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WATCH LIVE: KFOR-TV's local coverage of Okla. tornado tragedy
Access Hollywood
updated 3/27/2009 4:07:01 PM ET 2009-03-27T20:07:01

“Dancing With the Stars” doesn’t just help a celebrity learn half a dozen dance styles over the course of a television season, it also helps that person’s bank balance. And in the case of teenage Olympian Shawn Johnson, her fee for appearing on the show could pay for college several times over.

According to the contract filed in court between Johnson and BBC Worldwide Productions, which makes the show, the gymnast is being paid a guarantee of $125,000 to do the show, Access Hollywood has learned. The guarantee covers training, the first two weeks of the show and her appearance at the finale.

Johnson will receive $10,000 for getting through the third and fourth weeks of “Dancing.”

As a frontrunner in the competition, who has scored high marks since the start of competition, she only stands to gain more as she takes on the ballroom with professional partner Mark Ballas.

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For weeks 5, 6 and 7, Johnson will take home $20,000 a week. She'll earn $30,000 for weeks 8 and 9, and if she makes it to weeks 10 and 11, Johnson will earn $50,000 a week, for a grand total of $365,000.

If “Dancing” chooses to make a special, Johnson can earn $30,000 for each one producers make.

And there is still more potential cash in the works. Future “Dancing” programming which would complement her “Dancing” run would net the Olympian $10,000 per show, and $5,000 for each in studio interview promoting the possible new official programming tied into the show. They are not paid, however, to do publicity for the show.

Heather Mills, who performed as a contestant during season four of “Dancing,” earned $217,000, according to the information contained in her divorce judgment, E! News previously reported.

And “Dancing” isn’t the only show that pays its contestants. “American Idol” doles out cash as well, though in much smaller amounts.

During season six, “American Idol” contestants received $30 a day for food, one time hopeful Leslie Hunt, told E! News last year. She said they also received $500 to spend on clothes.

“Once you’re in the top 12, you get a check for even more money if you’re eliminated,” she said. “If you’re within the top two, then you get a car. The higher up you are, the more money you get when you get eliminated. I think the winner received a six-figure amount.”

And while on tour, the “Idols” receive a stipend rumored to be between $1,000 and $5,000, msnbc.com previously reported.

Copyright 2013 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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