How Much Does The Kilchers Make Per Episode (2024)

FAQs

How Much Does The Kilchers Make Per Episode? ›

The stars of the hit Discovery Channel reality show Alaska: The Last Frontier actually make a modest salary per episode, despite the success of the show. According to reports, the show pays: $7,000 to $10,000 per episode to the main family members featured, including patriarch Atz Kilcher and his children.

One revelation most fans of the show might have is that the family really is a lot bigger than what you see on TV: Atz and Otto have six sisters, none of whom are officially on the show, but many of whom still live on or near the homestead.

The show documents the extended Kilcher family, descendants of Swiss immigrants and Alaskan pioneers, Yule and Ruth Kilcher, at their homestead 11 miles outside of Homer. By living without modern heating, the clan chooses to subsist by farming, hunting and preparing for the long winters.

The Kilcher homestead grew from 160 acres to 600 acres of land. As time wore on, Yule saw how other homesteads around Kachemak Bay were slowly being divided up between family members and becoming smaller versions of the previous homestead. He did not want the hard work of his family's homestead to disappear.

For those unfamiliar with Finley's story, he was born with Down Syndrome. He and his mother, Brittney Hiebert, have advocated for inclusion ever since. In a game at Landmark Collegiate, coaches, players, and referees huddled and decided to allow Finley to shoot a basket.

Over the summer, Jane blindsided Alaska: The Last Frontier fans by announcing that she and Atz Lee were divorced. She revealed that he wanted a divorce, but she didn't. Worst of all, she lost her best friend, Emily Riedel.

The stars of the hit Discovery Channel reality show Alaska: The Last Frontier actually make a modest salary per episode, despite the success of the show. According to reports, the show pays: $7,000 to $10,000 per episode to the main family members featured, including patriarch Atz Kilcher and his children.

Unfortunately, while an unscripted documentary-style series seems interesting, the fact of the matter is that Alaska: The Last Frontier is pretty fake. It's not like a standard scripted show; the producers don't necessarily feed them dialogue. It's more about establishing a situation that needs to play out.

These people, a.k.a. the Kilcher's, are strictly living off the land in Alaska. Something that most of us have a hard time wrapping our heads around. Like literally they have four months out of the year to grow, hunt and preserve all of the food they need to make it through the harsh eight winter months in Alaska.

Another reason to like Jewel, who bills herself on a first-name-only basis, is that she was raised in a log cabin in Alaska. No hot running water, no indoor plumbing, and a family credo that put art--which was abundant in the Kilcher household--above money, of which there was very little.

What is Eivin Kilcher doing now? ›

Similar to his Grandfather, he started with a single cabin and continues to grow his pastures, his land, his home and expands the resources around him. Today, Eivin lives a hybrid lifestyle between that of a hunter/gatherer and a farmer.

Our family lived the subsistence lifestyle, gathering wild greens, hunting moose and catching salmon for food and growing a large garden. Because there were no roads, and only the beach to travel the 12 miles to town, the children were all first home schooled.

If you want to realize how unreal reality tv is-visit the Kilcher Living Museum. They do not live out in the "bush"! The museum is located 3 miles outside of Homer. Go to the Homer Safeway and you might run into one of the Kilcher families there.

Appreciating the self-sufficient life the Kilcher's lead, she focuses on gardening, raising chickens & ducks for eggs, bee keeping and milking the cow for her contribution to the family food supply.

The homestead is owned by all 8 Kilcher siblings. The family offers tours of the homestead, where an original cabin has been turned into a museum. There, old tools are displayed which were used for farming. As one of the siblings gives a tour, they offer first hand stories of growing up on their homestead.

Is “homesteading” allowed anywhere in Alaska today? No. Homesteading ended on all federal lands on October 21, 1986. The State of Alaska currently has no homesteading program for its lands.