How Much Do The Amazing Race Winners (And Other Contestants) Make?

The Amazing Race has long been considered to be one of the best reality TV series on the air, and has garnered one of network TV's most loyal fanbases. This season that was doubly true, with an entire cast of former Big Brother contestants shifting over to the Eye Network's other popular series. There was drama, there was tears, and there were some big prizes won, much of which Phil announced on air.

However, I’ve always wondered: How much do general Race contestants as well as the winners make? Let's unpack the stats, as there's a lot going on any given Race season, but particularly this year. Let’s take a look at what could happen if CBS loves your audition tape one day, too.

The Big Prize On The Amazing Race

While each of the final legs on TAR have been different over the years, the final moment has typically involved all of the eliminated teams waiting for the winners to cross the threshold on the mat to cheers, sometimes tears, and one final interview with host Phil Keoghan.

Each season, the first team to see both participants reach Phil and touch the mat earn the $1 million dollar prize. This number is oft-repeated throughout the season by Phil himself. It's one of the only constants on the series, as the locations, travel types, and even number of teams are consistently in flux. This season also had the additional wrinkle of asking Big Brother teams to participate. More on this later.

While the big prize has stuck at the $1 million mark, a lot has changed on the show over time. In Season 34, there were no non-elimination legs for the first time, so someone went home every single episode, while this season the non-elimination leg came back. In another recent example, the Season 37 cast was shocked when they showed up to the mat and saw they'd have to outlast more teams than ever before. This season, we saw a lot of similarities with teams, as Big Brother contestants are already familiar with how to act when there are cameras around. With Season 40 around the corner, I almost wonder if we might get some bigger and bolder prizes, but Phil and the gang have not spoken out about this yet.

During most past seasons, the show has featured teams of two competing (with the exception of a very memorable family season featuring a young Stassi Schroeder, who later starred in and was fired from Vanderpump Rules.) This is an important distinction because not every twosome that competes is a married couple, which means prize winnings are typically split in half, with $500,000 (pre-tax) going to each contestant.

Taxes are a big thing to factor in. So how much does one individual winner take home on Race? Experts in varying states estimate the government pulls a cool $300-$350,000 from that million team total. Split that in half, and that’s still not too shabby, though, as winning contestants (likely) take home around $350,000 apiece or so in cold, hard cash.

Seemingly confirming this, the Holderness family admitted a few years ago in a podcast that after taxes they took "a little over half" of the prize money home. Though they also noted in the same interview that it "took a while" to get paid by the show.

In a more recent season, boyfriends Ricky Rotandi and César Aldrete took home the big prize, but they also dominated challenges as varied as dancing theatrical performances and welding. The couple actually won 7 of the 11 total legs last season, and six of those were before the finale. Similarly, frontrunners Jas and Jag have taken home a whopping six No. 1 wins this season, which means they have earned a lot of additional prize money on the show so far. They had some tight competition from Tucker and Eric for a while, who were eliminated during a controversial Amazing Race episode.

This brings me to how non-winners can nab some additional compensation.

How Does Additional Compensation Work For Contestants On The Amazing Race?

Additional compensation can also be important to teams with varying skill sets that are able to set themselves apart from the pack. Season 39 of The Amazing Race was a little weird in that there were a lot of competitive teams but only two teams that were really taking home prizes, as noted previously.

During most seasons, the competition is usually a bit more spread out, and the race leg prizes offer teams a nice way to earn even if they don't ultimately take home the big prize. In general, there are two additional routes to money and prizes on The Amazing Race. The first is to -- and I'll borrow a phrase from my other favorite reality TV series Survivor -- outwit, outlast and outplay the other contestants in the race. How does this work? The longer you make it on the show, the higher the cash payout from CBS just for appearing.

Early on in the series during Season 6, one outlet found the 11th place contestants only took home $1500 as a duo, which is admittedly not a lot to split between two people and have taxes taken out. The money continues to climb from there though the longer contestants are on the show. In that same season (via Men's Health), the second place team took home about $25,000 in additional money while the third place team took home $10,000.

This season is obviously a celebrity edition of the series, and there's every reason to think CBS is shelling out a bit more for Big Brother players to appear with beloved family members. Unlike Survivor contestant salaries, TAR tends to keep the numbers way under wraps.

However, an Australian version of the show in 2024 did note that prize packages for that version of the series varied wildly, with Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe allegedly taking home around $350,000 while additional contestants took home between $50-$75k for their appearances. It's worth noting this was a celebrity edition of the show in another country, and not the famous version hosted by Phil here in the U.S. but it does show how salaries can vary widely. I'd be willing to bet the Big Brother stars made a nice chunk of change for appearing on this reality show, too.

Another way to "make money" on The Amazing Race? The show often has prize packages ranging from cash amounts to free trips and even cars that can extend the goodies contestants can take home if they win specific legs. Of course, those prizes also come with a caveat; like The Price is Right and other prize-specific shows before them, contestants must pay taxes on these prizes.

One of the most unique prizes the show gave out came in Season 8, when the Branson family won "free gas for life." Patriarch Wally later clarified that actually meant $1,200 in gas for 50 years, and to make it less of a hassle, BP and Arco actually let the family cash out after one year.

Contestants Are Paid In Exposure (And A Trip Around The Globe)

Like Season 39's Big Brother cast, some famous names have chosen to participate in TAR over the years, including The White Lotus' Mike White, Big Brothers' Rachel, Alison, Survivor's Rob and Amber and so many more. Some athletes have competed as well, including Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly, pro eater Joey Chestnut and a slew of former NFL and NBA stars, among others. Some additional Survivor names and more have been bandied about as well.

Heading into the Season 39 finale, Izzy Gleicher, Jag Bains, Joseph Abdin, and their respective partners, plus Kyland Young and his partner Taylor Hale all were left to compete for the big prize. The drive to win the big prize has been strong from this group, with Jag and Izzy consistently proving competence and Joseph, Taylor and Kyland really figuring out how to pull through in key moments.

Even for those who aren't famous before the show, fan favorites can sometimes build followings on social media or land outside opportunities after their time on the show. Then, of course, there's the whole point of The Amazing Race: the unique opportunity to travel around the world with someone you love (or at least hopefully can stand). The real prize? It has to be the priceless experience.