The Honey Boo Boo Family Has Reportedly Earned $40,000 for Its Services

TLC's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a show about class, and one thing people talk about regarding the Thompson clan (when they aren't cursing them for existing) is whether fame and fortune will spoil their appeal of being trashy beyond belief. If a piece in The Hollywood Reporter is to be believed, there's little risk of that far. Says the trade:

Sources tell THR that the family of six (which recently expanded when Thompson's older sister, 18-year-old Anna Shannon, gave birth to daughter Kaitlyn on July 26) earns merely between $2,000 and $4,000 an episode — possibly seeing as much as $40,000 for the 10-episode debut season. (A small "location fee" might also be paid to film in the family home.)

On one hand, $40,000 is a lot of money to get paid to just exist. These people are basically getting tens of thousands of dollars to scatter cheese balls and fart (not to mention the latter's the added weight-loss benefits).

On the other hand, this is a pittance even in the notoriously miserly world of reality TV. Radar reports that several of the Real Housewives take in six figures for a single season, many of them in the mid-range and some high, like NeNe Leakes who gets $750,000. Rachel Uchitel got $500,000 for VH1's Celebrity Rehab says TMZ. Even Ozzy Osbourne's family, who kicked off the candid, celebrity-family craze, were making more in their first season, which aired over 10 years ago — the family received $20,000 per episode.

The Osbournes saw their season salaries skyrocket into the millions after the runaway success of their first season, and there is no reason to believe that the Thompsons wouldn't see a bump as well given Honey Boo Boo's continuing success (last week's premiere grabbed 3 million viewers — a million more than the season premiere that aired just a few weeks ago). If TLC forked over $22,500 to Jon and Kate Gosselin per episode (as he claimed in a Larry King interview at the series' end), surely they can spare some more for the Thompsons. I just hope that their last season isn't like the last season of Roseanne because that season totally blew.

Update: TMZ says that June Thompson made it "clear" that the family gets "a good deal more" than $4,000 an episode, but she wouldn't say how much. Very Hollywood of her.

[What Producers Are Paying the Stars of TLC's Honey Boo Boo, The Hollywood Reporter]