I rarely watch reality TV or talent shows, I don’t have the time to invest in caring which ‘desperate to be famous’ contestant can spin the most sorrowful tale and I generally can’t care which identikit wannabe eventually wins.
All that said I have been watching this year’s X Factor and like many I’ve been secretly hoping good things for the over-bullied twins John and Edward. Now, I know they’re not the show’s best singers but the level of vitriol directed at these lads has passed spiteful levels and is confidently into pathologic hatred territory.
Their part in their presence is pretty passive, they may have auditioned but it was the judges who put them through to each subsequent stage and it’s disingenuous of them to now question their presence.
The public have been asked to vote and for three weeks in a row they opted to keep these twins in, the response has been a series of comments questioning the wisdom of the voting patterns. Given that the public are spending their hard earned money when casting votes it seems plain disrespectful to then argue with the result.
Broadcasters and producers who are happy to pocket the public’s money should re-think the wisdom of insulting their paymasters.
Personally it seems obvious that in the middle of a recession a lot of people will want nothing deeper on a Saturday night than to sit back and have a bit of fun, and in a lineup of obvious character types that fun is currently being provided by John and Edward.
As for judges who bemoan the public’s disinterest in their acts, they might want to drop their adherence to tired templates and pale imitations of existing successful artists and try injecting some originality into proceedings.
If you’ve managed to get to the bottom of this article without knowing who John and Edward are check out the video below, in the meantime, whatever their X Factor fate I predict these two are likely to be around for some time.
