Jedward - what's the big deal?

I don't really follow the X-Factor. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of any brand of reality television, but when you're married, sometimes you have to endure such programmes in order to earn precious Match of the Day viewing time.

However, something surrounding the show has pricked my interest this year. Two Irish wannabe twins from Lucan, John & Edward (already re branded Jedward), have been creating quite a storm that ITV must be loving & Simon Cowell is "hamming up" for further publicity.

They're not that interesting in themselves (fairly average, if a little cocksure, 17 year old boys of privileged upbringing), but what has been intriguing is how has been the public have reacted. Every time I log onto FaceBook, I'm faced by a long list of status updates (from people like you), not informing me of what you've been up too, but rather how much people seem to dislike the twins.

Why are people so negative towards them? Why are people displaying hatred towards these two characters who Simon Cowell branded as "vile little creatures"? Why have 400 FB groups been set up calling for them to be axed by the show?

The boys are full of energy, they jump around, are entertaining and you have to hand it to them, they do put all they have into their routine. We all know that they are not the best singers in the competition, in fact lets not make any bones about it, they are downright awful. In addition, their dancing leaves much to be desired and whilst they have irritating tendencies, it's no more than your average adolescent male.

It's not their fault that they still remain in the competition, evidently a significant number of the population deem them worthy of investing their mobile phone credit in.

It is also surprising how many people complain about their status in the competition, but aren't prepared to do anything about it. Typical of our British armchair nation, we are a people who talk much & do little about stuff that doesn't matter anyway. How many FB status updates this week will comment on Somali pirates, the number of British soldiers injured/killed in Iraq or the growing rates of unemployment?

Instead of complaining about the X-Factor, vote for who you like and then suck it up if they go out - it's just a competition and a fairly monotonous one at that. As for me I won't be wasting my money on a vote, but neither do I care who wins because I'll have forgotten their name by the following morning.

Now I'm off for some Chico time...