Mariah Carey's diva demands revealed by Australian idol judge

Mariah Carey poses in the press room with the Icon award at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Photo / AP

Ian "Dicko" Dickson has revealed just how much of a demanding diva Mariah Carey really is.

Before he was a judge on Australian Idol, Dicko was a record executive who worked with big-name artists including Pearl Jam, Celine Dion, Jamiroquai and LL Cool J.

He also got to work with Mariah Carey, and in an episode of Celebrity Name Game that airs tonight on Channel 10, Dicko opens up about the All I Want For Christmas singer.

"When I was working in the UK we had Mariah Carey come to town to do a Saturday morning TV show," Dicko tells Grant Denyer, who returns as host tonight after a few weeks off. "As part of her request to our team, when she went to this TV station, in her dressing room we had to put 12 white labrador puppies."

This is hardly the first time we've heard about Carey's diva ways.

In 2017 actor Rob Huebel revealed what went down behind the scenes when the singer filmed a cameo for the Will Ferrell film The House.

"When she got to her trailer she was like, 'Um, first of all, there needs to be all white roses in my trailer. Someone has to go get me white roses'," Huebel told Entertainment Weekly. "Some PA (personal assistant) had to go and buy a lot of white roses.

"Then she was like, 'I'm so sorry, I have to have stuffed lambs. My fans are called lambs and so I need stuffed white lambs for my trailer'."

Several other bands/musicians have made headlines over the years with their backstage demands.

One of the most bizarre, according to promoter and writer Stuart Coupe, was Fleetwood Mac's request when they toured Australia in the 1980s.

The item was a deal breaker: if it wasn't supplied, the group wouldn't perform.

"For their gin and tonics, Fleetwood Mac requested a specific type of lime," Coupe told news.com.au.

"But that particular type of lime was actually not allowed in Australia. So Michael Chugg, who was the promoter, actually had to clandestinely fly in from overseas these goddamn limes for Fleetwood Mac's gin and tonics."

Coupe also recalled another time Chugg had to go above and beyond for an artist.

"There's a famous story where Michael Chugg was working with Meatloaf in the 1980s and Chugg was seen to be scurrying around the media section in the front rows of the concert just before Meatloaf was scheduled to come on," Coupe said.

"What he was doing was asking everyone he knew in the media if anyone had a joint. Someone said, 'Why do you need a joint Chuggy?' And he said, 'The fat c**t won't come on until he has a joint!'"