Think the Bringing Up Bates family makes a lot of money doing reality TV? Think again

Tonight’s episode of Bringing Up Bates really made me wonder how much the Bates family is making for being on a reality TV show.

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I don’t think it’s as much as I previously thought.

Of course, throughout the seasons, we’ve seen the Bateses shopping at some secondhand stores for good deals, but I just thought it was because that’s the type of people they are. But after seeing how hard Alyssa and John Webster are working to make ends meet for their family, it really put into perspective that the Bates family is not a wealthy one.

According to Starcasm, the Bates family didn’t even have health care as of August 2012.

Gil Bates touched on how the family makes ends meet during an interview with 20/20, explaining, “We try our best to live as cheap as we can. I’m a real penny pincher. I’m probably worse than a penny pincher. We try not to buy stuff that’s full price. We wait till it goes on sale, and if it’s not a necessity, we try not to buy it unless it’s something we really need.”

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But now that the family has starred in four seasons of their own show, you would think that their financial obligations would be a little less stressful.

Unfortunately, I failed to find any information for this article about the Bates family’s paycheck for each episode they film of Bringing Up Bates.

I am definitely not suggesting that the family is going under by any means. I’m sure they are doing just fine. And I kind of love watching for the fact that the Bateses live the simple life and love it. It’s just surprising to me that even a reality TV show paycheck apparently isn’t keeping this family from putting in the hard work. I mean, Alyssa and John are scrubbing toilets for a living, in between John’s other full-time job. That’s impressive work and long hours with an infant child.

Even Alyssa commented tonight about their financial state. “I definitely think that a lot of people get the idea that just because, you know, his [John’s] dad’s a congressman that, you know, we just make tons of money and I’m like, ‘No, everything we make, we work hard for.'”

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OK, so a congressman doesn’t make you rich, but what about a famous reality TV family? Apparently, that won’t do it either when there are 21 mouths to feed in the entire Bates clan.

Are you surprised the Bates family isn’t rollin’ in the dough?

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