X FACTOR: JEDWARD ARE OUT

Monday November 23 2009 bySarah Westcott

POP twins John and Edward Grimes last night sensationally crashed out of The X Factor as their reign on the singing contest finally came to an end.

The 18-year-old brothers, dubbed “Jedward”, had defied critics of their vocal abilities for weeks, becoming a favourite with the public for their high-energy dance routines and rapping.

Over the weekend judge Simon Cowell called them “unstoppable” but last night their remarkable run of success came to an end after their medley of Wham’s I’m Your Man and Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) failed to win over viewers.

The spiky-haired twins from Dublin found themselves in the bottom two acts with Olly Murs in a nail-biting results show last night. Olly, 25, one of the show favourites, said he was “a bit gutted” to be in the sing-off.

But his polished performance of Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight was too good for Jedward to compete with.

They failed to impress the judges with a lacklustre rendition of Boyzone’s No Matter What and Cheryl Cole, Simon Cowell and Dannii Minogue all voted to send them home.

In a pointed reference to the twin’s singing skills, Dannii asked: “Is it a singing competition that we are voting on here? I’m going to have to judge it as I’ve judged it the whole time. On the premise that it’s a singing competition I will have to send home John and Edward.”

The pair initially looked glum as they were voted out but said Olly deserved to reach the final.

They said: “We’re here every single weekend on live television having the greatest time of our life. It’s so cool.”

Mentor Louis Walsh, who has now lost all his acts, added: “I’ve had the best time working with these guys.

“I feel young again. We’ve had an amazing time.”

Even Simon Cowell, who once said he would leave the country if Jedward won, told the twins: “I’m actually going to miss you, I am.”

Earlier, pop diva Mariah Carey performed her new single I Wanna Know What Love Is and joked afterwards: “Of course we are all a bit nervous when we sing in front of Simon.”

On Saturday night’s show, Cowell described Jedward as an “unstoppable machine” and admitted that they had “converted a lot of people”. But Cowell claimed Louis Walsh was giving them too much to do and had turned them into “his version of Action Man dolls”.

He was criticised two weeks ago for missing the chance to kick the twins off. He put it to the public vote and the boys survived.

The five remaining finalists are Olly, Lloyd Daniels, 16, Stacey Solomon, 20, Danyl Johnson, 27, and Joe McElderry, 18.

David Williams, of Ladbrokes, said Joe was the new 5/4 favourite to win ahead of Stacey Solomon at 9/4. He said: “We barely noticed him quietly improving but he’s now roared into the show and is the one to beat.”