Steve-O only made $1,500 on season 1 of “Jackass.”
The reality star revealed the “ridiculous” amount to Playboy in an interview published Tuesday, revealing that she was not paid per episode.
Instead, stuntmen received money per bit.
“After five days of filming, I was completely beat up, hungover, and shark-bitten, so I put it down to paper that I felt like I really needed to be on the show,” Steve O., 52, explained to the magazine.
“I wrote ‘goldfish’ at the top, but I thought I’d also post what I expect to be rewarded with,” he continued. “I literally wrote $200 next to ‘goldfish.'”
He walked away from the experience with a “minor” scar and $500.
“At the end of the day, after taxes, I was paid less than $1,500 for the entire first season of ‘Jackass,'” the “Wild Boys” alum said, noting that “his sister kicked[him]out of the house before the show even aired.”
“I was broke, unemployed, homeless, and I was the star of this big MTV show,” Steve-O added.
Even though his life was “black and white and completely changed overnight,” he quipped that “one of the first things[he]learned about fame” was that “it comes a lot easier than luck.”
Before “Jackass,” Steve-O was “homeless for three years” as a stuntman and “didn’t get any attention” so he attended Ringling Brothers Clown College.
He recalled thinking that if he became a “trained circus professional” people would “take[him]more seriously” in the field.
Steve-O jokingly referred to himself as “the only guy who goes to Clown University looking for validation.”
“Jackass” aired for three seasons from 2000 to 2001, starring Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera, and was followed by multiple films and spinoffs.
The series concludes with Friday’s release of Jackass: The Best and Last, which Steve-O confirmed is “100 percent over.”
“That’s what this movie is…a last hurray for us all to come together and do whatever is in us,” he said Tuesday.
