Mary Cosby didn’t give up a lot of money when she decided to skip last week’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City reunion taping for season two — at least in the grand scheme of things.
According to a new report, Mary and the rest of the women of the show, including Heather Gay, Jen Shah, Meredith Marks, Lisa Barlow, and Whitney Rose, didn’t make a whole lot for season two (and newbie Jennie Nguyen made even less). So, when it came time to have to potentially be faced with allegations of racism and running a cult, it was likely a pretty easy decision for Mary to pass on the taping.
On January 9, Tamara Tattles confirmed, via an unnamed source, that Mary was making just $6,000 per episode for her part on the second installment of RHOSLC, which means she would have been paid just $18,000 for the three-part reunion.
“She did not show and her attorney told Shed Media that she wants to receive her final paychecks ASAP, seemingly signaling the end to her participation on the series,” an insider told the outlet. “People at both the network and production company (level) believe she is upset about a bad edit. So they are going to wire her $6,000 per episode to her and leave her be. Quote from exec: ‘Bye, Mary!'”
Although Mary hasn’t actually confirmed her exit from the show publicly, she did hint that she quit on Twitter when she liked the tweet seen below and shared a couple of telling posts on Instagram, via All About the Real Housewives.
Mary then shared a series of quotes on her Instagram page (before ultimately deleting them).
“TV watching lowers IQ. And it increase rudeness too. … ‘Reality TV is junk food for our brain, and in the same way that junk food rots our teeth and makes us sick, bad reality TV rots our brain and makes us rude,’ says Dr. Marcia Sirota, a psychiatrist, coach and professional speaker…” her first message said.
Then, in a second, she quoted, “Reality shows have a negative impact on our children in more ways than one. These shows focus on bullying, aggressive behavior and unhealthy competition, and kids often tend to confuse reality TV with the real world.”
According to the Tamara Tattles report, cast members of RHOSLC are not paid nearly as much as those who are featured on the earlier franchises, like Orange County, Atlanta, and New York City. Still, their overall yearly salary, reportedly $114,000, isn’t too bad.
The insider went on to confirm Jennie made $2,000 per episode of season two, her first season on the series, before quoting what appeared to be another insider, who said the ladies were paid $6,500, not $6,000, for season two, which would bring up their yearly total to $123,500 and their reunion total to $19,500.
“Mary, and the rest of the cast signed a five year deal limiting their increases until it ends. They made $2k per episode for season one. Then, they all got ‘thank you bonuses’ in the form of a renegotiated salary of $6,500 per episode for season 2 as opposed to a 10% increase,” the source shared. “They will receive increases for season three based on their contributions to the series.”
As for RHOSLC season three, the insider went on to say that Jen, who is in the midst of a telemarketing scheme that could result in decades behind bars, and Meredith will allegedly make more than the other women.
“Expect Jen Shah and Meredith to reach the $9-10k range and the others to get just 10%. The newbie will probably only get 10% also in order to keep production costs down,” they explained.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season two airs Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo.