So, the “terrible twins” from Ireland, John and Edward Grimes, have been booted off the X Factor, ending their skin-of-the-teeth, tip-of-the-fingernail existence on the show.

Once again in the bottom two of a public vote, Jedward were up against Olly Murs, the singer from Essex who was many tipsters’ favourite to win the show … at least until last night.

Rather than a high-octane, madcap dash around the stage surrounded by dancers and pyrotechnics, and a performance closer to shouting than singing, the spiky-haired duo surprisingly chose to sing a ballad, Boyzone’s “No Matter What”.

The plan backfired, with a rendition that exposed Jedward’s limited singing ability. The fact that the British media has dubbed Jedward the “tuneless twins” says it all really.

Murs was his usual accomplished self with a performance of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”, though clearly surprised to see himself scrapping it out with the also-rans.

Dannii Minogue had the last vote on the judging panel, and, for a change, declined to refer the decision to the public vote. She did, though, ask whether the X Factor was a singing competition before making up her mind – perhaps she ought to know the basic rules by now.

Louis Walsh, Jedward’s mentor, was sad to see his protégés go, and warned that the X Factor would be a duller place without them. Like Jedward or loathe them, perhaps he has a point?

Another week, another contestant down, another ratings triumph for ITV … oh, and another Deadlock.

The weekend’s X Factor shenanigans did not come close to the previous vote’s controversy, but there were still plenty of harsh words for the four-member judging panel for once again taking the final decision on who gets the boot to a Deadlock. When the judges are split 2-2, the result is decided by which of the two nominated acts got the fewest public votes.

This time it was Dannii Minogue with the deciding vote, and she backed eventual loser Jamie Archer, recognisable by his frizzy hairstyle. He lost out to 16-year-old, blond-locked Lloyd Daniels, who lives to fight another day despite being widely seen as one of the weakest contestants.

As well as reinforcing many people’s belief that the judges are deliberately manipulating the vote to go to Deadlock, the latest result also means that “Jedward”, the twins who are regularly ridiculed for their performances, are still on course to win the contest in what would be a major upset.

A word of advice if I may? How about having a panel with an uneven number of judges?

British singer Sting has waded into the X Factor debate. In a week where the show’s most famous judge Simon Cowell came in for some fierce criticism for what British viewers saw as a cynical ploy to fix the results, Sting has called the popular television show “preposterous” and “appalling”.

In an interview with London’s Evening Standard, ostensibly to promote his new CD “If On a Winter’s Night”, the Police frontman-turned-solo star launched into the music talent contest which regularly attracts peak audiences of more than 15 million in the UK.

“I am sorry but none of those kids are going to go anywhere, and I say that sadly,” he said of the contestants. “They are humiliated when they get sent off. How appalling for a young person to feel that rejection. It is a soap opera which has nothing to do with music. In fact, it has put music back decades. Television is very cynical.

“They … are not encouraged to create any real unique signature or fingerprint. That cannot come from TV. The X Factor is a preposterous show and you have judges who have no recognisable talent apart from self-promotion, advising them what to wear and how to look. It is appalling.”

Whether the 58-year-old’s comments will bother Cowell, the show’s other judges or the ITV channel which airs the hugely successful series is far from clear. They may be watching the upcoming viewing figures closely, however, after many fans vowed not to watch the programme again after Cowell’s recent antics.

X Factor judge Simon Cowell faced accusations of rigging the result of last night’s X Factor vote as the tabloid newspapers, so often the champions of the hugely popular show, began to turn on the man they like to call “Mr. Nasty”.

Twin act John and Edward Grimes (aka Jedward) survived a popular vote while singer Lucie Jones was shown the door. The two acts ended up at the bottom of the heap in a phone vote, and it was up to the judges to decide which one to throw out. But if the judges are split 2-2, the results of the public vote come back into play. Cowell had the deciding vote with the panel split 2-1 in Lucie’s favour, and he decided for the twins.

The Daily Mirror’s headline (because the X Factor has long been headline news in Britain) was “Farce Factor” while rival The Sun wrote: “‘Ward a Load of Cobblers“. Quoting fans, the latter newspaper added: “Cowell’s gone too far … show is ruined.”

Readers may reasonably ask if any of this matters. Well, it may matter to Cowell, who has become one of pop music’s most successful managers through his appearances on X Factor and similar singing competitions here and in the United States. It may also mean something to ITV, the channel which airs the show in the UK. With peak audiences approaching 15 million, its advertising revenue from the biggest show on British TV must be healthy to say the least.

