Ainsley Earnhardt began her career in journalism before she graduated from USC when she was hired to work as a reporter for WLTX-News 19, the local CBS Station in Columbia, South Carolina. She worked as the morning and noon anchor from 2000 to 2004. In 2007, she moved to New York and was hired by Fox News Channel. She has co-hosted a few programs including America’s New’s Headquarters, Fox and Friends Weekend, and Fox’s All-American New Year’s Eve as well as being a panelist on The Live Desk.
Today, she appears on Hannity with her own segment called Ainsley Across America. Earnhardt is an author of two children’s books namely Through Your Eyes and Take My Heart, and a memoir entitled The Light Within Me.
Wendy Williams – $15m
Wendy Williams hosts the popular TV talk show The Wendy Williams Show since 2008. She is known for her outspoken personality that has gotten her into several bouts with guests. Even way before her career on television, when she was a radio DJ, and host, her on-air feuds with celebrities have already made her a household name that she was made a subject of the reality TV series The Wendy Williams Experience.
Williams is also quite the businesswoman with her creations of product lines including a wig line, a jewelry collection, and a fashion line. She also has a New York Times best-selling autobiography and six other books. She was also inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. She even has a street renamed after her.
Megyn Kelly – $15m
Megyn Kelly is a former corporate defense attorney, and one of her first few jobs was a general assignment reporter where she conducted live coverage of the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court Justices. When she joined Fox News, she hosted her own legal segment called Kelly’s Court during Weekend Live as well as appearing on a weekly segment on The O’Reilly Factor. In 2010, she hosted America Live.
From 2013 to 2017, Kelly hosted the nightly program The Kelly File which at times, overtook the network’s regular number one The O’Reilly Factor in ratings. Kelly has been listed as one of the 100 most influential people on Time. Eventually, she left Fox News in 2017 and joined NBC News and hosted the third hour of the morning show Today with her program Megyn Kelly Today. However, her contract with NBC was terminated in January 2019.
Erin Burnett – $3m
Erin Burnett started out in the financial industry as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs. She was then offered to work at CNN as a writer and booker for CNN’s Moneyline. In the next few years, she hosted and anchored different shows including CNBC’s Squawk on the Street and Street Signs. She also appeared occasionally on The Celebrity Apprentice as an advisor to Donald Trump.
In 2011, Burnett returned to CNN and anchored her own show called Erin Burnett OutFront. It was this program where she experienced hosting live from the borders of Afghanistan, Mali, Rwanda, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. She was once labeled by Joe Scarborough as “The International Superstar” because of the number of documentaries she has filmed outside the United States.
Giada de Laurentiis – Minimum $3m
Giada de Laurentiis dreamt of becoming a pastry chef after studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, but that clearly didn’t pan out. Instead, she worked as a chef in several Los Angeles restaurants including the Wolfgang Puck-owned Spago. She was working as a food stylist when Food Network contacted her after they saw her styling piece in Food & Wine magazine in 2002. She rose to prominence with her first show Everyday Italian. Since then, de Laurentiis has been a staple in the network, and she has created an empire that led to more TV series, several cookbooks, and restaurants.
Other TV series that was birthed from her first show included Behind the Bash, Giada On The Beach, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, Giada in Paradise, Giada in Italy, Giada Entertains, Winner Cake All, and her most recent, Giada at Home. She also appears as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC’s Today. De Laurentiis has received awards and accolades such as the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host, and in 2012, she was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame.