Bethenny Frankel Breaks Down the Pay Scale for 'Real Housewives'

Bethenny Frankel has been using Instagram Reels to give insight into the behind-the-scenes of Real Housewives.

The Real Housewives of New York alum is often asked often how much she got paid to be on the Bravo show. Though she wouldn't reveal how much money she made on the series, seeing as Bravo was a partner of her Skinnygirl brand, she shared some enlightening details about how Real Housewives paychecks work.

"When we first started, it was favored nations. Favored nations means everybody gets paid the same. There's a different caliber of Housewife that will come on the show now. So when I started, everyone was paid the same number the first season, which was [based on] a certain number of episodes," Frankel explained. "Then for additional episodes, that's where you get more money. So you're kind of getting a bulk fee for all the episodes that you film."

She then said that when the cast returned for the second season, they were already "locked in" with a percentage increase. However, it was then that the Housewives realized they had the leverage to negotiate.

The chef-turned-business mogul revealed that during the show's second and third season, people started banding together to fight for a higher salary, herself included. "Jill [Zarin] said, 'I want to go with you, I want to do whatever you're doing. I want you to negotiate for me,' which was wise, so I negotiated for us to increase," recalled Frankel.

She continued, "This is where everybody gets different [wages], because the blondes would sometimes align together and then get nervous when the show started filming without them, and then they'd break down and make all kinds of different types of deals. So there are deals that people have per episode. There are deals that people have for a certain number of episodes. There are deals that people have for the all-you-can-eat buffet, the entire season. You could shoot 9,000 episodes—and the reunion counts as an episode."

Frankel also explained that there are various types of deals in the franchise now because new stars are introduced at different times. She also said that one thing that affects salaries is the cast (with the exception of herself) openly sharing how much they make, so the rest of the Housewives know whether they're "getting entirely clipped or if you're on the right path."

However, she shared a bit of Housewives gossip, claiming that "most Housewives lie about what they're getting paid in the same way most Housewives lie about whether or not they are fired."

Frankel ended her video by sharing that incredibly wide range of salaries: "$25,000 for the first season to seven figures."