James Weir: Sam Frost and the lucrative life after reality TV

Days after quitting Home And Away, all eyes are on Sam Frost’s next move. And the former reality TV star has some lucrative options.

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As we navigate life in these unprecedented times, perhaps the biggest question we face is: What’s the career progression of former reality TV stars?

They’ve given us so much. We just want to see them soar.

But more than ever, the Australian workforce is experiencing a glut of former reality contestants and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to place them all in roles.

The world of a former reality star is cutthroat and highly competitive. Like a lot of professions, they’ve been forced to pivot and apply their unique skills to rustle up new income streams.

No one’s more adaptable than a reality TV contestant. They’ll sing and dance. Date people they don’t even like and then get dumped by them. Eat bugs.

They’re truly committed to the craft.

Sam Frost – a two-time contestant on The Bachelor franchise – knows the game better than anyone. Out of all our former reality stars, she has certainly had one of the best career glow-ups.

After winning the 2014 series of The Bachelor and getting proposed to by Blake Garvey in the finale only to be dumped by him just days before the episode aired, Frost rose like a phoenix and made a triumphant comeback the following year as The Bachelorette.

A stint on breakfast radio with comedian Rove McManus in 2016 followed, but after the show failed to save 2Day FM’s troubled ratings, she moved on and scored a gig on Channel 7 soap Home And Away, with the role earning her a nomination for Most Popular New Talent at the Logies.

She turned lemons into lemonade in a time when most former reality stars are forced to supplement their income by slinging off-brand teeth whitening lasers on Instagram.

And she’s about to undergo another reinvention.

Frost has remained in the spotlight since hitting screens in 2014 on The Bachelor.

The 32-year-old’s announcement this week that she’s quitting Summer Bay – just months after attracting widespread scrutiny for posting a video in which she admitted to not being vaccinated against the coronavirus, before aannouncing weeks later she would get vaccinated – means she’s re-entering a market that’s overcrowded with other former reality contestants.

It’s difficult, but not impossible. It just requires some nous and innovative thinking.

Ciarran Stott was a fan fave on The Bachelorette whose reputation became tarnished when he evolved into a bad boy on Bachelor In Paradise. Australia turned on him overnight. He thought his career was over. Turns out, it was only just beginning.

Producers on The Bachelorette Sweden came calling and cast him on their version of the series, even though he doesn’t speak Swedish.

“Some days the show was a bit boring, a bit difficult, because it would be all in Swedish,” he told the So Dramatic! podcast this week. “So I’d just have to sit there and pretend to know what’s going on. I’d sit there between anywhere from two to six hours and it’s all in Swedish.”

It’s a tough life, but that’s why he gets paid the big bucks.

“They paid me pretty well,” he admitted. “It was a good figure!”

It’s this kind of shrewd thinking and entrepreneurial spirit that has led to Stott’s other successful ventures. He’s now making money on the booming Pokémon trading card market.

“There’s good money in Pokémon cards!” he said. “I’ve put about 10 to 15 thousand dollars on cards and I’ve gotten anywhere upwards of 100 thousand.”

Ciarran’s always been a wallflower …

… And his commitment to Pokémon is admirable.

Former Married At First Sight contestant Jessika Power is another shining example of how to find success after reality TV. She says she’s earning a “ridiculous amount of money” on the adult content platform OnlyFans.

Since joining in August, she claims to have made over $280,000.

Still, it’s not easy.

“You’ve got to pay tax on it. The more money you get the more boring it gets, because then it’s like, you have to get a financial adviser, a really good tax agent,” she told KIIS 106.5 recently.

Ugh, money is so hard.

Power’s windfall comes as no surprise. The 27-year-old is a workaholic.

She leveraged her profile to appear on this year’s Big Brother VIP for a fee and, while in the mansion, revealed another way she has supplemented her income.

“My sugar daddy died,” she said. “He lived in Europe … He sent me, like, four grand, five grand a week. For a little while … a few months. I just had to talk to him. He was, like, a full-time job, though — it was so annoying.”

Now living in the UK, it’s reported she’s looking for international reality TV opportunities.

She’d be great in Sweden.

And what’s next for Sam Frost? Clearly she’s got options. But the most stable career path is obviously in the Pokémon trading card biz.

Twitter, Facebook: @hellojamesweir

Jessika has come a long way.

Originally published as James Weir: Sam Frost and the lucrative life after reality TV