Celebrity Bear Hunt host Holly Willoughby’s impressive pay cheque for every minute she appeared on the new Netflix series has been revealed as she returns to the limelight

Holly Willoughby has stepped into the limelight again and enjoyed a staggering pay day thanks to Celebrity Bear Hunt.

The presenter, who quit her role on This Morning in 2023, is fronting the new Netflix show alongside Bear Grylls. They welcomed 12 celebrities to Costa Rica to take on challenges as they learn survival skills and try to avoid being caught by Bear. The show dropped on the streaming platform earlier this week, with more than seven hours of adventure.

However, Holly just appeared for 24 minutes across the show series of Celebrity Bear Hunt. She is on screen for an average of only 180 seconds in each of the eight episodes. Holly was reportedly paid almost £1million to front the show, meaning she bagged an equivalent of £40,000 for every minute she appeared.

“Viewers will be surprised just how little she features in the final version of the programme given all the attention there’s been surrounding the show,” a source told the Sun. “Holly is a huge talent and very popular with viewers, plus she has decades of experience of presenting big TV shows, particularly live TV which requires a level of excellence few presenters have.

“But in the final edit of Celebrity Bear Hunt she plays second fiddle to leading man Bear, and even gets less screen time than the dozen celebrities who are competing.” Bear praised Holly for her work on the show at the series premiere earlier in the week. He said: “I just want to say as well to Holly, you were such a key part of this, not just for them but for me also. You were a light and love to all of these people.”

Holly was reportedly paid almost £1million for the show(Image: Tom Dymond/Netflix)

Holly replied: “As soon as you’ve got Bear’s name attached to anything, you know you’re in for an adventure of a lifetime. This show really does have a little bit of everything. You 12 celebs that were involved in this, you said yes and it was the beginning of a real adventure for you all. You were so brave and I think it’s because of you, you can get anyone to do anything, you’re inspiring.”

Spice Girl’s Mel B, tennis legend Boris Becker, interior design expert Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, journalist Steph McGovern and former rugby player Danny Cipriani took part. They were also joined by Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, rapper Big Zuu, The Saturdays star Una Healy, The Inbetweeners actor Joe Thomas, model Lottie Moss, actor Kola Bokinni and fashion model Leomie Anderson.

Holly had stepped away from the spotlight after it was revealed security guard Gavin Plumb had planned to kidnap and kill her. Plumb was jailed for a minimum of 16 years in July last year. Holly had been away from the spotlight for just under a year when she made a return to screens for You Bet! with Stephen Mulhern and Dancing on Ice.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Holly said her comeback was always going to happen, and that it was “important for me to get back to normality”. She said: “I’d be an idiot if I said no. [Money’s] not the reason I make a decision. I’m not saying, how much are they going to pay me for this, and how much are they going to pay me for that? But by definition my work is a business.

“I’m not going to shy away from saying that. I think, sometimes, when women earn money people see it as a greedy, ambitious thing, but when men earn money? ‘Oh, he’s incredible, I want to be like him!’ I don’t have any shame in saying it’s my business, it’s my work. It’s also all I have known. It’s what I do.”