I’m not convincing yet, though, that they are capable of consciously poking fun of themselves. Does your theory still hold if they are ignorant and it is the programme makers doing the poking?

How long do you think they can stay in the competition for?

It’s nice to see you! The twins certainly seemed to have changed a lot of people’s opinions following last week’s performance. The thing is, though, is that they were still absolutely awful! It’s going to be interesting now to see how long they can last on the basis of surreal yet terrible performances.

Would you bet against them singing ‘It’s John and Edward time’, in homage to the might Chico?

Heh.

I had to wait until today to reply to your comments as I didn’t get chance last night, and I wanted to reply properly.

It was certainly a very interesting week; it annoys me when people criticise the show for ‘degrading’ music, when the reason people watch clearly has little to do with music.

You’ve hit the nail on the head with Jedward in calling them a comedy act. When you actually analyse it, they’re bloody awful. Even their dancing was woeful and they had all the coordination of epileptic cows. I found them funny, and I want to see what they do next week, but, by all rights, they should have been voted off by now.

I think the point with Cheryl’s comments about them was that they were unprofessional. She isn’t a professional music executive who actually mentors actors for a living, like Simon. I think all of the other judge’s (including Louis, who should know better), take it very personally, and that’s why we get such excellent drama. That’s why I also think that her tears probably were real, despite the urge to think that they were a ploy to gain votes. It must be a bit embarrassing though to have to be comforted by a 16 year old boy who is in the spotlight for the first time.

I get the impression that you didn’t think much of Rikki; am I right? lol. It was good to see the Scottish voting myth finally put to bed, although that suggests that people actually liked the McDonald Brothers….shocking.

Hmmm, I think that Stacey would be great doing a country song, but she might get a bit pigeon-holed if she did. I have a feeling that she must have been Frank Spencer’s sister in a previous life.

Whitney was a disgrace; even Mariah Carey was civil to them.

What an astonishing weekend on X Factor. Not cos of the performances – just cos everything was so mad!

J+E rendered me utterly speechless but I think they’ve won over loads of folk with their comedy routine now, as surely they are no longer taking the “singing” part of the show seriously. Having said that, I thought Cheryl having a go at them when Rikki got kicked out (Hurrah! Go Scotland for not voting for him!) was really spiteful and unprofessional. She did almost the same to Ruth last year and it was just as mean then. It’s a public vote, girlfriend, sniping at the other acts is just nasty. And as for the tears… Lloyd is a 17 year old boy, he kept it together and he had to comfort the supposedly grown-up showbusiness professional? Get it together Cheryl. Although, the cynic in me wonders if she knew exactly what she was up to. I bet teenage girls were voting in their gazillions for Lloyd as a result, all going “Aw, he’s so sweet, look at him comforting Cheryl, telling her not to be upset. AW.” I was almost doing that myself and it’s been a hell of a long time since I was a teenager…

Anyway, delighted Rikki has gone. He was rubbish. But they keep picking the wrong songs for Rachel and she was woeful at If I Were A Boy. One of my favourite, desperately sad, songs, and it shouldn’t be sung as a fighting anthem. What is it with all the grinning and punching? Gah. She was much better at “Without You” in the sing-off.

Also, for the love of all that is sensible, GIVE STACEY A COUNTRY SONG TO SING. Something by Faith Hill or Shania or Dolly Parton that she can actually sing properly. You’re spot on with the 70′s sitcom character thing though, lol.

Best part of the whole 2 days though was Whitney effectively saying the contestants were pants. Heh.