Celebrity Bear Hunt host Holly Willoughby's rumoured salary unveiled
Holly Willoughby reportedly earned close to seven figures for fronting Celebrity Bear Hunt alongside Bear Grylls.
Holly Willoughby has made a splash once more, reportedly securing an impressive payday with her latest venture, Celebrity Bear Hunt.
The star, who left her presenting gig on This Morning in 2023, is now co-hosting the fresh Netflix series alongside survival expert Bear Grylls. The duo introduced 12 celebrities to the wilds of Costa Rica, where they faced various challenges and honed their survival skills while trying to elude Bear.
The show premiered on the streaming service earlier this week, offering over seven hours of thrilling content.
Despite the hype, Holly's actual screen time in the entirety of Celebrity Bear Hunt amounts to just 24 minutes. On average, she graces the screen for a mere 180 seconds per episode across the eight-part series.
Holly Willoughby hosts the Netflix show (Image: Tom Dymond/Netflix)
Holly's pay check for the show is rumoured to be close to ÂŁ1 million, which translates to around ÂŁ40,000 for each minute she appeared on screen, reports the Mirror. We have been to Holly's representatives for further comment.
"Viewers will be surprised just how little she features in the final version of the programme given all the attention there's been surrounding the show," a source told the Sun. "Holly is a huge talent and very popular with viewers, plus she has decades of experience of presenting big TV shows, particularly live TV which requires a level of excellence few presenters have."
In the final cut of Celebrity Bear Hunt, Holly found herself playing second fiddle to the star of the show, Bear. She even received less screen time than the dozen celebrities participating in the competition.
Bear acknowledged Holly's significant contribution at the premiere of the series earlier that week. He commented: "I just want to say as well to Holly, you were such a key part of this, not just for them but for me also. You were a light and love to all of these people."
Holly responded graciously, saying: "As soon as you've got Bear's name attached to anything, you know you're in for an adventure of a lifetime. This show really does have a little bit of everything. You 12 celebs that were involved in this, you said yes and it was the beginning of a real adventure for you all. You were so brave and I think it's because of you, you can get anyone to do anything, you're inspiring."
Celebrity Bear Hunt sees 12 stars dropped in Costa Rica (Image: Tom Dymond/Netflix)
The line-up of celebrities included Spice Girl Mel B, tennis icon Boris Becker, interior design guru Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, journalist Steph McGovern, and ex-rugby pro Danny Cipriani. Joining them were Strictly's Shirley Ballas, rapper Big Zuu, The Saturdays' Una Healy, The Inbetweeners' Joe Thomas, model Lottie Moss, actor Kola Bokinni, and fashion model Leomie Anderson.
Holly had been out of the limelight for just under a year when she returned to television for You Bet! with Stephen Mulhern, and Dancing on Ice.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Holly stated that her comeback was inevitable and that it was "important for me to get back to normality". She said: "I'd be an idiot if I said no. [Money's] not the reason I make a decision. I'm not saying, how much are they going to pay me for this, and how much are they going to pay me for that? But by definition my work is a business.
"I'm not going to shy away from saying that. I think, sometimes, when women earn money people see it as a greedy, ambitious thing, but when men earn money? 'Oh, he's incredible, I want to be like him!' I don't have any shame in saying it's my business, it's my work. It's also all I have known. It's what I do."
Celebrity Bear Hunt is available to stream now on Netflix.