Reports have emerged that Nicole Scherzinger is demanding £1.5 million to take up her seat on the judging panel again for The X Factor, doubling her wage she got last year on the show.
While this may appear a small amount compared to the astronomical wages her America counterparts are demanding each year, it’s still a massive pay increase and £1.4 million pounds more than either me or you would be able to get for being a part of the show.
Each of the judges are also demanding a pay rise, with Gary Barlow wanting a similar amount to Nicole, Louis going up to a cool £1million for being embarrassing continually on TV and Sharon Osborne supposedly demanding even more to return to the show.
If the full set of wages being reported is true, then that means that nearly a sixth of the show’s budget for the year is gone before the cameras even start rolling. And those cameras don’t work for cheap, and that’s even before we get to the live shows.
But does Scherzinger really deserve such a boost in salary? Her acts may have come first and second in the competition, but anyone could have seen that James Arthur was going to win after Ella Henderson was voted off the show and Jahmene was the best of a resultant batch of mediocrity.
Nicole does have knowledge of the music industry both in the UK and the US, but that seems like a long term gain that will only benefit a contestant if they really hit the domestic market in a big way.
With the show having suffered a real ratings slide over the last year, it just doesn’t seem right to seemingly reward the judges with new bumper contracts, a statement that goes for all of the returning faces.
It’s not as if the judges were anything to write home about either, with Nicole offering nothing but platitudes and senseless, sycophantic praise for artists that really needed some tough love. While she’s actually now taking the time out for her acts after the competition, making her a much better mentor than judge, a doubling in her wage packet doesn’t really seem all that worth it to us.
In fact, we can’t see why any of the judges should be given a boost in wages. None of them really stood out on the show, and it’s not as if there aren’t enough musicians in the world who’d love to be paid 20% of what they’re on and do the same job with more enthusiasm.
What do you think, are Nicole and the rest of the panel worth the extra cash, or should they cast them off and find someone a little less hard hitting in the costs department? Let us know in the comments section below.
Tagged in The X Factor Nicole Scherzinger