Girls Aloud top reality TV rich list with £25 million

But which other stars have made a fortune from their 15 minutes of fame?

Girls Aloud have topped a reality TV rich list – with a collective fortune of £25 million.

Cheryl Cole and the girls, who shot to fame in Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, beat Pop Idol’s Will Young and The X Factor’s Leona Lewis into second and third places.

Tragic Jade Goody, who died from cervical cancer at 27 on Mother’s Day this year, came in at fourth place after amassing an £8 million fortune from TV, DVDs, perfume, books and magazine deals.

The list showed that Pop Idol winner Will Young has earned £12.5 milion, while 2006 X Factor queen Leona is already worth a whopping £10 million.

Susan Boyle should get excited, as the original Britain’s Got Talent winner, opera-singing Paul Potts, comes in at number seven with a £5 million bank balance.

Myleene Klass (Popstars) and Gareth Gates (Pop Idol) take up the fifth and sixth spots, after so far pocketing £7.5 million and £6.5 million respectively.

Other blasts from the past to appear in the top 20 include Big Brother stars Craig Phillips (£5m) and Brian Dowling (£2.5m), Fame Academy’s Lemar (£4m), and Popstars’ Kym Marsh (£1.8m).

The list was compiled by Current TV, and features the people who have made the most lucrative careers after appearing on reality shows.

Most of the biggest profiteers came from talent-based shows like The X Factor, Popstars, Pop Idol and BGT, but four Big Brother stars also made the rundown.

Shaheen and Susan: time to get those lungs working overtime!

SEE CHERYL COLE'S BEST HAIR AND BEAUTY MOMENTS HERE

SEE GIRLS ALOUD ON TOUR HERE

SEE GIRLS ALOUD'S HOTTEST PHOTO SHOOT TO DATE HERE