Wayne Rooney UK’s celebrity villain of the year
A poll carried out by virginmedia.com has revealed that after a tumultuous year of seedy affairs and a flawed World Cup performance, Wayne Rooney is officially the UK’s top villain of 2010 with 24% of the vote. Perhaps concentrating on his game on the pitch rather than his dalliances off it would have worked out better for Rooney. His much-reported bad behaviour defeated even the despised Gillian McKeith who only took 14% of the votes and was awarded fourth place in the villain’s category behind Justin Bieber who, despite being every teen girl’s dream, placed a surprising second.
Meanwhile, and perhaps unexpected given the recent storm around her X Factor decisions, Cheryl Cole appears to have retained her place as the nation’s princess – coming in at number one on the heroes list with 26% of the votes. She even beat rival judge Dannii Minogue who, despite receiving more generous press coverage this series only secured 6% of the votes and sixth place in the nation’s top heroes.
The poll also revealed that X Factor’s Wagner and Strictly Come Dancing star Ann Widdecombe have, perhaps predictably, split the nation. No matter the feelings towards them they certainly made an impression, the unlikely duo tied for fifth place as the nation’s villains, as well as securing second place in the heroes list with nearly 20% of the votes. It would appear that Brits can’t quite make up their mind whether to love or hate the pair of reality wonders.
Commenting on the poll, Alison Davis, director of online at Virgin Media, said: “Whilst Wayne Rooney’s love rat behaviour certainly warrants his place in the villain’s poll, what is surprising is that teen idol Justin Bieber came in at number two! It would appear that despite his obvious popularity amongst the teen audience there are a few out there who don’t share the enthusiasm for his cute pop act. It was also interesting to see non-celebrity but infamous personality Mary Bale or ‘Cat Bin Lady’ feature in the villain poll. Her despicable action earlier this year where she was caught on CCTV dumping Lola the cat in a bin has certainly stuck with the nation.’
To see the results in full visit virginmedia.com/2010heroesvillains.