cash money

Reality-TV Shows Pretty Much Pay Winners What They Promise

The Daily Beast has assembled a list of reality-TV prizes, and you will be surprised to hear (really!) that reality shows are as reliable at paying up as they are at finding people willing to exploit themselves on national television. This is to say, very reliable! Sure, winners have to pay taxes and do annoying things like pay attention to Donald Trump, but then so do we all, and we’re not getting a couple hundred thousand dollars for our trouble. The only really sneaky show is America’s Got Talent: The $1 million prize is a 40-year annuity, so you can either take $25,000 per year for 40 years or $375,000 up-front. This may sound annoying, but it’s probably protecting contestants from buying soullessly decorated pre-fab homes, so consider it a worthwhile form of paternalism. [Daily Beast]

Reality-TV Shows Pretty Much Pay Winners What They Promise