A judge is holding up young Dancing With the Stars favorite Bindi Irwin’s contract on a technicality. Since Bindi is a minor, the law requires that her parents sign off on her right to be party to her DWTS contract. (The well-meaning law wants to ensure Bindi herself, not her parents, get the money.) Bindi’s mother signed the papers, according to TMZ, but obviously her father Steve — who died tragically in 2006 — can’t do the same. It’s red tape that will soon get cleared up, but for now it’s causing a delay.
The DWTS deal pays Bindi $125,000 no matter if she dances like a stone — it’s akin to an athlete’s signing bonus. Then Bindi starts earning bonuses for her progress through the competition, bonuses that increase incrementally as she goes on. She’s already earned — if the contract stands — $230,000. She’s eligible to earn another $130,000 if she goes through week 11, the final week. (It’s now approaching week nine.) Bindi will put just a little less of those wages into her pocket now though. Lawyers trying to straighten out the legal roadblocks rarely work for free, even for someone as cute as Bindi Irwin. If it were all clear, she’d earn about a thousand bucks a day for a year, or $360,000, for winning. The contract is the same for all the dancers.
