X FACTOR bosses have quietly dropped the claim that their winner will bag a "million-pound contract" after leaks revealed the act would need to shift FOUR albums to hit seven figures.
According to the contract that all this year's finalists have been asked to sign, the winner will get an advance of just £150,000 for their first album.
They will then get up to £237,500 for their second, £315,000 for their third and £400,000 for a fourth. Yet acts such as Joe McElderry and Leon Jackson were dropped after only ONE.
Last year's winner Matt Cardle admitted: "I got an advance to keep me housed and fed while making my album. The million pound thing — that's just for TV."
The water-tight deals with show guru Simon Cowell's record label Syco also set up a sliding scale of smaller pay days for runners up. Whoever comes second could get a £260,000 advance for a fourth album while for the third-placed act — which last year was One Direction — the figure is £187,000.
All the stars then get 15 per cent of sales as a royalty payment — slashed to half if Syco spends more than £50,000 promoting them on TV.
X Factor had always billed the winner's prize as a "£1million recording contract" but is understood to have dropped this in 2009. Wannabes are sworn to secrecy and only now have the full details of the deals emerged.
A show source said: "The bottom line is that unless you have hit album after hit album you will never get anywhere near the £1million from selling records. But it's still a hugely lucrative show."
Stars can get up to £700 a day on the X Factor tour plus a £10,000 bonus with appearances — if enough tickets are sold. A greatest hits album could earn them up to £200,000 more.
Last night a spokesman for Syco said: "The X Factor provides a huge platform for earning potential for both the winner and finalists. It is estimated finalists have collectively earned an estimated £60million in the past few years alone including from record deals, endorsements and public appearances."
Leona Lewis is responsible for the lion's share of that having banked more than £20million.
Source: The Sun Online, 19/10/11