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The Kardashians are worth a lot of money for sure. Combined, they are easily the richest family currently on reality TV. Kim Kardashian by herself has to be the richest celebrity currently on reality TV, measuring in at a massive $85 million net worth. Her mother Kris Jenner, measures up at a sizable $30 million in net worth as well.
While other reality TV stars can’t possibly hope to touch Kim or even Kris’s immense net worths, Kim’s sisters and brother are much more touchable. Rob is worth only an estimated $2.75 million. The lesser Kardashian sisters are worth quite a bit more, with Khloe and Kourtney possessing an estimated $20 and $18 million each. It certainly doesn’t match up to the matriarch or the one who started it all, but it’s nothing to just write off either.
While it may be next to impossible for most reality TV celebrities to touch the upper Kardashians, at least some can usurp the lower ones from their throne, truly making Kardashian haters everywhere shout with glee. Here’s a list of ten reality TV stars whose earnings can blow past some of the members of the Kardashian family.
10. Yolanda Foster - $15 million
Foster, born in The Netherlands, was a very successful interior designer and model. After 15 years of modeling, she settled in LA to become an interior designer. She then went on to marry producer David Foster, and then star in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She is currently struggling very publicly with Lyme Disease, and is seen as an icon by some. She famously had a port put into her arm to help combat the disease, but had it removed. She reported that as of January of this year, her ability to read, write and watch TV has been impaired significantly as a result of the disease’s progression. She makes a reported $100,000 per season of her show and is worth an estimated $15 million.
9. Bethenny Frankel - $25 million
Frankel got her start on the reality show The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. After, she went on to become one of the famous members of the show The Real Housewives of New York City. America was so enamored with her, she even landed two spin-offs to the series starring just her and her life. She used to run a baking service titled BethennyBakes and is a professional chef. In the present, she’s made a lot of money by selling her cocktail company Skinnygirl. Her net worth is tied to (or possibly slightly exceeding) the lesser Kardashian sisters and just blows Rob’s measly $2 million out of the water. But she’s also actually done things with her life.
8. Kandi Burruss - $35 million
Kandi Burruss is best known to the American public as one of the beloved stars of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but she’s actually lead an extremely fulfilling life as an artist and a songwriter. As a songwriter, she crafted hits for major music artists and groups, including Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Usher, Alicia Keys and TLC. On her own, she released a solo album that made it to the top 32 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B and Hip Hop Albums chart. She has also released other music to similar success. And let's not forget she was also a part of the group Xscape in the 90s. All of that work has netted her a respectable $35 million fortune.
7. Carole Radziwill - $50 million
Before becoming one of the stars of The Real Housewives of New York, she was a famous journalist and author. She worked on ABC’s 20/20 and went on to work for ABC News. She did more work overseas, covering Afghanistan and the war there at the time. Carole has been awarded Emmy awards and a Peabody for her work. After leaving that work behind, she married into Polish royalty, a marriage which was unfortunately short-lived due to illness. She then went on to write a memoir titled Lunch Date. She is currently worth an estimated $50 million.
6. Lisa Vanderpump - $65 million
Considered by many to be the queen of the Real Housewives, Lisa Vanderpump is the queen bee of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Vanderpump got her start as a restaurateur, owning several London bars and restaurants, as well as 2 newer ones in California. She also writes and has released her own line of homewares. Her popularity soared so high, she even got her own spin-off show called Vanderpump Rules, focusing on one of her California restaurants. She is worth a massive $65 million, and she is easily one of the most respectable reality stars of all time, having truly accomplished a lot in her business life outside of TV.
5. Britney Spears - $170 million
Spears surely made most of her money singing, but she did have a much-publicized short-lived stint on reality TV as a judge for Simon Cowell’s The X Factor. Serving as a judge around the time she was starting to make a comeback following her well-documented breakdown, she is reported to have made over $15 million just for her one season on the show. While she didn’t exactly get along well with Cowell on the show, people were both surprised and perhaps somewhat disappointed that she seemed to have collected the pieces following her breakdown pretty well. She was pretty in control and dare we say, funny.
4. Judge Judy - $200 million
Judge Judy has to be one of, if not the longest running reality TV shows on the market. Judge Judy is basically the legal version of Simon Cowell, always telling people the hard truth, whether they want to hear it or not. Her honesty has earned her an astonishing 13 Daytime Emmy nominations and a monumental $200 million. At this point, she could just retire, but you can tell by watching the show that she truly enjoys doing what she’s doing, even if it doesn’t look like it on the surface some of the time. She reportedly makes a not-at-all-small $47 million per year on her show. That’s a lot of money for small claims.
3. Ryan Seacrest - $375 million
It seems a little bit ironic that the guy hosting Simon Cowell’s show would go on to make more money than the man himself, but all credit to Mr. Seacrest, he’s been quite busy outside of his hosting duties. His voice has become synonymous with announcing, and he’s gone on to take over The American Top 40, in which the top 40 tracks every week are played and introduced by Seacrest. He has also been the host of several other shows outside of Idol, and has become a successful producer, serving on major reality shows like the Kardashians’ own show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
2. Simon Cowell - $550 million
Everyone knows Simon Cowell. He’s the man you love to hate, yet can’t help but agree with on reality singing competition shows American Idol and The X Factor. He is also a producer on the shows America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent. He was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine twice, and he even made the list of 'The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time' authored by TV Guide. Perhaps fitting of the title, Cowell is known to berate and make fun of contestants on his shows, but is also considered to be one of the only judges who is actually completely honest. America agrees with him, but they may not like him. He is worth an estimated $90 million.
1. Donald Trump - $4.5 billion
Granted, Donald made most of his money through inheritance and business, but he was still an undeniable force in reality TV. Host of The Apprentice series for years before moving on to try to conquer the Oval Office, Trump made an estimated $3 million per episode of the hit show. Of course, his growing products line and his written works have also contributed significantly to his fame and fortune. Worth $4.5 billion, he is easily the richest person to ever star in a series of reality TV shows in the US. The fact that he would take that wealth and try to become president almost seems like a logical next step for him in some ways.
Sources: celebuzz.com
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