THEY divided the nation with their dodgy hairstyles and dodgy tuning. But for those of us who like to be entertained the departure of John and Edward from the X Factor is a huge loss.

So their singing wasn’t the best, so their timing was a bit erratic, they were superbly watchable and I for one won’t be looking forward to Saturday nights with such anticipation any more.

X Factor judge Cheryl Cole described them as a guilty pleasure, and at the start it was rather embarrassing as an adult to admit that you liked the 17-year-old twins from Dublin.

Especially given that when they first appeared during the audition stage they displayed a Machiavellian streak and were apparently happy to shove any hopeful out of the way so they could hog the limelight. But that all disappeared as soon as the live finals began and their enthusiasm resilience and tenacity – in the face of constant booing from the audience began to win us over.

They’d already won over an army of young girls – the pre-adolescents who were a sucker for their blond quiffs and their blarney even Simon Cowell their greatest detractor the judge who hated them with a passion at the beginning warmed to them at the end as millions of others did too.

Now they’ve gone it will be a somewhat tedious race to the finish. In the finals it will probably be Danyl, Stacey and Joe or perhaps Olly or perhaps Lloyd but to be honest I don’t really care any more I’d much rather see the Grimes brothers doing their version of Ghostbusters again.