8 months ago
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Maven Huffman‘s WWE dream came to fruition thanks to his success in WWF: Tough Enough. Recently, he revealed the total money he earned by playing a part in reality television.
Huffman opened up on his YouTube channel about all the television shows he’s been a part of.
“Now, in addition to being a WWE wrestler, I was also in four different reality shows. Two as a full-time cast member. Two as a one-time special guest… I’m going to tell you how much money I made in each.”
How much did Maven make in WWF: Tough Enough?
The first show that Maven played a part in was Tough Enough. He auditioned for the show as a joke but in the end, managed to win the entire competition.
“Of course, we have to start with the one you know the most about. And that is Tough Enough. Tough Enough was the very first reality show I did. In fact, you wouldn’t be watching me right now if not for that show. It was the idea of the WWF. They were going to take 13 ordinary fans and train them for nine weeks and teach them and show them how to become a professional wrestler. I sent my video in in 2001 almost as a joke.
“No chance I thought they were going to pick me. Well, they did, they called, I went to New York a week later, auditioned. Again, thinking, ‘There’s no chance they are picking me. But I’ll go just for the experience.’ But the joke was on them. Because, not only did they pick me for the house, one of 13, but I ended up winning the whole damn thing, which launched my wrestling career.”
Huffman revealed that he earned $300 a week during his time in Tough Enough.
“Now, obviously, I got paid during my time as a WWE wrestler, but, did Tough Enough pay me? For my time on the show? For those nine weeks? Well, actually they did. But I guarantee you it’s not near as much as you think. Let me show you how much I made to be on Tough Enough. Now although Tough Enough was a WWF production, their partners were MTV. And since Tough Enough was going to air on MTV, MTV was actually the ones that paid me.
“And every Friday, a producer, from MTV would walk up to every remaining house contestant and hand deliver us a check. This was long before the days of direct deposit. And I remember, I actually kept every check. I never cashed any of them, until the end. But how much was it? Now, on Tough Enough we got paid, per week $300. Well, $300 and a few bucks. But, $300 each and every week.”
The former WWE Superstar also appeared once on Blind Date. While the date did not go as planned, Maven earned a good amount of cash for his troubles.
“The second reality show I did was a WWE-mandated show. They sent me to LA and had me partake in it. It was Blind Date. Now, the whole premise of Blind Date was to take two strangers, put them together, send them on sometimes whacky, but mostly fun, and they try to be romantic dates. And see if there was a spark. A lot of times, at the end of every show, two people would talk about how much fun they had. They would hug, they would kiss, they would say how they couldn’t wait to see the next person again.
“In my case, that was not it. At the time, I was actually in a relationship but being new to the WWE, I didn’t feel like I was in a position to say no. So, I was a good sport. I went ahead with it. The girl I was dating, she was a good sport about it. And out to LA I went to film… To be on that episode, and it was funny because Blind Date actually paid the WWE to have us on. They paid me $2000. Now this $2000 would come in the form of a check from the WWE about a month after I did this show.”
Maven was in ‘That 70’s House’
“The next reality show I took part in was another WWE-mandated show. But I was perfectly fine with taking part in this one. Because other Superstars would be there for the day with me. In fact, Booker T, Hardcore Holly, Charlie Haas, Mark Jindrak, and myself visited another MTV production, That 70’s House. The premise of That 70’s House was simple enough. They threw 12 kids in a house together, took every modern convenience and luxury away and made them live like they were in the 1970’s 24 hours a day.
“Now, our trip was only this one day. And what did we do? Well, we played a nice ‘friendly’ game of dodgeball with them… For my one day episode of That 70’s House and keep in mind, this was another MTV production so, I’m assuming MTV probably paid WWE. But, in retrospect, WWE paid me about a month after my airing. For me, I made $5000 for that two-hour dodgeball game.”
How much did Maven earn in The Surreal Life?
Initially, Huffman turned down the offer to be a part The Surreal Life but when he heard that he was getting paid $50,000 for just ten days, he couldn’t let that opportunity slip his hands.
“A few months following my release from the WWE, I went back to my roots of reality television as a full-fledged cast member on The Surreal Life. Now the premise of The Surreal Life was to put (for a lack of a better term) a bunch of has-been celebrities in a house together. And just film and give them tasks. So initially when they called me asking me if I had interest in doing the show, I immediately turned them down. I was like, ‘No, thanks.’
“Then they told me how much they were going to pay me. And the moment I heard the amount, I asked, ‘When do you need me in LA?’ Now, The Surreal Life filmed in the Hollywood Hills. And I shared a house with celebrities I grew up with, including Sherman Hemsley, Florence Henderson, and Tawny Kitaen. We were there for ten days and each and every day, they would give us a new activity. One day, we gave a news broadcast. The other day, we went to Capitol Records and made an album. So, each and every day was a little bit different.
“I got paid $50,000 to do The Surreal Life. $50,000 for ten days. However, there is a downside. This $50,000 was immediately cut to $30,000 because this was the only reality show I was ever on that they immediately took Federal Income Tax out of before I ever got the check,” Maven said.
