Australian Idol: Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson on almost working a ‘normal job’ at Queensland IGA

Former Australian Idol judge Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson has opened up about being ‘addicted’ to fame and feeling ashamed when his TV career ended in the late 2000s.

Speaking to The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show last week, the retired British music executive, 60, admitted he felt ‘hollow’ after he quit Idol and ‘the phone stopped ringing’, and would spend hours ‘scouring the Internet’ for articles about himself.

‘It absolutely shook me to the core because I didn’t realise how addicted I had become to fame. I felt ashamed,’ he told podcast host Jessica Rowe.

‘I felt so ashamed that something so hollow and superficial as C-grade celebrity status in Australia had got its claws into me.

‘I’m embarrassed to tell you this, but I’d even scour the Internet to look for mentions of myself, and that’s just awful to admit. My skin’s crawling even telling you that… but I’d just wrapped up my importance and value as a person [who is a] public figure.

The retired British music executive admitted he felt ‘hollow’ after he quit Idol and ‘the phone stopped ringing’, and would spend hours ‘scouring the Internet’ for articles about himself 

‘And when that was threatened and questioned, it really rocked my confidence, like you wouldn’t believe. You know, I was in my fifties and just feeling invisible.’ 

After moving from Australia’s media capital of Sydney to rural Queensland in 2016, he found himself weighing up whether or not to get a ‘normal’ job.

Dickson considered a position at an IGA supermarket in the town of Maleny, and also thought of applying to be a ‘lollipop man’ for the local school.

He said the idea of a regular job appealed to him because a few of his retired friends had done the same and seemed to enjoy it.

The former TV star told Rowe his family moved to a rural town because he felt it would help him ‘not feel so embarrassed about not being valuable anymore’.

‘The hardest thing for me is realising that I still feel like I would be a bit ashamed to get a proper job,’ he said.

‘A lot of guys I work with have retired [and] they work in the IGA and stuff, and that actually looks fun, but I think I would weird people out with my little IGA hat on [and] my IGA polo shirt, I don’t know.’

After moving from Australia’s media capital of Sydney to rural Queensland in 2016, he found himself weighing up whether or not to get a ‘normal’ job. Dickson (pictured in October 2013) said he considered a position at an IGA supermarket in the town of Maleny

Dickson 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, and also participated on Dancing with the Stars.

He returned to the Idol panel in 2007, with the addition of Kyle Sandilands as a judge, until the show’s cancellation in 2009.

He briefly returned to TV in 2021 as a contestant on mini-golf show Holey Moley.

Dickson was a judge on Idol from 2003 to 2004 with Mark Holden and Marcia Hines (centre), before he defected to rival Channel Seven from 2005 to 2006. He returned in 2007, with the addition of Kyle Sandilands (left) on the panel, and stayed until the show’s cancellation in 2009