While she definitely has made headlines criticizing Scientology, Leah Remini's biggest TV roles are on sitcoms, and she was also a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. The actress is no stranger to dance competition shows, as she was a contestant in season 17 of Dancing With The Stars and was also a guest judge. She joined SYTYCD as a judge in when Matthew Morrison exited the show in season 17, which aired in the summer of 2022. Remini starred alongside judges JoJo Siwa and the late Stephen "tWitch" Boss.
Leah Remini has kept up her public presence in the past few years through her social media posts, huge interviews, and time on So You Think You Can Dance. Did the reality competition series pay her a ton of money?
What Leah Remini Was Paid As A SYTYCD Judge
So You Think You Can Dance has had some famous judges, including Vanessa Hudgens, and many celebrities competed on the dance show as well.
While Leah Remini's salary hasn't been shared, it's possible to guess what she has been paid based on numbers that are out there. According to StyleCaster, tWitch had a $5 million net worth and was paid $1 million for his work in 2022. Since that figure also explains what he made as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance, it's possible that judges on the competition series are paid generously.
JoJo Siwa's So You Think You Can Dance salary isn't known, either, but her net worth is very high at $20 million. According to Celebrity Net Worth, her popularity on YouTube and her company that sells bows have made her very rich. She told Forbes that people had bought more than 80 million. It's seems that Siwa earned most of her money from these places and not from SYTYCD.
Judges on Dancing With The Stars are thought to be paid quite high, with Tom Bergeron making $1.6 million per season when he was on the show, according to The Reel Rundown. It doesn't seem that So You Think You Can Dance pays quite the same, but it's possible to guess that it's high enough that celebrities would be glad to say yes to the opportunity.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Leah Remini's net worth is $25 million. She definitely earned the bulk of that money during her time on sitcoms. She played Vanessa Cellucci on Kevin Can Wait and Doug's wife Carrie Heffernan on The King of Queens. According to a Variety article from 2005, Remini was going to be paid more than $400,000 for each episode of season 8 of The King of Queens.
It's interesting that season 17 of So You Think You Can Dance actually decreased the money that the winner would be given. According to Distractify, while winners were paid $250,000 for season 16, that number dropped to $100,000 in season 17.
What Leah Remini Said About SYTYCD
Leah Remini spoke about SYTYCD and shared that she is a huge fan of dance, which is something that fans might not know about the actress.
She explained in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, "Makes sense, why wouldn't I be judging! I love dancing, I love dancers, I love dance shows, I love artists. I got a dance studio. People don't know that I dance every day but that doesn't matter, I'm not trying to like make myself like, 'Oh duh, I'm a dancer, I should be a judge.' I'm not a dancer but I'm a fan of the show. I love dance."
Remini faced some backlash when she was chosen as a guest judge in season 28. In July 2022, she posted a video on her Instagram account and was very honest about how she felt about what people were saying.
She said, "For the one guy who's like…. 'Why is Leah Remini Judging a dance show?' Because I am! I love dancing, and I've been ballroom dancing. I've got my own dance studio, I've been taking ballroom, cha-cha, rumba, jive, I do it all. But, who can judge a dance show? I'm having a great time, I'm not even there as a dancer, I'm there as somebody who just enjoys dancing."
The actress added, "I'm having the best time. Just let me enjoy it!" No matter what she was paid to be a judge for one season of So You Think You Can Dance, it does seem that Remini had a lot of fun, which must have been one reason why she said yes.
Remini's fellow judge JoJo Siwa also faced negative comments online and had a great response. She tweeted about the experience that she has in the industry: "18 Years of Dance Knowledge 4 Major dance TV shows I’ve hired over 1000 dancers 16 Dance music videos If you don’t like me that’s okay… but if you think I don’t know about dance ya just sound silly."
It's interesting that Remini's most recent jobs have been in the reality TV space. In 2014, she was a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race, and she was a guest panelist in a 2020 episode of The Masked Singer. She also starred in the series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which aired from 2016 to 2019, and Leah Remini: It's All Relative, which focused on her family and aired from 2014 to 2015.
Did Leah Remini Quit Acting?
While it doesn't appear that Leah Remini has officially shared that she left acting, she hasn't done much of it in recent years. Her last acting roles were in 2018, as that is the same year that Kevin Can Wait ended and when her movie Second Act was released.
In Second Act, Remini played Joan, a friend of her real-life pal Jennifer Lopez's character Maya, and shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that their characters' dynamic was inspired by the way that they really act together. She said “A lot of it was improvised" and that being on set together was enjoyable and funny.
Although the movie isn't super popular, it does tell an authentic tale of how tough it can be to start over and try to find success later in life, as Maya has had a hard time but believes in herself enough to keep going.
While she hasn't signed onto any projects in a few years, Remini has been busy. She still talks about Scientology often. She is also active on social media and talks about the political issues that matter to her.
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