Former England rugby star Joe Marler has impressed Celebrity Traitors viewers with his detective skills in the popular reality TV show, but one discovery the 35 year-old was not ready for was how much professional footballers earn.
Marler is far from the wealthiest figure on BBC's Celebrity Traitors, with the likes of Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Mark Bonnar and Alan Carr all believed to hold net worths in excess of £10m.
The former England and Harlequins star retired from rugby last year, but despite spending more than a decade at the peak of his profession, was left gobsmacked when he found out how much the average footballer makes.
Speaking on Marler’s Things People Do podcast last year, journeyman footballer Jimmy Bullard revealed: “My biggest contract was £50k-a-week."
Jimmy Bullard-Wigan Athletic
Jimmy Bullard's career
1998 – 1999: Ebbsfleet
1999 – 2001: West Ham
2001 – 2003: Peterborough
2003 – 2006: Wigan Athletic
2006 – 2009: Fulham
2009 – 2011: Hull City
2011 – 2012: Ipswich Town
2012: MK Dons
Bullard, who never won a major professional trophy or earned an England cap and retired in 2012, refused to admit which club had paid him that figure, which totals around £2.6m annually, leaving Marler in shock.
The Traitors star and his co-host then asked for an estimate on what kind of money a “top Premier League footballer” earns today, to which Bullard responded: “I’d have to say a few of the Man City boys must be on £350k-a-week.”
In fact, Man City's highest earner is Erling Haaland on a whopping £525k-a-week, which is over £27 million in annual salary.
For context, Antoine Dupont was recently made the highest-paid rugby player in the world, penning a £1.2 million per season deal with Toulouse, while Marler earned an estimated £300k-a-year during his last contract with Harlequins.
That means Haaland takes home Dupont's yearly pay roughly twice a month and matches Marler's salary in a matter of days.
Manchester-City-Erling-Haaland
Marler's performance on the hit BBC show has seen him touted for future roles in television, with a source telling MailOnline: "The BBC is constantly looking for new talent and the second he stopped playing rugby, there were eyes on him.
"Bosses knew that getting him on Traitors would be a very good shop window for him and they could test whether or not the viewers would like him. As soon as they saw it, they knew he would be someone the British public would adore and they seem to be right.
"At the same time, he himself is ready for a new career after retiring from rugby. He has long wanted to present from a BBC sofa and The One Show is one of his favourite programmes. To anchor that would be his dream."