Ex Australian Idol judge Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson says new producers don’t want him back for 2022 reboot

He was famously known as the ‘mean judge’ on Australian Idol when it first aired in 2003.

And with a reboot in the works for 2022 on Channel Seven, Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson, 57, has already anticipated that he will not be returning to the revamped talent show. 

‘No-one wants some old bloke being a bas***d to kids on TV anymore,’ he told TV Week on Monday.

The former Sony boss said if he was asked to return, he would only do it if he was given management of the winners.

‘If I’m not going to manage them, it’s all pretend,’ he said.  

The former manager – who has previously managed big names including Oasis, Public Enemy, Pearl Jam and Celine Dion – went on to discuss what he believes has been ‘missing’ from recent versions of talent shows. 

‘We were looking for people who were commercially successful, and that’s what’s been missing in all these shows recently, there would be no point going back to just pretend to be interest in someone’s career if I’ve got nothing to do with it,’ he said.

Dicko was a judge on Australian Idol from 2003 to 2004 alongside Mark Holden and Marcia Hines, before he defected to rival Channel Seven from 2005 to 2006.

There the British-born TV presenter hosted Australian Celebrity Survivor and season two of My Kitchen Rules, as well as participated on Dancing with the Stars.

He then returned to the judging panel on Australian Idol in 2007 – with the addition of Kyle Sandilands on the panel – until the show’s cancellation in 2009.  

Dicko, who is based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, is making his return to TV on Channel Seven’s mini-golf show Holey Moley.

Holey Moley will premiere on Monday, February 1, at 7.30pm on Channel Seven