Television executive defends Shane Warne’s $1 million pay packet

A top Australian television executive has defended paying Shane Warne a rumoured $1 million to take part in I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

A top Australian television executive has defended paying Shane Warne a rumoured $1 million to take part in I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

Alex Mavroidakis has served as executive producer for production company ITV on the show for all seven seasons.

Controversial cricket great Warne was a big name addition to the cast in season two, joining the likes of Akmal Saleh, Havana Brown and Brendan Fevola.

Shane Warne Pictured in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

At the time, it was suggested he was paid upwards of $1 million and had special clauses in his contract like being able to smoke cigarettes.

“Shane Warne wasn’t a waste of money because series one was on the cusp,” Mavroidakis said in an interview with former Big Brother winner Benjamin Norris on the new TV Reload podcast.

“It just about did enough for people to be talking about it (but) it needed a prestige name for series two to drag people back in to the format. We put Warnie in on episode two, we teased him through the launch and put him in episode two. I think it launched at 1.1 million and episode two did 890 or 900,000. Then you are off and running, there is your million dollars, he just paid for himself.”

Mavroidakis clarified that while heavily involved in casting, he was ultimately not the person who decides on what celebrities make the final cut or what they are paid to appear on the show. That decision goes to Channel 10 executives, who commission the series from ITV.

Shane Warne with Alex Mavroidakis in South Africa for I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

This year’s season, shot in Australia instead of South Africa because of the pandemic, features the likes of Paulini Cuerenavuli, Jack Vidgen, Grant Denyer, Toni Pearen and Mel Buttle.

“We’ve kind of changed our casting tactics after series two or series three where we would clearly go for the most famous people we could get,” Mavroidakis explained, adding of the casting process: “There is absolutely everything you would expect in casting any show – we’ve got to check off diversity, we’ve got to check off fame, we’ve got to check off funny, we’ve got to check off headlines.”

I'm A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! season seven cast: Ash Williams, Toni Pearen, Travis Varcoe, Paulini, Jess Eva, Mel Buttle, Abbie Chatfield, Grant Denyer and Jack Vidgen

It was good news for programmers for the latest season premiere, which debuted as the top program on Sunday night with a five city capital viewership of more than one million nationally.

Channel 10 and ITV are banking on a continued run of good numbers as the show runs outside the traditional television ratings that don’t start for another few weeks.

“There is very little competition at that time of the year,” he said. “If you don’t like sport, you are with us. You are always nervous about the launch. You always think, is this the year when it is going to go down the toilet. It doesn’t matter how good it is. Free to air television ratings are eroding.”

Shane Warne after leaving the jungle. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Originally published as Television executive defends Shane Warne’s $1 million pay packet