TV - In a brave move, Simon Cowell last night chose controversy and ratings over talent. As a judge on his own music talent show, 'The X Factor', Simon chose Irish entertainers John & Edward over Welsh Lucy Jones.

After weeks of saying that the 'terrible twins' AKA Jedward should not be on the show becasue it is a singing competitor, Cowell admitted that he would prefer to see Jedward back rather than competitor Dannii Minogue's strongest act Lucy Jones, almost certainly to ensure that he has a better chance of getting his acts into the final.

Hiding behind the fact that he let his vote go to the public vote again, Cowell obviously knew that Jedward had enough public support behind them to gain more votes than 18 year-old Lucy, and his decision was more of a political one to get a strong act out, and keep the controversial press and TV ratings going.

Whilst Lucy has remained a popular contestant, she has struggled to get the "Welsh vote" which has gone to Lloyd Daniels, who has the most fan-mail in the vote, despite criticsm that his voice is not strong enough to be in the competition.

Lucy won over the judges with her audition of Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You', and last month met her idol when Whitney gave her a masterclass. So it was only fitting for Lucy to bow out of the competition with an amazing rendition of 'One Moment In Time'.

Jedward performed their version of 'Rock DJ' after being voted into the bottom two. Although their performance has improved since the audition stage, everyone watching knows that they are not singers, and despite the "entertainment value" that they seem to possess, at the end of the day, it is not enough to get them through a singing contest.

It's the second week in a row that Dannii has lost one of her girls, and another strong singer. Going to deadlock and the public vote has certainly sparked a public debate. Simon Cowell is obviously aware that the public will be in outrage that a novelty act that he has spoken out against, would get through instead of a real singer. Originally, Simon said that he would leave the country if Jedward win, but he has since mellowed, and seems to be starting to back them. Many viewers have already threatened to never watch the TV show again. It will be interesting to see if enough viewers actually stop watching the show to have any effect on the ratings.

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