Proving that there really is life after Reality TV, the 25 highest earning reality alumni are announced today, with pop superstars Girls Aloud topping the chart. The first ever Reality TV Rich List reveals the stars who cashed in on their notoriety and reaped the biggest financial rewards since launching their careers on reality shows. The top five includes TV talent show winners Will Young and Leona Lewis, Big Brother’s most famous face, Jade Goody, and TV golden girl Myleene Klass.

Examining the finances of stars who had made their names on reality TV, the list was compiled after discussions with talent agents, production companies, accountants and journalists, and is inclusive of newspaper and magazine fee based interviews, follow up TV shows, tours, book deals, personal appearance fees, and other brand affiliations. The chart excluded ‘celebrity’ based reality shows, and focused on the TV series that champion unknown personalities, such as Big Brother, Popstars, Pop Idol, X Factor, Survivor, Fame Academy, Shipwrecked, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria and Any Dream Will Do?

Girl group sensation Girls Aloud are deemed most successful in the monetary stakes, earning a staggering £25 million in the seven years since they shot to stardom on ITV’s Popstars: The Rivals. The five member girl group, Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh, are followed by Pop Idol winner turned Brit Award nominated soloist Will Young, with £12.5 million, and X Factor superstar Leona Lewis, who in less than three years has accumulated £10 million, having amassed music sales on both sides of the Atlantic.

Those who narrowly missed the list, but seemed destined for a favourable financial future, are Britain’s Got Talent’s 13 year old vocalist Faryl Smith, who has since scooped a £2.3 million recording deal, string quartet Escala (also finalists from Britain’s Got Talent), and Jodie Prenger, who won series of both Biggest Loser and I’d Do Anything, and is now wowing West End crowds as Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Oliver!

The full Reality TV Rich List appears below:

1. GIRLS ALOUD £25 million

Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding

The girls won Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, and monstered the UK charts with their first single. But they seemed to fade until staging a massive comeback, starting in 2007. They’ve proved they’ve got real staying power, producing a stream of top ten UK albums, and launching their bestselling autobiography last year. As for all music stars, the big money is in touring and merchandising, and they are working their little stilettos off right now on a major UK tour, just as they did last year. They have had some lucrative advertising contracts, for Kit Kat and Nintendo. Cheryl Cole gets an extra £1.5 million for her new role in reality television, as a judge on The X Factor, and the others all have individual ad and modelling deals.

2. WILL YOUNG £12.5 million Age: 30

It is seven years since he won Pop Idol, and he has earned consistently well ever since. All four of his albums have charted well, with his fourth, out last year, going in at no. 2. He did a solid 17 date tour to support it last year, culminating with performing at the o2 with Elton John on New ear’s Eve. This year he has a smattering of festival and other dates, but is working mainly on a new dance/pop album. He has made a couple of successful ventures into action, in the film Mrs Henderson Presents, with Judi Dench, and on stage in a Noel Coward play. Having survived the first critical years, it looks as if his career has legs.

3. LEONA LEWIS £10million Age: 24

Leona won The X Factor in 2006, and since then her career has zoomed into the stratosphere. Unlike most reality TV one-hit wonders, she has a huge career already- and the best is yet to come. She’s made the important transition from UK star to international star, making it big in the US market. The critical second album comes out in November, and will be backed by an international tour. She’s our top tip for a career that will run and run.

4. JADE GOODY £8 million 5th June 1981- 22 March 2009

Without talent or education, Jade could so easily have been one of the many ex-BB stars who burn brightly for a few months and then fade back to oblivion. But something about her disingenuous charm and her truly horrific childhood took a trick with the British public, and her great achievement was to build a lasting career out of fame. She ‘wrote’ books, put her name to fragrances, fronted her own TV shows, and made countless appearances in celebrity magazines- all for good financial deals. Even the racism row that boiled over after she took part in Celebrity Big Brother was soon forgotten, eclipsed by the news of her terminal cancer. More books followed, and there was a £700,000 deal for coverage of her wedding, a month before her death. Her legacy: a touching wish that her two young sons should have a better childhood and education than she had.

5. MYLEENE KLASS £7.5 million Age: 31

Winning Popstars in 2001 with the manufactured band Hear’Say was her first stab at fame and fortune- but it didn’t last. Within two years the band had broken up acrimoniously. Her career as a classical musician and a TV and radio presenter staggered along until she appeared in I’m A Celebrity- Get Me out of Here in 2006- when her bikini showers wowed the nation. She has gone on to major success as a presenter on the One Show, Last Choir Standing, and Ten Years Younger, as well as hosting two radio shows. But her highest profile has been her M and S ad campaign, and although the credit crunch has seen her contract slashed from £1 million a year to £750,000, it’s still a nice little earner. Add on her Pantene ads, and her contract with Mothercare for her own baby clothes range.

