Holly Willoughby’s fee for less than 30 minutes in Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt has reportedly been revealed.
The former This Morning presenter, 43, joined Bear Grylls on the new reality programme, which follows 12 celebrities including Shirley Ballas, Mel B, Boris Becker and Una Healy, as they are hunted down by adventurer Bear, 50.
The eight-episode programme sees the stars facing their biggest fears in risky challenges which involve swinging face first into a cliff, nearly drowning and even being followed by a crocodile.
While the celebrities truly put themselves to the test, it’s been claimed Holly appeared for only 24 minutes across more than seven hours of the programme.
But for that time, she’s earned the equivalent of £40,000 for every minute, according to The Sun.
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It’s claimed she was paid almost £1,000,000 to present the programme, despite being on screen for an average of three minutes per episode.
An insider told the publication: ‘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.
‘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.
‘But in the final edit of Celebrity Bear Hunt she plays second fiddle to leading man Bear, and even gets less screen time than the dozen celebrities who are competing.’
Holly features in the links between the scenes as Bear hunts down the celebrities in the Costa Rican jungle.
At one point, it’s claimed she was left ‘visibly shaken’ by Steph McGovern facing a terrifying accident, while she elsewhere watched on as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen struggled to breathe and needed rescuing in the sea.
After filming the series, Bear said he discovered Holly had a ‘streak of steel and a heart of gold’ while working with her.
He noted that she’s ‘overcome many tough things in her life,’ including facing a court case where a security guard was jailed last year for a minimum of 16 years for masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her.
Reflecting on her resilience on ITV’s Good Morning Britain earlier this month, he said: ‘Holly has a beautiful spirit, she really does. And as you say, she’s overcome many tough things in her life.
‘I think everybody on this show, myself, the cast and Holly, all of us are out of our comfort zone, so it’s a full-on committing experience in there. But I think the jungle does a lot of that for us, to challenge us and build us up.
‘And I came away at the end of that thinking what a remarkable lady. Humble, brave, determined.
‘Often talks herself down “I’d be hopeless in the Bear pit”, but she wouldn’t because she’s got a streak of steel and a heart of gold.’
Metro has approached reps for Celebrity Bear Hunt and for Holly for comment.
Celebrity Bear Hunt is available to watch on Netflix.
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