Mariah Carey Now TV’s Highest Paid Judge

Despite all attempts by Nick Cannon to negotiate a $40 million payday for Mariah Carey (he’s so cute when he puts on a business suit and plays big boss man), Mariah Carey will only be paid slightly under $18 million for one year of American Idol. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing. Mariah will now be the highest paid judge on any reality show. Because apparently “reality show judge” an actual job now.

It's gonna be so much fun working on @AmericanIdol. As a singer-songwriter, I'm excited to help find and nurture new talent. LYM! –MC

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) July 23, 2012

In any case, I bet Nick Cannon is really pleased with himself. He probably went up to Mariah and said something like, “See what I did, babe? I put the story out there and got all the producers scared that they couldn’t afford you so they made their offer higher than it would have been.” To which Mariah just smiled, said, “You did good, honey,” and patted Nick on the head.