MasterChef is one of the most successful formats on Spanish Television since it premiered in 2013. The cooking competition has gone through different stages after its beginnings more than a decade ago, with a multitude of participants in different categories. The basis of its format, judges Jordi Cruz, Pepe Rodríguez and Samantha Vallejo-Nágera, add to the wide variety of dishes and viral moments that have occurred over the years.
One of the latest installments of the popular program is MasterChef Celebrity 9, which is currently in development through Shine Iberia. This is a very eclectic edition in terms of its participants, including celebrities such as Cristina Cifuentes, former president of the Community of Madrid; the singer Pitingo or the journalist Inés Hernand. A season that has become the most expensive in its history.
Through a request made by VerTele, under the protection of the Transparency Law, the numbers of this production that will soon premiere on La 1 have been released. The document details the total cost of all the programs, as well as the respective salaries of its 16 participants. In total, the sum of all costs amounts to 9,306,599.69 euros, which divided into the 12 scheduled galas gives a total of 775,549.97 euros per program.
Expenditure on external resources is the most expensive part of production, reaching up to 8,545,070.32 euros. Of these, 8,350,000 is the investment contributed by Shine Iberia, while the remaining money is broken down into equipment rental, studios, transportation of materials and personnel, meals, accommodation and restaurant services. Internally, RTVE puts around 620,000 euros in internal staff.
Among the details of the document published by VerTele, an item of 100,000 euros stands out for the purchase of ingredients, “subject to the settlement of expenses to be justified at the end of production so that we have no guarantees that it is the amount that is actually paid for this concept”, according to RTVE. Likewise, the details of the payroll each member receives are also explained.
Contestants will receive 17,150 euros per recorded episode, adding more amounts to their pockets as they advance in the contest. Marking hypotheticals, taking into account that an eliminated person could later reach the final, a finalist who has competed in the complete twelve galas will return to her house with 205,800 euros. For their part, the triplet of judges will once again charge 10,000 euros per program as in previous editions.
