You Know You've Hit The Big-Time When...

You know you’ve hit the big-time when the media come up with a combo-name for you: Brangelina, Bennifer, TomKat, Jedward. That’s right; X-Factor ‘stars’ John and Edward have unbelievably but impressively made it to Portmanteau Status mere months after bounding onto our screens with fake American accents and a distinct lack of talent.

How, one wonders, have a pair of mediocre/poor singers with such irritating personalities even been given the time of day, yet alone become almost national treasures, drawing in crowds of over 14 million viewers?! At the tender age of 17, these cocky boys seem to have the world at their feet, with talks of record deals, television deals and modelling contracts being carelessly thrown around, regardless of where they ended up in the show.

Tone deaf with dancing skills comparable to constipated orang-utans on crack, it may well be hard to believe how Jedward have gone from irritating, arrogant, 17 year olds with inadvisable gravity-defying quiffs who we loved to hate prancing around in red PVC to Britney, to celebrities in their own right with their own (c-list) star following. With Peaches Geldof calling herself their number one groupie, Heat’s ‘Jedmania’ campaign with ‘Jed We Can!’ T-shirts and countless Facebook groups pledging love for the blonde leprechauns, support has slowly but surely risen until they became the sole reason why so many people tuned in weekly.

The unfolding drama surrounding Lucie Jones’ shock eviction after Simon Cowell’s surprising choice to leave it up to the public vote (which resulted in the continued presence of Jedward in this so-called ‘singing competition’) provoked a public outcry. But in-keeping with the old-age phrase ‘all publicity is good publicity,’ it appears that the surrounding controversy only led to a steady increase in both viewing and popularity. Suddenly, it became ‘cool’ to love them. Facebook statuses and tweets of love spread like wildfire, but are we really surprised?

Haven’t the nation always loved a good novelty act, which is always surprisingly popular throughout the competition? Who can forget the cringe-worthy Cheeky Girls who are still desperately trying to cling onto their fame years later (via engagement to politician Lembik Opik to their upcoming stripping TV reality program ‘Pants Off Dance Off’) or sickly sweet sibling duo Same Difference? I’m sure everyone can remember Chico of ‘It’s Chico Time!’ so-called fame, and even Rhydian and G4 made it through to the final in their respective years. The public love an act which offers something different – an act to get everyone talking, a performance to argue about over lunch or bitch about by the office water cooler.

The lack of talent, though, is slightly concerning. The boys can’t even harmonize or stay in tune for longer than 4 consecutive notes, and their terrible dance moves are rarely even in time with one another. On one hand, the majority of the mediocre X-Factor contestants take themselves way too seriously, meaning that Jedward’s comedy performances offered some light relief, with their ridiculous outfits and even more ridiculous song and dance combinations.Finally, though, the dream is over. The viewers and judge's couldn't pull through for these underdogs following their weak last performance and they were sent home by Dannii Minogue. Interestingly, she tried to create more controversy by playing to what the audience wanted; asking them before she made her decision whether she was judging a singing competition or not. Unfortunately for Jedward, the audience screamed 'yes' in their thousands, despite the twins' dedicated following, meaning that they've finally been released back into the real world.

But how did they survive this far? The media are throwing around 'conspiracy theories' aplenty, wondering whether that the public are rebelling against music mogul Cowell and his control over today's talent, others claiming that they are aliens. The Times has suggested that Jedward are a postmodern artworld joke, whilst hints have been made towards hair-gel companies paying for them to stay as long as possible. Either way, now they're gone, it's all over. All that's left are a bunch of boring singers. The Guardian TV and Radio Blog put it perfectly:

'Who does that leave in the running to win X Factor? Nobody, that's who. Nobody interesting, anyway. Danyl's too objectionable, Lloyd's too dull. Stacey's too self-consciously zany. Joe's got too many teeth. Olly clearly wants to be Shane Richie when he grows up.'

The X-Factor publicity generators have gone, and it will be interesting to see how the viewing figures will be affected following their departure. Dannii's question was controversial but apt – whilst the competition should be about pure raw talent (such as Leona Lewis), there is more interest surrounding the judges arguments, what Cheryl and Dannii are wearing and whether Cheryl is wearing her ring this week. Scarily though, if half as many people were as passionate about the elections as they were about this talent program, it is more than likely that our country would be a hell of a lot better run.

Much though I'd like to think that rather like Big Brother 'stars,' there will be a media frenzy for a week or too before they fade into relative Z-list obscurity, it looks like Jedward will be sticking around for the foreseeable future. Their relentless energy, good natured-ness, ability to laugh at themselves and their wholesome good looks seems to be a winning combination. If their PR continues to work as hard as they have been doing, there is no stopping this terrible twosome.