Alix Earle would be the first to admit that, for a moment there, her world was a bit of a hot mess.
Though she was just in elementary school at the time, the Dancing With the Stars standout still remembers the day back in 2008 when mom Alisa Earle ushered her and younger sister Ashtin Earle out of their New Jersey home—which had been swarmed by photographers—and over to their cousins' house.
"We stayed there for a few days and I had no idea what was going on," she reflected on a 2023 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. "I didn't know they were paparazzi. I thought news broadcasters were interviewing the neighbors."
It would be a few years before she'd get the full report of her dad Thomas "TJ" Earle's affair with her now-stepmom Ashley Dupré.
"I started to kind of hear commentary from people," Alix reflected. So the then-fourth grader pulled out her iPad. "I'm Googling my family and all of a sudden, I see that the past two years of my life had been a lie."
The truth: "My dad had an affair with someone who was well-known for her job having sexual relations with high-class people and one of them was even the governor of New York," Alix reflected of Ashley's 2008 sex scandal with then-governor Eliot Spitzer. "She was very well-known from that and, in turn, my dad's affair became a very public situation."
Which meant for the future TikToker, "My world crashed down in that moment."
For awhile she was forced to pick her way through the rubble. Though the 24-year-old credits her mom with being "super, super mature about it," and never discussing the details, Alisa eventually ended her marriage to the construction company owner, leaving him to build something new with Ashley.
"We were introduced to her, which was super weird," Alix explained. "And I was told that I had to be respectful to this woman and we had to be nice to her. I wanted to rip her head off. It was very weird because I felt like I was a 10-year-old having to be more mature than someone 20, 30 years older than me."
Then her world was knocked off its axis once more when Ashley and TJ got married in 2013 and welcomed their first child, Izabel.
"I went to visit her in the hospital, and I had this overwhelming feeling," Alix reflected on choosing the now-12-year-old to honor on DWTS' Dedication Night. "I wanted to look out for her, I wanted to protect her. Suddenly, that became more important than the other emotions I was feeling and dealing with."
Added Alix, "It really helped me to mature and really helped bring our family back together. It was our second chance at our family."
Their troupe now includes younger siblings Penelope and Thomas James Earle II, but it was the middle schooler that Alix picked to join her in the ballroom Oct. 15 for an emotional contemporary number with partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
"I’m her big sister, but in a lot of ways she’s been like a big sister that I’ve never had to me because she’s taught me so much and just taught me to mature at such a young age," Alix gushed in an exclusive interview with E! News after their number. "It's hard to replicate and hard to find, so I just give her so much credit for that."
These days, "We've gotten to such a good point," Alix acknowledged in a 2023 interview with Elle. "Whatever's happened in the past, we've all gotten past it as a family."
Though, yes, it was messy.
"I don't want people to think that...our parents got divorced and we were like, 'Hey, we're a big perfect family,'" Alix explained on a 2024 episode of her Hot Mess podcast, "because it was like years and years of us fighting and hashing it out to get to this point that we're at, and I'm very grateful that we're here."
And now, she told Elle, "It’s normal for me to have my dad, my mom and my stepmom all going on the same trips. Whatever’s happened in the past, we’ve all gotten past it as a family."
Fully in step, she noted to E!, "The one thing we do really well as a family is just stick together and know who we are and our bond and our story and how far we’ve come as a family. And I think that’s the most important thing."
As Earle continues to make moves in the ballroom, we're pulling back the curtain to share these secrets behind the scenes of ABC's reality hit.
How Much Do the Celebrities Get Paid to Be on Dancing With the Stars?
Citing multiple sources, Variety reported in 2019 that Dancing With the Stars contestants make $125,000 for the rehearsal period and first two weeks of the show. If they progress beyond that point, the outlet continued, they earn more money each week. At the time, sources told the publication stars could earn a maximum of $295,000.
However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
"That show pays OK," the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick's podcast Trading Secrets. "Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last."
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, "I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show."
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
What Do the Pros Get Paid on Dancing With the Stars?
Similarly, little has been shared publicly about how much the pros get paid. But as with the contestants, it seems like the longer they're on the show, the more money they can make.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they're not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
"You're guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks," Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester's podcast The Morning After. "I think there's different contracts though. I can't speak for everybody."
Do Pros Get Paid More If They Win Dancing With the Stars?
Apparently not.
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor's Joey Graziadei—says the pros don't get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there's still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
"If you make it all the way to the end, you're getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale," she explained on The Morning After. "If you win, it's not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You're just getting a cute trophy together."
Do the Troupe Members Get Paid as Much as the Pros on Dancing With the Stars?
That doesn't appear to be the case.
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut "more than in half" when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
How Are Pros and Celebrities Paired Together on Dancing With the Stars?
The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.
"You get no say," Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers' Hot Smart Rich podcast. "It's very much just, 'Here's your partner. Make it work.'"
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
"They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live," Jenna said on The Morning After. "They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we're keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don't even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner."
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
"It's based on height, build and personality and compatibility," former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. "We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don't want to see two people who don't like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn't get on so well."
How Often Do the Pros and Celebrities Practice on Dancing With the Stars?
Put simply, a lot.
"Every day we have four-hour rehearsals," Rylee Arnold, who was partnered with Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik on season 33, shared on a September 2024 episode of the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis. "It’s either 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m."
But the work doesn't stop once the rehearsal wraps. Rylee noted she might then meet with producers or the creative team, work on choreography or study dance videos.
"Literally my whole life is devoted to it," she continued, "but it's my passion and it's what I love. So, it makes me so happy."
Indeed, it's a no-days-off kind of gig.
"We have our show day on Tuesday and then it's Wednesday to Sunday, straight rehearsals," Rylee added. "And then Monday we have camera blocking and then Tuesday's show day again."
Do the Pros Get to Pick the Songs Each Week for Their Dance With Their Celebrity Partner?
"Mostly yes," Emma Slater and Britt Stewart revealed in a September 2025 Instagram video, "though it's a collaboration with producers."
What's the Process Like for Making the Costumes for Dancing With the Stars?
If you thought the quickstep was fast, just wait until you hear about the pace of the costume department.
"We meet with the set and lighting designers, dancers and talent and create a story [for each pair]," costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner told TV Insider back in 2017. "Then we sketch out ideas. We have five days, max, to make all the outfits. That’s half a day per costume, not including all the rhinestones. The fitting and trimming we do later. We have about 20 people in our department and then we have a separate tailor shop. It’s a big enterprise."
In fact, costume designer Steven Norman Lee said pairs usually try on their costumes for the first time just hours before showtime. And while the department "might use a pair of pants again for the boys," he continued, everything is generally made custom each week.
As Gschwendtner added, "We do reuse things for group numbers or promo shoots, but not for the competition. We don’t reuse things unless there’s a specific reason to do so. We try to keep everybody fresh and new in something different every week, so it stays interesting."