Kristen Doute Reveals How Much ‘Pump Rules’ Stars Earned for Season 1

Kristen Doute and Jax Taylor have come a long way from their time on Vanderpump Rules — which came with a surprisingly small paycheck.

“We had very little in our bank account,” Kristen, 40, recalled during the Thursday, July 27, episode of her “Sex, Love, and What Else Matters” podcast. “It was $5,000 and if we became a primary, we got an additional $5,000.”

Jax, 44, who was a guest on the podcast, said the money felt life-changing at the time.

“I had nothing at that time so whatever we got … [I felt like] I was rich. $5,000? I was paying $100 a week to live so I [thought] I could retire. When we were filming, I felt like, ‘This is awesome,’” he shared. “I have been hustling my whole life and living paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. I would do a lot of jobs but by the time I got my paycheck I was so behind on my credit card bills.”

Jax and Kristen were original cast members on Vanderpump Rules when it debuted in 2013. According to Kristen, however, there is an unaired pilot that Jax filmed with their former costar Stassi Schroeder shortly before they joined the hit Bravo series.

“You were the hot dude. It was Stassi, a girl she used to be friends with and two other girls. They were all friends who were vacationing in the Bahamas and then they see a hot boy. Who is going to get the hot boy?” Kristen said on Thursday’s episode of her podcast.

Jax, for his part, was confused by the “weird” concept since he was already dating Stassi, 35.

“I didn’t know where they were going to go with that,” noted Jax, who dated Stassi during season 1 of Vanderpump Rules. “It was a pilot and they used us as the guinea pigs to pitch this in Europe. It was a lot of fun. It was like two or three days and I got a free trip to the Bahamas. I don’t even think I got paid for that. Maybe $500? I don’t even think I got paid.”

After their Vanderpump Rules success, Jax and Kristen made headlines in 2020 with their respective exits. Kristen was fired alongside Stassi due to past racially insensitive behavior toward former costar Faith Stowers. Meanwhile, Jax and his wife, Brittany Cartwright, announced their departure as well.

Kristen, Jax and Brittany, 34, are set to make their Bravo return with an eight-episode spinoff series. Earlier this week, their former costar Lala Kent offered a hint at the production timeline.

“You will have to stay tuned for that. It is fully happening, and I think they start this week,” Lala, 32, shared on Monday, July 24, during her Amazon Live. “It is so weird that they have a show and they aren’t on our show. And as of now, we aren’t on their show. We are all best friends and we should be filming a show together.”

Kristen and Jax also hinted about the project during podcast reunion. Jax apologized to Kristen for his “attendance and flakiness,” which he blamed on his schedule, adding, “[We have been] a little busy and everyone will find out sooner or later what we have going on.”