it was in cards at one point, as he said he negotiated a daily rate of $600, but with a $5,000 guarantee in case he didn't make it the first week.