Loren LoRosa revealed she wasn’t paid for her early guest hosting gigs on The Breakfast Club.
Speaking on the Bag Fuel podcast, LoRosa opened up about her radio journey and admitted that when she first began filling in at the iHeartRadio-owned morning show, the work was unpaid.
“I wasn’t paid to be at The Breakfast Club for a long time,” she shared. “I wasn’t actually making money from working with Breakfast Club until I came back, when Jess [Hilarious] went on maternity leave.”
LoRosa—who previously worked as a news producer and reporter at TMZ—said she viewed the unpaid stint as a chance to grow and get practice.
“None of us are being paid to guest host. We were doing it because you understand the opportunity. Some people were doing it because they had things to promote,” she explained. “For me it was: number one, I need to get my reps in … Here is the space, here is the field, run it up. So anytime y’all need me, I’m gonna come. This is practice for me.”
Even when discussions came up about making her part of the show, LoRosa admitted she doubted she was worth iHeart adjusting their budget—especially as the company recorded a $1 billion net loss in 2024.
“If I’m being honest, maybe that was a conversation I wasn’t having with myself because maybe I didn’t think I was worth them reevaluating their budget,” she said. “I thought if anything they might find a couple of dollars for me to be up there a couple days to help with the show production, but even if not … I was willing, and they knew this—like, if y’all need me, call me.”
Jess Hilarious officially joined The Breakfast Club in February 2024, following Angela Yee’s exit. LoRosa stepped in as Hilarious’ fill-in after she went on maternity leave that August.
Back in March, Jess Hilarious admitted she felt “weird” returning to The Breakfast Club after maternity leave, saying she wasn’t thrilled to see Loren LoRosa still on-air.
During a heated Instagram Live, Jess explained that while she personally picked LoRosa to fill in for her, she was blindsided when “nobody told me anything” about LoRosa continuing as part of the show.
She also hinted that LoRosa’s “Loren with the Latest” segment felt a little too close to her own signature bit, “Jess with the Mess.”
The tension came to a head with an on-air confrontation, but the two eventually squashed it. They even poked fun at the situation afterward, teaming up for a parody of Brandy and Monica’s classic “The Boy is Mine,” rebranded as “The Job is Mine.”
