Controversy rocked the UK’s top talent show last night as judge Simon Cowell took The X Factor to a tiebreaking public vote to decide who should leave the competition. The resulting vote saw soulful Welsh singer Lucie Jones ejected from the programme in favour of entertaining identical twins John and Edward, collectively abbreviated to Jedward by the mainstream media.

Cowell had an opportunity to keep Lucie in the competition after fellow mentors Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole had elected to vote against the twins, but the judge had no qualms about letting the public determine who went home this week. You can relive that heart-wrenching decision here.

The move was labelled as hypocritical by some in the press; Cowell had conversely expressed on a previous show, “The fact is it's a singing competition, and they can't sing.” He justified his decision by claiming that neither act “could win the show”.

Despite their lacking vocal ability, John and Edward are undeniably entertaining: after donning Britney Spears style red jumpsuits a week ago for a rendition of “Oops! I Did It Again”, Saturday’s performance saw yet another outrageous costume selection as they rocked out to the Ghostbusters theme tune dressed as everybody’s favourite slime-fighting heroes.

The vitriolic response of many fans of the show has been matched by an equally phenomenal display of support from the online community. Here’s a selection of Tweets reflecting this conflicting opinion:

joooom @emmmoi jedward forever is all i'm saying.

ciarahinton Seriously, this #Jedward thing isn't that much of a big deal. Lucie is boring, and they're not. Evidently entertainment wins over talent

Jerseymac0000 Jedward - Irelands answer to the Chuckle Brothers !!!!!

London2110 @Mands_xoxo @wenh I am so shocked that Simon thought Jedward was better than Lucie

You can show your support for Jedward here on Twitter or Facebook with a Twibbon or, alternatively, if you want to protest the decision, show your allegiance to any other contestant on our official X Factor Twibbon Destination.

Will the brothers be able to survive another week? Who do you think will fall next at the hands of the so-called “terrible twins”? Let us know below!