This Is How Much The 'Dancing With The Stars' Winners And Pros Are Getting Paid In Season 31

The Season 31 cast of "Dancing with the Stars" will soon be dancing through several weeks of competition, but the payday that everyone got for their participation on the show in the past may not be quite as high as it used to be.

The series is making a big jump for the new season, leaving its roots on network television and ABC for the first time, and making a new home on Disney+, where it will serve as the first live-streamed series. However, heading to the streamer has led to rumors that the entire cast is taking a big pay cut as a result.

According to OK! Magazine back in July, the move meant the show's budget was slashed considerably, with unnamed sources reportedly claiming that pro dancers are being hit particularly hard, with a new offer of $1,600 per episode, instead of the $5,200 that some of the more established performers on the show were previously earning.

"With the show moving from the network to streaming, the budget has been vastly reduced," a source told the publication. "Sure, they would love to see as many familiar professional dancers return as possible but that isn't likely to happen when the cast sees how big the pay cut is going to be. After all these years, the fans of the show know the dancers better than the 'stars,' but the new economics of the show makes it impossible to pay them what they have earned in the past."

Following the big cast reveal for the new season, three female pros who competed in Season 30 were notably missing, with Sharna Burgess, Lindsay Arnold and Jenna Johnson all sitting the season out. However, Jenna is currently pregnant and expecting her first child with her husband, Val Chmerkovskiy, while Sharna gave birth to her first child with her Season 30 partner Brian Austin Green in June. As for Lindsay, she cited choosing to sit the season out to spend more time with her family. She had previously missed Season 29 for her own pregnancy.

Despite those three sitting things out, several other pros, including Val and Cheryl Burke, both longtime vets on the show, as well as Peta Murgatroyd, Mark Ballas and Louis Van Amstel, are all participating. The show also welcomed a new female pro, Koko Iwasaki.

If the show has cut pro salaries so drastically, then the amounts they will all earn aren't much above what new pros like Koko may be earning. Us Weekly reported in February that when pros first start out on the show they are paid $1,200 per episode, with increases each one they last and the longer they stay with the series. Those who returned frequently were making closer to $5,000 per episode.

If the pay cut was so extreme, it would likely be hitting some of the pros hard. While their official salaries have never been confirmed, Sharna was previously reported to have been the highest-paid pro when she won Season 27. In addition, according to paperwork filed during his divorce proceedings in 2020, Gleb Savchenko was alleged to be making $400,000 from his work on the show.

As for the celebrities, it's unclear if they have taken a similar pay cut, though there was one given out in Season 28. At the time, the max amount of money a celebrity could earn on the show by making it to the finale was reported to be $295,000, with a $125,000 signing bonus. It was a cut from what was reported as far back as 2010, where Gawker revealed celebrities were then paid on a sliding scale depending on how long they lasted in the competition. That sliding scale saw a max paycheck of $345,000 for each celebrity who made it to the finals.

It's unclear if celebrities are still receiving the same pay now, or if they too are taking a cut because of the show's move.

"Dancing With the Stars" Season 31 airs beginning Monday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. EDT on Disney+.