Drake Bell has shared how much money he still makes off "Drake & Josh," and it ain't much.
In a Nov. 3 video with YouTuber N3on, the Nickelodeon alum, 40, revealed that he does not receive any residual checks from his time on the children's show.
"You get a weekly check, and that’s it," he told N3on, whose real name is Mikyle Rafiq, while seated at a steakhouse in Burbank, California. "That’s it. Unfortunately, no residuals and all that kind of stuff."
Rafiq asked if that was normal, and Bell replied: "No. It's not normal."
"Cause Nickelodeon sucks," Bell said when asked why that was the case. "Oh, can I not say that?"
USA TODAY has reached out to Nickelodeon for comment.
He explained that whether an actor receives residuals depends on the contract,
adding that "there’s good and bad" from his decision to agree to the terms.
"You don’t sign the contract, well, the next kid that gets off the Greyhound bus from Wichita, Kansas, he’ll take the job," he continued. "It’s like, well, I have the opportunity to now do things that I love to do, and [it] opens doors, and I have fans."
Josh Peck shared how much he made on 'Drake & Josh'
Bell's remarks come after his costar Josh Peck, 39, shared how much he earned from the sitcom in a June 24 episode of the "Financial Tea with Mrs. Dow Jones" podcast, where he said he made a "median rate" of about $15,000 per episode.
"So, over four years, we wound up making about $900,000, but I think we probably, between agent, manager, and taxes, we cleared half of that," Peck said. "People always assume it's more."
Bell played Drake Parker and Peck played Josh Nichols for four seasons on the Nickelodeon series from 2004 to 2007 as well as two TV movies, "Drake & Josh Go Hollywood" and "Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh."
Reruns aired on Nickelodeon after the series finale and can still be streamed on platforms like Paramount+ and Netflix. Both stars were just 17 when the series premiered.
Like Bell, Peck said he doesn't receive residuals, adding that the actors had little leverage due to the lack of outlets for children's programming.
"It was a different time, and I think it was… there was only one sort of place to do it, right?" he added. "I think we all accepted that it wasn't that we could go to five other networks or YouTube… it was sort of take it or leave it."
Before "Drake & Josh," Bell and Peck made about $3,000 an episode during their appearance on Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show," which concluded in 2002.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drake Bell doesn't get 'Drake & Josh' residuals 'cause Nickelodeon sucks'