6. GARETH GATES £6.5 million Age: 24

Two thirds of this money was earned in the first two sensational years after coming runner up to Will Young in Pop Stars. Back then, it seemed as if Gareth was the real winner, landing a couple of plum advertising contracts and watching his album go straight into the charts at no.2. But the critical second album flopped, and Gareth’s career went with it. He dropped out sight for a while, taking time away from performing to qualify as a speech coach. But last Christmas he was back on stage in panto, and February this year took over from Lee Mead as Joseph on the West End stage. He says his future career lies in musicals, not producing albums.

7. PAUL POTTS £5 million Age: 38

Winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2007 launched Carphone Warehouse manager Paul on his dream career, as a ‘pop’ opera singer. His first album, One Chance, was huge across Europe- he has a very solid fan base in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia. He has even starred in a Japanese ad campaign for a throat medicine. His long-term future depends on the success of his second album, Passione, released here on June 1st, but it’s safe to say he won’t have to sell mobile phones again.

8. CRAIG PHILLIPS £5 million Age: 37

Craig won the first ever Big Brother- and famously gave his prize money away. But he didn’t feel the financial draught, because he has been earning a very steady income from TV, personal appearances, advertising campaigns, and lectures on cruise ships. He has made more than 800 TV programmes, always in his role as a builder and DIY expert. He has his own production company, and makes films for building companies. If we were to factor in his property empire, he would be much higher up this list- but we have stuck to earnings from showbusiness. His biography comes out next month (June) and he has even signed up to do panto next Christmas.

9. LEMAR £4million Age: 31

You probably can’t remember who beat Lemar on Fame Academy in 2002, because the real winner was the man who came third- and who has become the best black British male soul singer of recent years. With two Brit awards and three Mobos, Lemar has established a career with legs. He can pack a concert tour, and he has sold more than two million albums. Oh, and in case you are interested: the winner was David Sneddon. Remember him?

10. JANE McDONALD £3.5 million Age: 46

It is eleven years since Jane catapulted to fame as the struggling singer on a cruise ship, featured in a BBC top-ratings series. A number one album and sell-out tours followed, and an autobiography made the bestsellers list. She even did a stint in Las Vegas. But her career slumped after her first two albums and the break up of her marriage. She’s now enjoying a revival, thanks to her popularity on ITV’s Loose Women. She’s in the middle of a sell-out tour and her latest album reached number seven.

11. LIBERTY X £3million

Michelle Heaton, Jessica Taylor, Kelli Young, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm

They were originally dubbed ‘flopstars’, because the band was made from the singers who failed to make the Hear’Say lineup. But they quickly established themselves as a cooler crowd, and over six years they produced 10 top twenty hit singles, sold more than a million albums and picked up two Brit awards. Since they split in 2007 two of the girls have kept high profiles: Jessica Taylor, 28, who is married to cricketing star Kevin Pietersen, and Michelle Heaton, also 28, who keeps popping up guesting on TV programmes, and last year made a documentary about girls who binge drink. Both have a lucrative sideline modelling: Michelle modelled a range of lingerie for Asda, and Jessica is the face and body of the new underwear line at Tesco’s.

12. BRIAN DOWLING £2.5 million Age: 30

His combination of a sharp wit and an endearing naivete made him the easy winner of the second Big Brother series, eight years ago- and later won him the vote for the most popular BB winner ever. A TV career beckoned, and at first he did well, with a twenty month run fronting the SM:TV Live children’s show, followed by a prime time series, Brian’s Boyfriends. But he has failed to parlay it into a top line career, now doing work for corporate companies, voice-overs for ads, and recently a Christmas run in panto in Dublin. He refreshed his profile with an appearance in Hell’s Kitchen in 2007- he came third. It may not have been the dazzling career that was predicted for him- but it sure has earned him a better living than being a Ryanair trolley dolly.

13. BEN FOGLE £2 million Age: 35

In 2000 the BBC marooned 36 people on an island off Scotland for a whole year of reality TV, monitoring their lives. Ben’s good looks and enthusiasm took a trick, and since then he has become a successful and busy presenter of countryside programmes, including Countryfile, Country Tracks, Animal Park and One Man and his Dog. He rowed the Atlantic naked with James Cracknell, and they have teamed up again to take part in a race to the South Pole, which will be televised soon. The Atlantic row spawned a bestselling book, and South Pole race is set to do the same.

14. KYM MARSH £1.8 million Age: 32

Fame came- and went – with Hear’Say, which lasted less than two years. Her solo career as a singer was short lived, and for a couple of years she was more famous for her private life than for any work. But in 2004 she re-invented herself as an actress and stage performer, taking to the West End boards as Annette in Saturday Night Fever for an eight month run. She did panto, appeared in Holby City and Doctors, before landing a recurring role in Hollyoaks. Stability has come with her Corrie contract, which pays £100,000 a year.

The research was conducted exclusively for Current TV, to coincide with their season Desperately Seeking Fame, which airs on Friday 29th May at 10pm.’