Steve-O reveals ‘comical’ amount of money he was paid for ‘Jackass’ Season 1
Steve-O made only $1,500 for Season 1 of “Jackass.”
The reality star divulged the “comical” sum to Playboy in an interview published Tuesday, clarifying that he was not paid per episode.
Instead, the stuntman got money for each bit.
“After five days of filming, I was all banged up, hungover, had been bitten by a shark and I pulled out a piece of paper to write down what I felt really needed to be on the show,” Steve-O, 52, explained to the outlet.
“At the top I wrote ‘Goldfish,’ and I thought, while I’m at it, I might as well put what I expect to be paid,” he continued. “Next to ‘Goldfish,’ I literally wrote $200.”
He walked away from that experience with a “little” scar and $500.
“When it was all said and done, after taxes, I was paid less than $1,500 for the entire first season of ‘Jackass,’” the “Wildboyz” alum said, noting that his “sister kicked [him] out of the house … before the show” aired.
“I was broke, unemployed and homeless — and a star on this big MTV show,” Steve-O added.
Despite his life being “black-and-white, completely different overnight,” he quipped that “one of the first things [he] learned about fame” is that “it comes a lot easier than fortune.”
Before “Jackass,” Steve-O went to Ringling Bros. Clown College because he had “been homeless for three years” as a stuntman and wasn’t “getting any traction.”
He recalled thinking that if he became “a trained circus professional,” people would “take [him] more seriously” in the field.
Steve-O jokingly dubbed himself “the only guy going to Clown College to seek legitimacy.”
“Jackass” aired for three seasons between 2000 and 2001, co-starring Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and more stars, followed by multiple movies and spinoffs.
The franchise will conclude with “Jackass: Best and Last,” out Friday — and Steve-O confirmed it’s “100 percent the end.”
“That’s what this movie is … one last hurrah of all of us getting together and doing whatever we have in us to do,” he said on Tuesday.
