Wait, Does Prime Video Pay Its Superstar Contestants to Participate in 'The GOAT'?

The fourth episode of Prime Video's reality competition series The GOAT, titled "The Hurricane," sees Survivor winner Wendell Holland emerge victorious from the fourth challenge. This win typically grants immunity, but Wendell goes against the grain and decides to trade his immunity for a whopping $5,000 check.

Wendell later explains that his decision was influenced by the fact that the show hasn't "given out a monetary reward yet." This raises the question: Besides the grand prize of $200,000 for the winner, do the contestants get paid for simply being on The GOAT?

At the time of writing, it's unknown if contestants are paid anything to be on The GOAT. However, most reality shows offer their contestants some kind of payment, typically a stipend.

When it comes to competition shows with big prizes like Survivor and The Amazing Race, contestants may receive a stipend of around $3,000 for participating — even if they are eliminated early. On the other hand, long-running competition shows with returning cast members, such as The Challenge, may provide established stars with a higher base salary or a flat season fee.

Nevertheless, some reality TV shows don't offer the contestants any payment. This may come as a surprise, but The Bachelor and The Bachelorette contestants aren't paid for their time on the wildly popular dating show.

Also, Netflix's hit reality dating series Perfect Match — which features contestants from the streaming service's other popular reality shows — doesn't offer up anything other than an all-expenses paid one-week vacation to any place in the world.

All in all, the jury's still out on whether The GOAT contestants get paid. But hey, it's the first season we're talking about! Our guess? They might be raking in some serious dough to be part of reality TV history. Only time (and maybe a tell-all interview) will tell, though!

Catch new episodes of The GOAT on Thursdays, only on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee.