The Vex Factor

Last night was A-MAZING! If you missed it, then you truly missed one of the most nail-biting, shock inducing moments on TV for a long time. I am, of course, talking about the X Factor.

I honestly thought it was Game Over for JEdward when Dermot announced they were in the bottom two. You can call Simon Cowell what you like but at least he is consistent, he "let the public decide" last time it came down to him.

I couldn't believe it was all over for my boys, who else could entertain me every Saturday night till Christmas?! How could they have gone from being the top voted act for the past two weeks (according to one paper, getting twice as many votes as the next most popular contestant) to being in the bottom two? How was Jamie Afro still in it?! Devastated doesn't even come close to describing how I felt, I had come to love those dudes. The Facebook Status updates were coming thick and fast declaring that the twins were going home, and I had to peek at the TV screen through my crossed fingers, I could barely stand the tension.

Then Dermot revealed that Lucie had the least votes and suddenly, without any prior warning, I morphed into some kind of football lout, leaping off the sofa, pointing at the TV and shouting things like "HAAAAAA.HA.HAAAAAA!!!" and "IN. YOUR. FACE!!!". I honestly can't remember the last time I felt that victorious. I was so amazed I had to call the other member of the JEdward Fan Club just to shout "YEEESSSSSSS!! HAHAHAHAHA" down the phone.

Never before have I been so drawn in to a TV Show.

I went to bed happy that the underdogs had lived to see another day...

But it only took until I arrived at work this morning to start getting grief from people for being happy that JEdward had stayed in. I actually thought someone might stab me with a plastic fork at one point today.

People seem to be forgetting what this show is all about:

1) Making lots of money

2) The public voting for their favourite act

3) Making lots of money.

Simon was right, Lucie was never going to win the show. She has a very pretty voice and to all intents and purposes looked the part of a popstar from Day 1, but she was in the bottom two because the public didn't like her enough to pick up the phone and vote for her.

With the exception of Leona Lewis, the majority of the big names from shows like these do not go on to have lengthy careers. Leon Jackson is a prime example of a talented guy who was popular enough to win the show, but not popular enough to sustain more than a one album record deal. Which I personally think is a great shame because I really liked him. Steve Brookstein, Michelle McManus, David Sneddon, Alex Parkes, Eoghan Quigg... Where are they all now?

Like the Cheeky Girls and Chico before them, JEdward will probably release one album that every ten year old in the country (and possibly me) will buy, and then the next novelty act will appear and everyone will forget all about them save for the occasional appearance on the Worst Dressed page of Heat Magazine. Meanwhile, Simon Cowell will be laughing all the way to the bank.

JEdward might not be the best singers in the world, but their performance in the Sing-Off was no worse than Robbie Williams' or Cheryl's.

For people to call me an idiot and make personal attacks against me or anyone else for supporting 18 year old twins on a TV show is perhaps taking things a little bit too far.

I don't like most of the other contestants but it certainly doesn't mean I would refer to someone as a twat (or worse still) for supporting them. A healthy bit of competition is making for a brilliant series (and further lining the pockets of Simon "Mission Accomplished" Cowell), so lets not all fall out over it.

Quite often I notice people wearing ugly shoes or clothes that I don't particularly like, this does not make it acceptable for me to start being nasty to them just because we don't have the same taste.

In short, stop being horrible to me because I like JEdward! Please x