Nearly 16 years have passed since Stacey Solomon first burst onto our screens on The X Factor. She may not have won (finishing third behind winner Joe McElderry and runner up Olly Murs) but since then, her career has gone from strength to strength.
In fact so successful has Stacey been that, earlier this month, it was revealed the 35-year-old had netted herself an impressive £9.7million fortune.
But is it enough for her to crack into the top 10 of the UK’s richest TV stars? CLAUDIA CONNELL looks at the those with the biggest bank balances on the box…
1. SIMON COWELL, 65
£492million
Instagram followers: 2.7 million
TV talent shows BC (that’s ‘Before Cowell’) were a naff, old-fashioned affair. But 20 years ago he changed all that when he reinvented the format to make it young and exciting – and himself extremely rich in the process.
Starting off as a record company executive, he latched onto the appeal of novelty records and masterminded releases from acts such as Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder. His biggest success came with singing duo Robson and Jerome, who he claimed made him his first million.
But it was TV that made him multi-millions. In 2004, he launched The X Factor, which ran for 14 years and turned into a huge worldwide franchise. Three years later came Britain’s Got Talent, which itself spawned 72 global spin-offs including America’s Got Talent. Cowell is a judge in both the US and UK and his production company Syco owns the rights to the format as well as a financial stake in all the acts the shows have produced, including One Direction.
In 2022 he struck a groundbreaking £97million deal to secure ‘production margins and fees, digital income and franchise and original content sales and sponsorship’ to the ‘Got Talent’ series.
After selling up in London and Los Angeles, Cowell, his partner Lauren Silverman and their son Eric, 11, now live in a sprawling £8million house in the Cotswolds.
Cowell launched the X Factor in 2004 before going on to create Britain’s Got Talent and US spin-off America’s Got Talent
2. ANT & DEC, BOTH 49 (£102million combined)
Ant McPartlin £40million
Declan Donnelly: £62million
Instagram followers: 5.3 million (shared page)
They first came to our attention in the kid’s TV series Byker Grove in 1989 and have barely been off our screens since.
In 2022, the Geordie duo signed an exclusivity contract with ITV, a deal thought to be in the region of £40million.
The pair front ITV’s flagship programmes Britain’s Got Talent, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Saturday Night Takeaway.
Ant and Dec also jointly own production company Mitre Studios. As well as producing some of the couple’s own shows, they provide other content to ITV such as DNA Journey and game show In for a Penny.
Lucrative endorsement deals with Santander, TUI and Ring doorbell cameras are worth in the region of £4million.
Dec, his wife Ali and their two children live in a £7million house in West London and also bought the run-down property next door for £2.2million.
Home for Ant and his second wife Anne-Marie is a £6million house in Wimbledon where they live with their son and her two daughters from her first marriage.
Although he’s made up some ground, Ant’s fortune took a dent from the £31million divorce settlement he paid first wife – Strictly make-up artist Lisa Armstrong – in 2020.
The iconic duo first appeared in the kid’s TV series Byker Grove and in 2022 signed an exclusivity contract with ITV thought to be worth £40million
3. MICHAEL MCINTYRE, 49
£60million
Instagram followers: 578,000
Earlier this month the BBC announced they had secured a further two series of Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel and The Big Show. The comedian has a lucrative golden handcuffs deal with the corporation said to be worth £2million.
However, his stand-up tours are where the big money is.
His Magnificent world tour could give Taylor Swift’s Eras tour a run for its money. Starting in Norway in February 2023 and finishing in Switzerland in September of this year, taking in North America, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand (as well as five sell out nights in London), the tour is expected to gross around £20million.
In 2020 he signed a deal worth ‘multi millions’ with streaming giant Netflix, giving them the exclusive rights to his stand-up shows.
Home to him, wife Kitty and their two sons is a £10million eight-bedroom house in North London complete with a pool, spa gym and cinema, as well as a £3million country bolthole in the Cotswolds.
A petrolhead, McIntyre owns a fleet of luxury cars including a £150,000 Ferrari.
The comedian has a lucrative golden handcuffs deal with the BBC said to be worth £2million and signed a deal worth ‘multi millions’ with streaming giant Netflix in 2020
4. JEREMY CLARKSON, 65
£55million
Instagram followers: 8.9 million
Getting the boot from Top Gear and the BBC after 27 years was the best thing that ever happened to Clarkson.
After selling the BBC his stake in Bedder 6 (the production company that makes Top Gear) for £8.4million, he signed a deal with ITV to present Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, worth £3million – a drop in the ocean compared to the £160million three-year contract he signed with Amazon Prime last year. The deal is for Clarkson and his two former Top Gear sidekicks, Richard Hammond and James May, taking in motoring show The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s highly popular reality series Clarkson’s Farm, about the running of his 1-000 acre Cotswolds estate. The show has been such a hit that he’s turned the venture into a tourist attraction complete with spin-off farm shop, café and pub.
He owns a fleet of cars worth around £500,000, can command £25,000 a night for a speaking engagement, while his books and videos are also best sellers.
Home, nicknamed Diddly Squat Mansion, is a six-bedroom new build worth £12million where he lives with his partner Lisa Hogan. It’s close to the farm, where the land is valued at £12million.
Jeremy Clarkson’s reality series Clarkson’s Farm has been such a hit that he’s turned the venture into a tourist attraction complete with spin-off farm shop, café and pub
5. GRAHAM NORTON, 62
£30million
Instagram followers: 727,000
He’s been presenting his Friday night BBC chat show for 18 years and last year signed a deal with ITV, thought to be worth around £1million, to front a rebooted version of Wheel of Fortune.