 For those who follow the show, and care about it, many feel that Cowell’s decision to refer the decision back to the popular vote, rather than voting off Jedward, smacked of a stitch-up. He had been Jedward’s most vocal critic for weeks, and popular opinion would appear to support the argument that loser Lucie had far more talent than the twins, whose performances have been variously described as “bizarre” and “ridiculous”.

Theories abound as to why Cowell might decide to save the twins. The most popular is money — like them or loathe them, the twins seem to get the crowds going and Cowell might be looking ahead to the X Factor tour when the show is over. The removal of strong vocalist Lucie may also remove a potential threat to the singing acts on the show which he endorses.

Will his decision backfire? Will less people tune in to the show because they feel the whole thing is rigged? Or has Cowell pulled it off again by ramping up the stakes and getting the nation talking about the show again? It wouldn’t be the first time.

There appears to be one factor and one factor only in dictating chart success in Britain at the moment, and that factor is X.

Alexandra Burke, last year’s winner of the talent TV contest, performed her new song “Bad Boys” recently on the popular show and stormed to the top of the UK charts with the fastest-selling single so far this year. The 185,000 copies sold was more than twice the total shifted by Robbie Williams, who is making his long-awaited comeback.

Williams also showcased his new song “Bodies” on the X Factor, but the magic failed to rub off after a disjointed performance during which the former Take That singer appeared nervous. Still, one of British pop’s biggest names clearly felt the need to appear on the programme in order to reach an audience that can peak at nearly 15 million viewers.

And now there is Cheryl Cole, a judge on the contest and member of girl band “Girls Aloud” who is launching her solo career. Needless to say, she was invited to perform her new single “Fight For This Love” on the show, and, despite a performance many viewers would describe as mediocre at best and possibly something much worse, looks set to top the charts when they are announced on Sunday.

The Official Charts Company, which compiles the weekly music ratings, says the singer is on course for a tally close or even higher than Burke’s.

 The stars of Fox’s “American Idol” expect great things from new judge Ellen DeGeneres , but they are all saying something different about her addition to the judging panel of Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi, and her replacement of songstress Paula Abdul.

Host Ryan Seacrest told Fox News at the Primetime Emmy awards on Sunday that DeGeneres, a comedian with her own daytime chat show, is a “superstar.”

“She will change the sexual tension,” Seacrest said of DeGeneres, who is lesbian and last year married longtime girlfriend and actress Portia de Rossi in California, before voters in the state banned same-sex weddings during the November 2008 election.

“Simon and Paula had a specific kind of tension, but this will be quite different…” Seacrest told Fox.

DioGuardi, who only joined the show this past season, told People magazine at an Emmy after-party that “Idol” producers’ recruitment of DeGeneres was a “genius decision,” and that she wishes she had thought of it herself.

One of the most pointed comments about DeGeneres’ addition came from director Bruce Gowers, who won an Emmy for his role with “American Idol.”

“I think there will be a lot more fun on the show than there was before,” Gowers told reporters backstage.

“I think we’re going to get even higher ratings,” he said.

But Gowers backtracked when asked if he meant the show suffered with Abdul in the judge’s chair, saying that was not the case.

Despite drawing more viewers than any other show on television, “American Idol” did not win its first Emmy until 2007, which was six years into the show’s lifespan, and even that was for the relatively unexciting category of best technical direction.

 Will next season’s arrival of DeGeneres, a highly respected figure in Hollywood, change things and get the show more respect from Emmy voters?

“American Idol” producers moved swiftly to replace Paula Abdul with comedian and TV chat show host Ellen DeGeneres  as the new judge on the show which starts again in January.

But is Ellen the right fit for the show?

Fans are split and even media watchers were stunned by the move, which serves the dual function of closing the door permanently on Paula, and making the show talked about all over again after a summer of shock announcements.

For a TV show that’s primarily about finding America’s next instant pop star — and one which is ultimately chosen by the public — there’s been a lot of hoo-hah this year about the judging panel, whether its Kara DioGuardi’s return, Simon Cowell’s future, Ryan Seacrest’s lucrative new contract or Abdul’s ultimately failed contract manoevres.

So what do you think is ultimately the most important and/or entertaining part of “Idol” — the contestants, or the chemistry on the judging panel?

And how will Ellen fit in, and will her presence on the “Idol” panel make you more or less likely to watch next year when the show has finished tossing out all the thousands of hopeless singers and gets down to the Top 20?

