Simon Cowell called them an "unstoppable machine" but John and Edward were eventually voted off The X Factor.
The pop twins came up against Olly Murs in the surprise results show sing-off.
The twins' rendition of Boyzone's No Matter What was unusually subdued with no dance routine and no tricks.
Read Marc Mallett's blog: The Shock Factor!
Olly, one of the show favourites, said he was "a bit gutted" to be in the bottom two.
But his polished performance of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight was too good for the Irish brothers.
Simon Cowell didn't support Welsh teenager Lucie Jones earlier in the series when she came up against the twins.
But on Sunday Cowell stuck with Olly, telling the twins: "I'm actually going to miss you, I am."
Cheryl Cole also voted for Olly while Louis Walsh went with his act, John and Edward.
That left Dannii Minogue to ratchet up the tension. She said: "I'm going to have to judge it as I've judged it the whole time. On the premise that it's a singing competition I will have to send home John and Edward."
The pair remained all smiles as they were voted out, saying Olly deserved to go through and reach the final.
One of the twins said: "It's been the greatest experience of my life. We're here every single weekend on live television having the greatest time of our life." The other chipped in with: "It's, like, deadly. It's, like, so cool."
Earlier the six finalists kicked off the show with a group rendition of Wake Me Up Before You Go Go in 80s-tastic white and neon outfits.
Susan Boyle performed her stirring rendition of The Rolling Stone's Wild Horses, which was followed by a standing ovation from the panel and the entire audience; and Mariah Carey sang the classic ballad I Want To Know What Love Is.
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