British swimmer Adam Peaty was the most recent celebrity eliminated from the British competition dance show Strictly Come Dancing, where celebrities are paired with professional dancers on a quest for cash and fame.
There are plenty of fringe benefits for appearing on the show that reaches more than 8 million people per episode (and as many as 13.2 million for the season 2020 finale), and is one of the UK’s most viewed shows. For Peaty, for example, his appearance served as a launching point for his book that was released this week, after his elimination, and his Instagram following grew by about 50,000 during the competition.
But there is a direct benefit as well in terms of prize money.
British publication Metro reports that celebrity payments start at £25,000 to start the show. Celebrities who make it to the end of October see their prize money increase to £40,000, those who advance to the quarterfinals receive £60,000, and those who qualify for the final earn at least £75,000.
The winner receives a reported £100,000.
Peaty was the 7th out of 15 athletes eliminated, meaning he came up just short of a semifinal berth. That still means he gets £40,000, or about $53,500, in direct payments for his efforts.
On top of that, those who join the Strictly Come Dancing live tour receive more money (though with Peaty’s athletic commitments, that would be a tough assignment).
By comparison, Peaty earned about $98,000 in the 2020 ISL season, but about $33,000 of that came during the regular season. He picked up huge money for winning the ‘skins’ race in the finale, plus a season-long MVP bonus.
Peaty missed the 2021 regular season to compete on Strictly. The London Roar have been non-committal about his availability for the Playoff rounds, though he is on the team’s roster and available.
Peaty definitely worked for his money on Strictly – social media posts showed long rehearsal days, even giving him a minor ankle injury – but the loss of ISL money wasn’t in a vacuum.
Is that payout similar to Dancing with the Stars or much more ? It seems low!
The celebrity magazines say that in the US, it starts at $125,000 and goes up from there. So quite a bit more.
Thanks….
Probably because in the UK the money for the BBC comes from licence fee payers not advertisers. Essentially all these celebs are getting paid to dance around with what is pretty much taxpayers money. You cannot watch any TV channel without paying the BBC licence fee.
Good for him, we need to pay the swimmers!!
He got paid because millions were watching him. Not many people watch swimming unfortunately!
We have to take into account that being in this show gives Peaty a much bigger platform than the ISL ever could, enabling him to reach a larger audience which he could use to leverage other PR related stuff and money (commercials, partnerships..)
especially with the timing of his book release, no better way to drop that when he’s at peak fame in his home country.
Also gives the sport of swimming a huge platform to reach a wider audience etc.
ISL doesn’t pay anyways so it seems like a no-brainer
I think he found a new side to himself . His last dance was dull but some were really theatrical. As he said most of the contestants were from a TV / showbiz background but he looked like he enjoyed it . Maybe he can do some theatre eg Christmas pantomimes., he may have something . My comment was censored but he really looked good in that wig.
love someone to ask him if he has all his ISL payments up to good speed…
ISL payments are probably an afterthought for Peaty.