Despite only coming sixth on The X Factor 15 years ago, Jedward burst onto the showbusiness scene under Louis Walsh as they became the talent show’s most memorable duo with their matching quiffs and outlandish outfits.
Identical Irish twins John and Edward Grimes, 32, were part of an iconic X Factor line-up that saw them finish behind the likes of Stacey Solomon, Olly Murs and 18-year-old winner Joe McElderry.
With their towering hair, matching outfits and bubbly personalities, the Dublin pop duo – once described as ‘role models’ by Walsh – were quickly transformed from a novelty act to superstars.
Jedward’s first two albums went platinum in Ireland, while they also represented their country at Eurovision in 2011 and 2012 and entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2011 and 2017.
Despite being taunted by Simon Cowell while on the ITV talent show for not singing in tune, Jedward are said to have raked in £2.85million the following year. In 2021, it was reported they were worth £5.8million.
But since shooting to fame in 2009, Jedward have also sparked controversy with their sharp tongues, including launching scathing attacks on Irish music mogul Walsh who managed the pair between 2009 and 2013.
Just last night, Jedward branded Walsh an ‘evil manipulator’ after he told fellow housemates the pair were ‘vile’ during Tuesday’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother.
The twins accused Walsh of being a ‘cold hearted b*****d who didn’t send flowers after their mother’s death’. During the episode, Walsh said the ‘novelty’ act were ‘vile’ but claimed they ‘made him £5million’.
John and Edward Grimes aka Jedward are interviewed by Dermot O’Leary alongside their mentor on The X Factor Louis Walsh
Jedward also represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 and 2012 (pictured)
Jedward shot to stardom with their matching quiffs and outlandish outfits. They are pictured here on Celebrity Big Brother in 2011 doing Tara Reid’s hair
It’s in stark contrast to the complimentary words Walsh had about the duo when they performed at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany.
In an interview, Walsh said: ‘I took a chance on X Factor and everyone said I was crazy but who’s laughing now? They are laughing and everybody loves them and they’ve opened up a whole new continent to Jedward mania.
When the reporter told Walsh he ‘hated’ the duo initially, Walsh defended his stars, declaring: ‘You couldn’t hate them. Hate’s a strong word. You dislike them.’
After the reporter said he had been won over by the twins after meeting them, Walsh added: ‘And they are what they are. They are really nice kids. And they are good role models and they took a chance and it worked and that’s what life is all about.’
But after the music manager’s change of tune on Big Brother last night, Jedward insisted that ‘justice would be served’, as they launched into a scathing tirade on their X account.
One of the tweets shared by the brothers claimed: ‘Louis Walsh is an evil manipulator who forced us into an office to pay £70k from our bank account to one of his own PR workers.’
Another tweet read: ‘Louis reopened these wounds all by himself being spiteful and disrespectful we aren’t going to have our character taken. Justice will be served.’
But this is by no means the first time that Jedward have hit out at their former manager.
Identical Irish twins John and Edward Grimes, 32, were part of an iconic X Factor line-up that saw them finish behind the likes of Stacey Solomon, Olly Murs and 18-year-old winner Joe McElderry
Jedward prepare to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house in Elstree, London, in 2011
John Grimes and Edward Grimes (Jedward) share a bath together in the Big Brother house
In 2016, they attacked Walsh after he described the duo as ‘the most embarrassing thing to happen to him’.
‘I think we are the most financially beneficial act of his career in the last 10 years,’ Edward claimed.
John added: ‘I don’t think he took us under his wing. I think we were already flying and he was like, ‘Oh I think I want a part of that’.
‘I think he got old. It’s like someone saying behind your back and you are like, ‘wait, I didn’t know there was a problem’.’
Meanwhile in 2021, the twins described Walsh as a ‘two-faced b**** who uses powers for his own benefit.’
After Walsh said he was looking to launch another band like Girls Aloud, Jedward said: ‘Don’t get involved with toxic management.’
Jedward and Walsh parted ways in 2013 when their mother Susanna Condron took over instead.
They have formed friendships over the years with the likes of reality TV star Gemma Collins and actress Tara Reid. Reid and Jedward became unlikely best pals after teaming up in the eight series of Big Brother in 2017.
They even ended up locking down together at Reid’s LA home when the pandemic hit in 2020.
‘I feel Big Brother is a place which brought us close and coming out of the house, we’ve got even closer because we had so much life experience together,’ John previously said on Loose Women. ‘We’ve travelled the world, she came to Ireland.’
Reid, who shot to fame herself in the noughties, admitted she didn’t realise how big Jedward were until the twins took her to a show in Sweden.
