THE X Factor judges will get paid a staggering £6MILLION this year â€" a £2million rise.
Nicole Scherzinger, Gary Barlow and Louis Walsh have signed up again for the 2013 series. And Sharon Osbourne will join them, replacing N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos as the fourth judge.
Bosses splashed the extra dosh on the judging line-up to mark the show’s tenth anniversary â€" and in a bid to win back the two million viewers who deserted it last year.
Boss ... Simon Cowell
Former judge Sharon â€" who quit the show in 2007 â€" has signed up for £1.5million.
The 60-year-old will also get £300,000 to pay for first-class flights from her home in the US and a suite at London’s five-star Dorchester Hotel during the show’s filming.
Gary, 42, gets £1.5million â€" the same as he was paid last year â€" while Louis, 60, is now the lowest paid judge on £1million even though he will be the only one to have filmed all ten series.
Former Pussycat Doll Nicole, 34, whose artist James Arthur, 25, won X Factor last year, was the final judge to sign up.
She held out until bosses doubled her pay packet to £1.5million, from last year’s £750,000.
The new deals take the judges’ pay from £3.7million a year to £5.8million, plus expenses likely to run into tens of thousands of pounds. Bosses vowed to use the tenth series to win back the viewers who stopped watching X Factor in 2012.
A source said: “We’re really confident about this panel and we’re putting our money where our mouth is.
“Nicole deserved a pay rise after coming first and second last year. Also she’ll be there for the audition shows this year so we’re getting more bang for our buck.â€
Yesterday show boss Simon Cowell, 53, said: “Three words I never thought I’d say â€" welcome back Sharon.â€
As The Sun previously revealed, The X Factor will now feature two sets of auditions.
First, the hopefuls will face the judges in an intimate audition room.
And if they receive three or more yes votes they will go on to perform for the panel again in an arena.
j.blackburn@the-sun.co.uk
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/x_factor/4938720/X-Factor-spends-6m-on-judges.html
