Jax Taylor recently claimed he makes $500,000 on Cameo — but his former costar Scheana Shay isn’t so sure.
“Half a million? I’ve been on Cameo for seven years and I haven’t made half a million dollars. I’ve been on Cameo for five years, actually. Good for him if he has,” Shay, 37, said with shock during the Friday, October 27, episode of her “Scheananigans” podcast.
Taylor shared insight into his income on season 1 of E!’s House of Villains. While speaking with Love Is Blind‘s Shake Chatterjee, the Vanderpump Rules alum, 44, discussed finding success after leaving reality TV behind.
“I’ve made about probably $450,000 on Cameo alone,” Taylor revealed on the October 19 episode of the reality competition while speaking about life after his exit from Bravo in 2020. (Cameo is an online service which allows fans to request personalized video messages from celebrities for a fee that can range from $1 to $15,000.)
Taylor also praised his wife, Brittany Cartwright, for hustling with brand deals, adding, “My wife makes a lot of money. She just got a $2 million job from Jenny Craig. My wife crushes it.”
Cartwright, 34, later called out Taylor’s comments after watching his conversation with Chatterjee, 36, unfold on screen.
“What in the world kind of strategy did you think you were doing by telling people that you were making good money doing different things and that your wife had deals? I was mortified,” she said on their “When Reality Hits” podcast on October 20.
Taylor defended his decision by telling Cartwright that he was trying to use his experience as a lesson for Chatterjee.
“I was making friends there and this Shake guy — he is new to reality TV and he was trying to figure out how to monetize the situation. I was trying to give examples on what you can make,” he noted. “I have been in this for a long time and I wish I had someone like me sharing how to get deals and how to use Cameo and how to make extra money.”
Taylor maintained he “wasn’t trying to brag” about his success. “I worked my ass off for the last 10 to 15 years to have what I have now. I wasn’t given anything. I worked hard,” he concluded. “You can’t just have the show money, you need other things.”
During Friday’s podcast, Shay’s friend Janet Elizabeth questioned whether Taylor was telling the truth. Shay subsequently admitted she hasn’t seen the same level of success for herself so far.
“I upped my price to be in line with Jax and James [Kennedy] because I used to be $75 [per video], and then I saw James was $100, so I did mine at $99. I think right now I am at $199 because I saw Jax and James were at $200,” Shay recalled. “I was like, ‘I cannot be putting mine out for $99 if you guys are doing $200.'”
The cost breakdown led Elizabeth to believe Taylor was “exaggerating a little bit,” as she added, “He would have to be doing 15 Cameos a day at 7 days a week.”
