ITV

John & Edward’s security has reportedly been increased after death threats aimed at the pair were posted on Facebook.

The News of the World reports that one viewer threatened to shoot the X Factor hopefuls with a rifle, adding: “Jedward soon to be deadward”.

Meanwhile, another wrote: “Wish I could just go up to John and Edward and kill them with a knife.”

There are several groups devoted to the twins on the social networking site, including ‘John And Edward: Join If You Want to Kill Them’ and ‘John And Edward Need A Bullet Through Their Head’.

Security at the X Factor studios in Wembley has now been increased to avoid a repeat of the incident last week when Calvin Harris invaded the stage during the twins’ performance.

“There’s no way that will be able to happen again,” a source explained. “Safety is paramount to us. We need to protect all the contestants but John and Edward have had a lot of attention from the start so they are a unique case. These threats are mad and disgusting.”

A spokesperson for the programme said: “We encourage debate, and we’re not policing negative comments. But when it comes to death threats and hate crimes like this we will work with Facebook to get them taken down.”

> Walsh: ‘Jedward parents are very worried’