Mariah Carey secures $18m American Idol pay packet
Newly appointed American Idol judge, Mariah Carey, is reportedly set to receive a whopping $18m for her first year on the show – a massive $6m more than Jennifer earned for her first year on the show.
It also thrashes Britney Spears’s $15m pay packet for her judging duties on X Factor USA – making her the highest paid judge on reality TV of all time, according to TMZ.
Despite Mariah receiving more money than Jennifer, the Latina star has proven she’s no diva, offering 42-year-old Mariah some advice upon hearing the news that Mariah would be her successor.
She told E! News: ‘There is pressure as far as the live shows, but you know what? Just remember you’re there at the end of the day to help those contestants grow and to get to the end and to get to that finale.
‘And whenever I thought about that it always made my job a little less pressure-filled and a littler easier, because it’s not about you. It wasn’t about me, it was about them. It was about helping them and that always made it a lot of fun for me. I’m going to miss it a lot.’
Jennifer is confident Mariah will be a success because she has so much experience in the industry.
She said: ‘She’s a musician for a long time she has a lot of experience. And it’s that experience you offer them at the end of the day, the contestants just want to get better and grow through the process.’
With Steven Tyler and Jennifer both announcing their departures from American Idol last week, The Fox network had some new recruiting to do.
And they have now filled one of the gaps by recruiting the music industry’s biggest divas.
It was confirmed Mariah would be joining the judging panel for Season 12, which up until now only consisted of longtime judge Randy Jackson.
For several weeks it had been rumoured that she would be in the running for the top job.
Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said in a statement today that the network was thrilled to have the songstress on the team.
‘It’s the biggest recording artist than any of these [singing competition] shows have ever had,’ he said during a press conference in Beverly Hills.
‘It’s an artist many of these contestants have tried to emulate. [The deal] only concluded only hours ago. Not being the only game in town we need to keep things fresh.’
Mr. Reilly then put Mariah on speakerphone to the room.
She said: ‘I am so excited to be joining ‘Idol’. First of all, I wanted to be there today and I wish I could’ve been there to tell you, but I think you know this all kind of just happened real quickly, so I can’t wait to get started in a couple months.’
She also expressed her excitement to her fans via Twitter.
‘It’s gonna be so much fun working on @AmericanIdol,’ she wrote. ‘As a singer-songwriter, I’m excited to help find and nurture new talent. LYM! –MC’