His former production company So Television was also bought by ITV in a deal reported to be worth up to £17million in 2012 and, last year, the Irishman took a £2.7million salary from So. Norton also fronts a highly successful book club podcast and has written six best-selling novels.
In 2011 he ventured into the world of wine and spirits buying a stake in Kiwi company Invivo and manufacturing his own label wine and gin, stocked in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Ocado.
As well as investing in vino, Norton put his money into property and has made a tidy sum buying and selling homes. In 2017 he sold his house in Bexhill, East Sussex for £2.7million, a million more than he paid for it. His main residence, where he lives with his filmmaker husband Jonathan McLeod, is his East London apartment overlooking the Thames, worth £3million, and he also owns a sprawling waterside property in West Cork, Ireland worth £4million as well as a Manhattan apartment.
The Irish presenter, pictured, signed a £1million ITV deal last year to front a new and updated Wheel of Fortune
6. GARY LINEKER, 64
£30million
Instagram followers: 1.2 million
LINEKER is the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, taking home £1.35million per year. However, that is expected to take a considerable dip when the former footballer steps down from Match of the Day next month.
As well as his BBC pay cheque, he has an ongoing deal with Walkers crisps, dating back 30 years. Although no longer the face of the brand, he has an official ambassador role said to be worth £1.2million.
While working for the BBC, Lineker also earned further millions with sports presenting gigs for NBC, BT Sport and Al Jazeera.
His production company Goalhanger makes sports documentaries and in 2018 branched into podcasts. It’s now the largest independent podcast producer in the UK – with its collective shows, including Lineker’s The Rest is Football, earning 40million downloads a month.
Home for Lineker is a six-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion in Barnes, south West London, worth £4million.
The Match of the Day host, who will be stepping down from his role next month, is the highest-paid BBC presenter with earnings of £1.35million
7. BRADLEY WALSH, 64
£20million
Instagram followers: 913,000
Can anyone remember the last time they switched on the telly and Bradley Walsh wasn’t on it? His deal with ITV to host The Chase is estimated to be worth £4million and, unusually for such a big name attraction, it doesn’t tie him to the broadcaster; he recently presented the BBC’s successful reboot of Gladiators too.
A former footballer, Walsh also has an impressive acting CV including parts in Coronation Street, The Larkins and Dr Who and owns Wingit Productions, valued at £20million. Its most recent accounts showed the company has £4million in the bank.
He has an investment portfolio of stocks, shares and property worth £6million, including the £2.5million Essex barn conversion where he lives.
The Chase presenter’s ITV deal – worth £4miilion – doesn’t tie him to only working with the broadcaster, allowing him to also host the BBC’s Gladiators reboot
8. HOLLY WILLOUGHBY, 44
£12million
Instagram followers: 8.3 million
Despite walking away from This Morning in 2023, Holly is still the highest earning woman on British TV.
Netflix paid her £1million to front reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt, a survival show starring adventurer Bear Grylls, and have renewed it for a second season.
Reports last month suggested Holly is eyeing up TV deals worth £10million, including further shows for Netflix as well as hosting a remake of Blind Date for the BBC.
Most recent company accounts show that her lifestyle brand, Wylde Moon – once tipped to be her answer to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop – is struggling to make a profit. Nevermind though – Holly still attracts big money endorsements. Although her five-year deal with M&S has come to an end, she still has contracts with Garnier and Dunelm.
Following her kidnap and murder plot ordeal, Holly and her family left London and now live in an £8million mansion in south east England.
Holly is the highest earning woman on TV, with reports last month suggesting she is eyeing up TV deals worth £10million
9. STACEY SOLOMON, 35
£9.7million
Instagram followers: 6 million
Earlier this month it was revealed that Stacey has raked in close to £10million.
She owns around £6million worth of properties via her company, Key Map Entertainments, including Pickle Cottage, the £1.2million Essex home she shares with husband Joe Swash and their five children. Latest accounts showed Stacey is currently earning around £57,000 a month
A current panellist on ITV’s Loose Women, she’s also made shows for the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Her family reality show Stacey & Joe can currently be seen on BBC One, but her most successful show to date is makeover programme Sort your Life, also for BBC One. Stacey has made DIY, crafting and tidying her niche – and it’s paid off. Her 2021 book Tap to Tidy sold more than 700,000 copies.
Her biggest pay day is likely to come from her numerous endorsement deals, including with Asda, Primark, Jet2, Rehab hair products and Abbott Lyon jewellers, worth in the region of £2million.
The Loose Women panellist owns around £6million worth of properties via her company, Key Map Entertainments
10. CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN, 53
£9million
Instagram followers: 1 million
Thanks to the phenomenal success of The Traitors, Claudia has become one of the hottest properties in TV.
The series, set in a Scottish castle, drew in 10 million viewers for this year’s final and it’s reported that she has a £1million deal to continue making the show.
She also earns around £600,000 a year for presenting Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly and has a contract with Channel 4 to host The Piano and quiz show One Question.
Last month it was reported that, following the success of The Traitors, ITV have tried to lure Claudia to work with them with a six figure offer.
Her commercial earnings come from endorsements with M&S, John Lewis, Clarks and Boots. Her best known endorsement is with Head and Shoulders, thought to be worth £500,000 a year.
Latest figures for her Little Owl production company show cash reserves of £2.1million.
Home is a £5million central London townhouse where she lives with her producer husband Kris and their three children.
Winkleman has become one of the hottest properties in TV due to The Traitors’ remarkable recent success
