Ever wondered how much you could get paid to dress up like grass?
Well of course you haven’t, at least until last night. But today, a lot of people are wondering just how much the people who dressed up as grass for the Super Bowl halftime show were paid – so we’ve got your answer.
The halftime show from Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny featured a massive production with some pretty incredible scenery meant to represent his home territory. But the part that caught pretty much everybody’s eye was the tall grass that covered the field…but was actually people inside of costumes.
Like “Left Shark” before them, the grass actors quickly became the star of the halftime show, and raised a lot of questions as people wondered exactly how one gets cast as a patch of grass for a Super Bowl halftime show.
Well luckily one of the grass dancers has revealed himself and given us at least some of the answers we’re looking for.
Andrew Athias shared a photo after the halftime show confirming that he was one of the grass people during Bad Bunny’s performance:
And he gave us some insight into getting cast as grass.
According to Andrew, who’s from Philadelphia, he decided to apply for the role because he’s a fan of Bad Bunny:
“I found the grass gig through a company called Backlit, which handles finding extras for the halftime show. I found it last year when I saw Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl halftime show, but I forgot about it until Bad Bunny was announced as Super Bowl’s headliner in October, and I decided to apply.”
He says that the requirements for the gig were to be between 5’7″ and 6’0″ tall, and be able to wear the 40-lb suit for 5+ hours at a time. And once he got cast, he had to fly out to the Bay Area ahead of the game for two weeks of rehearsal for the halftime show.
While he says that the suits were heavy and uncomfortable, Andrew admits that his part was pretty easy: Just stand there and don’t move. (I have a feeling I would struggle with that part). And he says there were times when they would be in the suit for six or seven hours at a time while getting fitted for the grass costumes.
Andrew revealed that there were around 8 practices in total, and that three of them lasted 12 hours each leading up to the big day.
What Did They Get Paid?
While dressing as grass is apparently a paid position, it wasn’t exactly a lucrative gig: Andrew says they made $18.70 an hour (though he admits he would have done it for free).
According to Darren Rovell, the grass dancers worked for 70 hours including rehearsals and the show, which would amount to a total of $1,309 for the two weeks of work.
But Andrew says that he spent more than that on his flight, hotel and rental car – so he ended up paying for the experience.
You’re definitely not going to get rich as a patch of grass, and you may even lose money. But hey, now they can say that they’ve performed at a Super Bowl halftime show.
