It's all about the MONEY.
This is what Bobby Bones recently said about the breakdown in money to be made the longer a star stays on the show. Each star gets a base salary of $125,000 for the rehearsal period and first two weeks of the show (when there is no elimination.)
Bobby: "That show pays okay,” Bobby explained on the Sept. 15 episode of Jason Tartick's Trading Secrets podcast. “Like first episode, no money, second episode, $10,000. I think it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000—it ends up being $50,000 an episode, if you last. So I ended up making like close to $400,000 from that show. So financially, pretty good."
But beyond his actual salary on the show, he credits
DWTS for opening up some doors for him, like his 2021
National Geographic Channel reality series
Breaking Bobby Bones.
"It splits into so many different tributaries," he said. "I mean, millions of dollars again."
Lower down, in the same E! article, Jenna talks about what the pros make:
"But as with the contestants, it seems like the longer [the Pros are] on the show, the more money they can make. [Although they don't make nearly the amount the stars get.]
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they're not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
"You're guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks," Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester's podcast The Morning After. "I think there's different contracts though. I can't speak for everybody." [. . .]
"If you make it all the way to the end, you're getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale," she explained on The Morning After. "If you win, it's not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You're just getting a cute trophy together."