Susan Boyle has been admitted to a private clinic in London after suffering from exhaustion, and, according to the Sun tabloid, an “emotional breakdown”. After capturing people’s imagination the world over in April with her singing performance on “Britain’s Got Talent”, the 48-year-old Scot’s travails are headline news once again, at least in her home country. Predictably, the blame game has already begun, and following is a list of the main culprits in the whole saga, if press reports, commentators and pundits are to be believed:

1. The press: Some sections of the media, which had a big part in Boyle’s meteoric rise to fame, have apparently relished the chance to knock her off her perch. Those blaming the press point to reports late last week of Boyle throwing tantrums, of her threats to quit the show ahead of Saturday’s final and more generally of her inability to cope with the pressure.

2. The public: Rather like the press, the British public has also been blamed by some for wanting to bring Boyle down a peg or two. They did this in part by failing to vote for her on the night of the final, meaning she failed to win as expected.

3. The show: Should the show’s producers have seen this coming? Family members and others have criticised Britain’s Got Talent, aired on the commercial ITV channel, for not doing enough to support Boyle. According to Piers Morgan, one of the programme’s judges, Boyle had learning difficulties at school, which may have exacerbated the problem.

4. Susan Boyle: Britain’s Got Talent is a hugely successful format and anyone who enters the competition will know that they may be watched by millions of viewers and could become overnight stars. In her defence, however, Boyle’s trajectory has probably been unprecedented in terms of the number of people tuning in to watch her on the Internet and the global reach of that following.

So Susan Boyle DIDN’T win “Britain’s Got Talent”. After the show turned her into a household name in more countries than I could list, the 48-year-old came second in Saturday’s final, surprisingly losing out to street dancers Diversity. Now don’t get me wrong. Diversity were impressive, and the choreography was as good as the execution on the night. It’s just that the momentum behind Boyle, one of the biggest Internet stars in history, was so great that it had been widely assumed she would walk off with the cheque for 100,000 pounds and the headlines on Sunday.

It was not to be, but this is unlikely to be the end of the road for Boyle. A lucrative recording contract is surely only days away as labels, notably Simon Cowell’s very own Syco, seek to trade in on her global fame, fine voice and anti-celebrity appeal. Some might feel that losing out to Diversity could be a blessing in disguise for a woman who has struggled to cope with the demands her instant celebrity has brought. She threatened to walk out of the show, had an altercation with journalists and reports said she had to be taken to a “safe house” in the days leading to the final to escape the limelight. Perhaps coming second will give her a little space and time to recover from what judge Cowell rightly called “a weird seven weeks”.

They went head-to-head in the final showdown of “American Idol” on Tuesday night, but if any animosity exists between finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, it was not apparent when they spoke to reporters backstage after the show.

The only moment of friction, and it was all a joke, came when Lambert, the taller contestant between the two, lowered the microphone for the shorter Allen after the two stepped onto a speakers’ podium. Allen laughed at the gesture.

Allen summed up his and Lambert’s attitudes when he was asked how he was handling the hype surrounding the finale.

“I think both of us are kind of chill guys, so we can totally deal with it,” Allen said.

The two finalists had been roommates until recently, and as a joke question a reporter asked which contestant looks better naked.

“We don’t get naked together, sorry,” Lambert said, to laughter from reporters.

As for the singing, the stuff that really matters in the competition, Lambert said that he found symbolism in the songs he performed on Tuesday, which included “Mad World” by Tears for Fears and “Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. 

“I think ‘Mad World’ is kind of symbolic, it talks about people that don’t feel like they fit in,” Lambert said.

“I think ‘Change is Gonna Come’ is also symbolic in that anyone who feels oppressed can relate to that song. It’s been a civil rights anthem for a long time, and there’s all sorts of new civil rights issues that are coming up right now,” he said.

When it came to praise from the judges, Lambert and his falsetto stylings seemed to edge out Allen, his more homespun competitor from Conway, Arkansas, in their final competition on Tuesday.

While alpha judge Simon Cowell called the first round of the competition for Allen, assailing Lambert’s first performance as too theatrical and comparing it to “The Phantom of the Opera,” Cowell’s criticism of the Allen’s second song, “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, was notably harsh for a season finale.

“If I’m being honest with you, it was like three friends in their bedroom strumming along to Marvin Gaye,” Cowell said.

Judge Paula Abdul, appearing at the backstage news conference, provided the sunny view of the competition that she is known for, sidestepping a question about who she thought would win. Then Abdul was asked if all the judges will be back next year, an important question because Abdul’s own contract expires this season.

“Tune in,” Abdul said, as a handler dragged her away from the microphone.

Photo credit: Fox/Michael Becker