The Gosselins make up to $75,000 per episode on their TLC hit, Jon & Kate Plus 8, for a 20-episode season -- and that's not even counting all their freebies!
As the Los Angeles Times reports that TLC is scrambling to find a way to revise the May 25 season premiere given the latest news on the couple, the delicate balancing act of how to incorporate reality into a heavily produced "reality" show is in the balance.
For the Gosselin clan, it's not just their show -- but their lifestyle -- that hang in the balance.
See Jon and Kate through the years.
Kate, who grew up in a trailer park and didn't go on her first airplane ride until her honeymoon to Disney World, now flies only first class for speaking engagements (mostly paid for by churches), sells signed photos of her kids for $20 a pop at appearances, and received a free tummy tuck after giving birth (Jon received a free hair transplant). A family source says while pregnant with the sextuplets, she grew "obsessed" with how many goodies the famed McCaughey septuplets received in 1997.
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Jon, now a stay-at-home dad, was fired from his job at Style Craft Corp in 2004 after "spending much more time" on a "quest" for freebies than working, the company's owner, David Rothermel, tells Us. (Rothermel finally has spoken out after growing furious at the couple's well-worn claim that he was fired because the company didn't want to insure his family.)
See photos of Jon Gosselin and his mistress
"Instead of keeping the attention on their kids, they've let the attention turn to money and fame," says a family source of Jon and Kate, who, according to Nielson Media Research, are ranked No. 8 on the list of cable shows with the most product placement.
Marc Berman, senior television editor at Mediaweek, says producers cannot continue to portray the Gosselins as an everyday family trying to raise eight kids.
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and Freida Pinto in Woody Allen's latest film, as had been reported in March, because the Australia star has left the project.
