Jennifer Tedmori crashes out over bleak residual checks
Jennifer Tedmori opened a stack of residual checks from her Nickelodeon sitcom and found mostly pennies—totaling $8.63 from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and $30.06 combined with 90210—sparking her viral "crashout" over how little long-ago child-star residuals can still pay today.
Key Takeaways
- Jennifer Tedmori, 37, posted an Instagram video opening residual mail from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.
- She played Doris Trembly in 11 episodes of the Nickelodeon series, which ran from 2004 to 2007 and still streams online.
- Individual checks included amounts as low as two and three cents; Ned's residuals added up to $8.63.
- Combined with 90210 residuals, her haul came to $30.06—barely enough for a coffee, she joked.
- Costar Brooke Marie Bridges said she also gets about 20 Ned's checks totaling roughly $15.
The former child actor framed the clip with a blunt warning: "crashout incoming." Holding unopened envelopes, she teased followers about whether the mail would buy coffee—or a yacht—before admitting she had put off opening it for months.
"Some of these could be a penny, some of these could be $5," she said, according to reports from Fox News and Page Six. For more celebrity headlines, see our celebrity breaking news hub.
What did Jennifer Tedmori reveal about her residual checks?
Tedmori walked through check after check on camera. The first was for two cents from a 2006 episode. Others came in at 63 cents, 68 cents, 87 cents, 36 cents, 45 cents, multiple three-cent and 81-cent slips, and a few just over a dollar.
She also noted a $1.11 check tied to work from "over 20 years ago" on 90210. After tallying the Ned's envelopes, she announced a grand total of $8.63. With the 90210 residuals included, the combined figure was $30.06.
"Maybe I can go buy a coffee at Starbucks," she said, wondering aloud whether the IRS would even care about sums that small.
Why is Jennifer Tedmori's residual payout so low?
Residuals for supporting roles can shrink over time, especially decades after a show's original run. Tedmori herself said she was surprised to get anything at all—but argued the math still does not add up when postage alone can cost about 75 cents to mail a three-cent check.
"The way it's adding up … the math ain't f---ing mathing," she told followers, while tossing aside paper she said was not worth the litter in her car.
BuzzFeed noted that Ned's Declassified still finds audiences on Paramount+, Roku, and Prime Video, which is why many fans found the pennies especially galling.
How are fans and costars reacting to Jennifer Tedmori's video?
Commenters called the payouts "absolutely infuriating" and "absurd," with many focusing on wasted paper and postage that may exceed the payment. Others said they would cash every cent out of principle.
Ned's costar Brooke Marie Bridges replied that it was "so annoying," adding that she receives "20 checks for a total of $15 from Ned's."
Tedmori closed with a dry send-off: she hoped everyone has a great day—and makes more than $8.63. The clip has become another flashpoint in the ongoing debate over how streaming-era reruns pay the actors who made those shows.