Are The Voice contestants paid? Everything we know

Since 2011, The Voice has become one of the most popular singing competitions, especially thanks to their star-studded lineup of coaches, which this year includes Reba McEntire, John Legend, Chance the Rapper and Dan + Shay. However, there are still many curiosities about the show that not many fans know about, such as contestants’ compensation.

As many viewers know, the show’s winner will get interesting rewards, and this is what you win as The Voice champion: an interesting cash prize and contracts. However, in order to get there, you have to live in Los Angeles for the whole season.

NBC offers accommodations for The Voice contestants, but people still wonder if contestants are getting paid for participating on the program. And, if not, how can they afford to live in LA? Here’s what we know about the situation.

Do ‘The Voice’ contestants get paid?

The contestants on The Voice don’t get paid, but they do receive a stipend while they are on the show to cover their living expenses. However, there’s no record about how much the stipend is, per Distractify.

In 2021 Cosmopolitan talked to several contestants, who revealed how they lived while participating on the show. Jessie Poland, who competed under the name Charlotte Sometimes in season 2, said that “Once you’re on the show for a while, you got money [a stipend] to go out and catering was really great. I ate really well.”

Poland also explained that during the show, it is impossible to work on anything else. “I couldn’t make a ton of money. And even though I worked as a film writer and played shows, I couldn’t do that while I was on The Voice. I couldn’t really work. No one can work,” she told the publication.