Rachael Ray earns $18M a year

According to a Forbes article, http://www.forbes.com/wineandfood/2008/08/08/celebrity-chef-earners-forbeslife-cx_cv_0808food.html, little ole "EVOO" (Rachael Ray) earns a cool $18 million a year. Not bad for a cook, right? The sad part is, everyone else listed in the article who makes less, and in most cases a lot less, are better cooks by miles. Mario Batali who I consider one of the best celebrity chefs around makes a paltry $3 million. I'm not a fan of Emeril but his name wasn't even mentioned in the article. Rachael's high salary is largely due in part to her being backed by Oprah. Remember Dr. Phil? It's just another example of how it's not what you know, it's who you know. Rachael didn't claw and climb her way up the chef ladder and yet there she sits perched on top of the money pile thanks to good ole Oprah. Rachael turns 40 on August 25th, 2008 so I guess I should wish her a happy birthday. What do you get someone that makes $18 million a year? A very large money clip. Maybe her 13th book will be "How to invest your millions". I'm sure she'll sell a bunch of copies to all her foodie viewers. No doubt they all need to know what to do with their millions.