Steve-O has revealed just how little he actually earned during the first season of Jackass, even though the MTV series became the launchpad for his career.
Long before Jackass turned him into a household name, Steve-O was trying to make a living as an amateur stunt performer and clown. He spent years chasing that dream through a string of odd jobs and unstable living situations, including work in nightclubs, on cruise ships and with a flea-market circus, while also dealing with serious money problems and periods of homelessness.
Born Stephen Glover, Steve-O later said that his obsession with becoming a “crazy-famous stuntman” led him to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997, a move he believed would make him look more legitimate as a performer. That background would eventually become part of the bizarre appeal that helped him stand out when the Jackass crew came together at MTV in 2000.
Although Jackass ultimately made him one of the franchise’s most recognizable stars, the money did not arrive quickly. In a recent interview, Steve-O said he was paid for individual stunts rather than full episodes, and the amounts were tiny by any entertainment-industry standard.
“After five days of filming, I was all banged up, hungover, had been bitten by a shark, and I pulled out a piece of paper to write down what I felt really needed to be on the show,” he said.
“At the top I wrote ‘Goldfish,’ and I thought, while I’m at it, I might as well put what I expect to be paid. Next to ‘Goldfish,’ I literally wrote $200.”
Steve-O said that even after a shark-bite stunt, his payout for that moment was only $500. By the end of the first season, he said the total he brought home was shockingly low.
He continued: “When it was all said and done, after taxes, I was paid less than $1,500 for the entire first season of Jackass.
“Before the show came out, my sister kicked me out of the house. I was broke, unemployed, and homeless, and a star on this big MTV show.”
“That’s one of the first things I learned about fame: It comes a lot easier than fortune.”
Looking back, Steve-O has often said that the early Jackass years were more about exposure than money. The TV series, which premiered in 2000, eventually spawned multiple films, including Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 3D and Jackass Forever, but the first season itself was a low-budget, uncertain start for the cast.
In the same Playboy interview, Steve-O also reflected on the years before Jackass changed his life, including the dangerous and often humiliating stunts he attempted while trying to build a name for himself.
One of those moments involved badly burning his face while trying to do a fire-breathing backflip. Not long after, he enrolled at Ringling Bros. Clown College as part of his effort to be taken more seriously as a stunt performer.
Discussing that period, Steve-O said: “The only reason I even thought to go to Clown College was to further my goal of becoming a crazy-famous stuntman.
“I had been homeless for three years, got zero f****** traction, and I thought, all right, if I can graduate from Ringling Bros. Clown College, then I’m a trained circus professional. People take me more seriously as a stuntman.
“The only guy going to Clown College to seek legitimacy.”
“The fact that I was a clown endeared me to the f****** people who started Jackass,” Steve-O added.
Since then, Steve-O has remained a fixture in the franchise’s orbit, later appearing in Wildboyz, touring with live shows and continuing to perform stunts onstage and online. He has also been open about the personal cost of the wild lifestyle that helped make him famous, including addiction, rehab and the challenge of rebuilding his life after the chaotic early years that made him a star.