Gemma Collins is joined by music duo Jedward for a DR Pepper advert last November
John and Edward Grimes are pictured as children
Jedward attend the photocall of MTV’s new show ‘Single AF’ at MTV London on June 25, 2017
Jedward experienced their own family heartbreak when their mother Susanna died in February 2019
Jedward also spent last Christmas with Collins and the trio were pictured relaxing in a hot tub ‘getting our vibes on’.
After the pandemic, the Dublin duo sparked controversy when they called for the monarchy to be abolished – just days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
A few days prior, they had been criticised for sharing insensitive comments about the Queen’s health before she passed away.
Jedward sparked outrage when they penned: ‘Abolish the monarchy and give the people real democracy!’
They followed up with a second tweet which read: ‘King Charles should hand back the six Irish counties on his visit to Northern Ireland – No war! Just words! It’s time.’
Days before, they had tweeted: ‘The Queen is dead?’ They later ‘joked’ that ‘Liz Truss must have done something on that visit to the Queen’ referring to the former Prime Minister’s visit to Balmoral Castle before the monarch’s death.
Jedward experienced their own family heartbreak when their mother Susanna died in February 2019.
They revealed how they played Fleetwood Mac and held their mother’s hand in her final days before she lost her five-year battle with cancer.
In an interview in 2020, the Irish pop duo also described their heartbreak at the prospect of their late mother not meeting their children or attending their weddings.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show, Edward said: ‘We were there when she passed and we are thankful that we were there – we were able to hold her hand.
Along with their fame, Jedward (pictured on X Factor in 2009) have also sparked controversy
Jedward run the LA Marathon in 2012
‘We had some earphones listening to some music. We listened to some Fleetwood Mac and some of her favourite songs that she liked to play.’
His brother John added: ‘It’s very disheartening to think that she won’t be at our weddings, she won’t be there at the birth of our kids, but we always keep her spirit alive like have pictures of her around and tell stories.’
‘You just feel so disconnected to the world because the person that kept you anchored in the world and gave birth to you is gone and now you don’t know where you should be, what you should be doing.’
The former X Factor stars then performed a rendition of Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. dedicated to their mother.
The siblings also shaved off their iconic quiffs on the Late Late show for charity in memory of their mother. The duo raised millions for the Irish Cancer Society.
Despite reaching the heights of fame after The X Factor, Jedward appeared to come crashing back down to Earth in 2016 when it was revealed their company had made a loss of more than £200,000.
Twins Edward, right, and John Grimes of Dublin, Ireland, hold a ‘Free Britney’ flag outside a hearing concerning the pop singer’s conservatorship at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in 2021, in Los Angeles
The Sun reported at the time that the twins’ Planet Jedward brand had been suffering cash problems and lost around £113,382 in 2014 and a further £90,968 in 2015.
Over the years, the pop duo have become embroiled in many a Twitter spat, including with Countdown star Rachel Riley.
Riley had joked about their music while criticising an anti-Semitic rant by grime star Wiley. The Countdown presenter, who is Jewish, said Wiley could have ended his career by performing with the Irish twins instead of making his vile remarks.
But Jedward hit back at her comments, saying she should not have targeted them. She wrote: ‘He could have just done a duet with Jedward if he was that keen to end his career.
‘An unprompted, still going, public antisemitic breakdown is a bizarre route to go down.’
But Jedward replied: ‘You are a patron for a Center for Countering Digital Hate? And yet here you are spreading Hate!! As anti bullying ambassadors we don’t approve of this!’
Riley promptly apologised and deleted her original tweet. She then replied to the duo: ‘Genuinely didn’t mean any offence to you, was just a joke and you were the least grime people I could think of.’
She also tweeted the statement: ‘Apologies to Jedward, totally flippant joke about them not being particularly grime and no offence intended.’
Jedward have also taken on Piers Morgan in the past after he called them ‘talentless cows’, while they criticised The Corrs guitarist Jim Corr for attending an anti-mask protest in Dublin during the pandemic.
The brothers wrote: ‘Dear Dublin Anti Mask Protest! Get the f*** inside you selfish low lives sincerely the rest of the country.’
Jedward have shown their own passion for activism in the past, notably joining Black Lives Matter protests in LA and calling for Britney Spears to be ‘freed’ while she was under conservatorship.
Most recently, Jedward were pictured heading to Parliament last month with Collins to campaign against animal testing.
Speaking about their friendship with Collins to The Mirror, they said last year: ‘Gemma is such a vibe, such a solid person in our lives. We’ve known each other for a few years now. There’s a lot more to Gemma, cos obviously everyone has this opinion of Gemma but she can get deep and she’s had things happen in her life.’
The twins said they were keeping busy and hoping to release new music in the future.