Kriti Mehrotra
Ice dancer Piper Gilles is a force of nature owing to the authentic, fierce, and quirky way she carries herself both on and off the rink. As chronicled in Netflix’s ‘Glitter & Gold: Ice Dancing,’ she has faced her fair share of challenges over the years, including losing her mother to cancer in 2018 and then facing a cancer scare herself in 2023. However, she hasn’t let anything break her; instead, she has turned these experiences into motivation and has long since dedicated every aspect of herself to her craft with the support of loved ones.
How Did Piper Gilles Earn Her Money?
A native of Rockford, Illinois, Piper Gilles was merely 2 years old when she picked up her first pair of skates, encouraged not only by her loving parents but also by her adorable siblings. From what we can tell, the Gilles eventually relocated to Colorado, where their family home became a sort of haven for local trainees, since the young girl’s twin sister, Alexe, and elder brother, Todd, were also skaters. She thus thrived in this environment, leading her to decide it was time to begin competing at the international level in the juvenile category from 2004 onwards with partner Timothy McKernan.
Piper and Timothy secured a bronze medal at the national Championship in their debut year, which they followed with the title of Intermediate Dance Champions the very next year, in 2005. The duo subsequently moved up to the Junior level, where they won pewter at the 2007 US Championship and silver at the 2008 US Championship before announcing their split in May. There were no issues between them, yet she had outgrown him physically to such an extent that they simply couldn’t skate their best together anymore, driving her to pair with Zachary Donohue.
Piper and Zachary made their international debut in the 2008-2009 season itself, where they quickly proved their mettle by securing a gold at the Czech Republic Junior Grand Prix. They then earned silver at the South African Grand Prix before winning bronze at the 2009 as well as 2010 US Junior Championships and placing #9 overall at the 2010 World Junior Championship. Unfortunately, their partnership also came to an end in May 2010 due to differences in their approaches, leading her to seriously consider other avenues before Paul Poirier came into the picture.
Piper had relocated to Los Angeles, California, because she believed the likelihood of her finding a new partner was low, which led to her featuring in Simple Plan’s music video for “Can’t Keep My Hands off You.”She even auditioned for and was offered the lead role of Rapunzel in Disney on Ice’s production of Tangled, but then Canadian professional ice dancer Paul reached out to her for a tryout in 2011. They realized that although their approaches are different too, they are quite complementary and equally quirky, resulting in them making their partnership official in the summer of the same year.
Pipr and Paul decided it would be best if they competed under the banner of his homeland of Canada, so the former packed up all her bags once again and relocated to Toronto, Ontario, for good. They were unable to do anything international in their first season because US Figure Skating had not released her, but they have since managed to achieve wonders in every sense of the term. They secured gold at the 2012 Skate Canada Challenge, bronze at the 2012 Canadian Championship, gold at the 2013 US Classic, silver at the 2013 Canadian Championship, and silver at the 2014 Four Continents.
As if that’s not enough, Piper and Paul earned silver at the France Grand Prix, Skate Canada, Autumn Classic, and the Canadian Championship in the 2014-2015 season. They followed this up the next season with a gold at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy, bronze at Skate America, silver at the France Grand Prix, and silver at the Canadian Championship. Since then, they have evolved into the 2022 Grand Prix Final Champions, 5-time Canadian National Champions (2020, 2022, 2024-2026), 2-time Four Continents Champions (2024 and 2025), 4-time World medalists with 2 silvers and 2 bronze, and 20-time total Grand Prix medalists.
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Piper Gilles’ Net Worth
As a 3-time Olympian who has represented Canada in the 2018 as well as 2022 Winter Olympic Games, and is on a clear path to represent them again in 2026, Piper Gilles is undeniably successful. Therefore, her wealth is a representation of the same, especially since she has been skating at the highest grade throughout her professional career, regardless of the category or level. The fact that she officially became a Canadian citizen in late 2013 has also helped a lot in a professional sense because it has provided her with not only security but also the opportunity to compete internationally without worrying about eligibility.
Coming to the financial aspect, considering Piper’s experience, skills, and trajectory, she has likely been under a 7-figure annual deal for at least a decade as of writing. Moreover, as per industry standards, she likely bags $50,000 per day at international competitions and then secures more per event placement, depending on the overall available purse. Furthermore, the fashion design graduate likely has a steady stream of income from her positions as a Global Ambassador for Lululemon and a spokeswoman for the Ontario chapter of the International Dyslexia Association. So, taking all these aspects into account, along with her potential assets, investments, returns, and expenses as a happily married dog mom, we believe her net worth is in the range of $7 million.
