The honourable Judge Judy Sheindlin has been confirmed as the highest-paid TV Host in the world. The magazine about rich people, Forbes, tabulated all the top earners and Judy made the most (between June 2017 and 2018) by a wide margin, beating the second-place Ellen Degeneres by $59.5 million. Her total earnings were $147,000,000.
This sounds like a huge disparity and it is, but also the results are a little skewed this year. Judy's actual salary for her show is $47 million (which would put her in fourth place behind Ellen, Dr. Phil and Ryan Seacrest but just ahead of Steve Harvey). The reason for the $100 million bump this year was that she sold all past and future episodes of Judge Judy to CBS for an estimated $100 million. Furthermore, the methodology behind the list is questionable, the sources being "Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDB." The salaries listed are also not after tax, so depending on where they live, the numbers may change. Not only that but "fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted."
That said, these people are loaded and a few taxes of management fees aren't putting them in dire financial straights. Judy's success is also being noted across the industry, if the new Jerry Springer show, Judge Jerry, is anything to go by.
