Spears gets $15 million to join "The X Factor"

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Britney Spears has reached an agreement to serve as a judge on Simon Cowell's "The X Factor" -- and the payday is really something to sing about.

The "Womanizer" singer will collect $15 million overall for the gig -- approximately $13 million to judge music-industry aspirants alongside Cowell and record executive L.A. Reid, and the rest as a bonus for performing on the show, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The deal has been agreed upon, but has not yet been signed. Spears is still under a conservatorship following her mid-2000s breakdown, with her father, Jamie Spears, serving as her guardian.

Fox had no comment for TheWrap on this story. Spears' manager has not yet returned TheWrap's call for comment. As reported exclusively by TheWrap in March, Spears rejected a $10 million offer to judge on the show, and instead was seeking $20 million for the gig.

Though Spears won't be getting exactly what she was hoping for, the singer's payday does compare favorably to her soon-to-be peers in the music-competition arena: Christina Aguilera is raking in upwards of $10 million to mentor the current second season of NBC's "The Voice." And Spears' "X Factor" predecessor, Paula Abdul received a relatively paltry $2.5 million to judge on the first season.

The individual told TheWrap that, as of Tuesday night, the "X Factor" and Spears camps were still weeks away from a deal, with "X Factor" looking for ways to trim its budget so it could present a more favorable offer for Spears. However, reports Tuesday night that the two sides had already reached a deal spurred the parties to come to an agreement earlier.

Following its first season, which failed by a long shot to perform up to Cowell's predictions, "The X Factor" went into full meltdown mode, firing judges Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, along with host Steve Jones. Cowell has said that the second season will feature two judges, preferably a male and a female.


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