The structure, and every date for Season 1.
Rates rise as the field narrows — fewer people, more work each, more money each.
Week one is paid in full regardless of elimination or adjustment. Week one is learning the machine. It removes the worst case — eliminated on Tuesday of week two, publicly, having earned very little — and it makes the offer defensible to a candidate reading the terms cold.
Deductions in any one week are capped at 30% of that week's rate. Uncapped, the twelve rules could exceed the weekly rate — the spot-quiz alone at the agreed figure twice daily is the agreed figure against an EM's the agreed figure Round 1 week. A week worked for nothing is not a deterrent, it is an indefensible offer. On this track that is a Round 1 floor of — in any week where every rule went against you. Week one is paid in full, so the cap first applies in week two.
Fixed-price milestones against a deliverable. Never hourly. We define the week's outcome; we do not count your hours. An operator fluent in the tooling finishes well inside the time it takes someone learning it, and keeps the difference. That incentive is deliberate.
Two-week periods, Sunday to Saturday. Payday is the Friday six days after the period closes. Payments only ever move earlier, never later — a payment that slips past its published date is a broken promise; one that arrives early is not.
| Period | Payday | |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 11 – Oct 24, 2026 | Fri Oct 30 | |
| Oct 25 – Nov 07, 2026 | Fri Nov 13 | |
| Nov 08 – Nov 21, 2026 | Wed Nov 25 | moved from Nov 27 — ACH gap after Thanksgiving |
| Nov 22 – Dec 05, 2026 | Fri Dec 11 | |
| Dec 06 – Dec 19, 2026 | Thu Dec 24 | moved from Dec 25 — Christmas Day falls on the payday |
| Dec 20 – Jan 02, 2027 | Fri Jan 08 | |
| Jan 03 – Jan 16, 2027 | Fri Jan 22 |
Elimination happens on the 4th Saturday. Both dates fall exactly on a pay-period close, so nobody eliminated is ever paid a part-period.
Removal can happen at any time, and mid-period removal is prorated to the last day worked. It is the only case in the season that prorates.
Work you delivered and that was accepted is paid. Always. Elimination is not a payment event.
Stage 1 asks only for work you have already done. The curriculum runs against a fictional brand and a local mock — nothing you produce in it is used by us, ships anywhere, or has any value to us. That is what makes it qualification rather than unpaid work, and it is why it takes well under an hour rather than a weekend.
Everything after selection is paid, including your first milestone. If you are ever asked to do real work on a real brand without a contract, that is wrong — say so.