Somerhalder ignores 'Diaries' comparisons

Ian Somerhalder has insisted that The Vampire Diaries is different to other vampire series.

Somerhalder, who plays Damon Salvatore, explained that the show cannot be compared to Twilight or True Blood.

"There's no competition," he told Rolling Stone. "[Twilight] is the reason we all have jobs. That's the reason why we have this job."

He continued: "You have the feature, gigantic, box office success version [Twilight], then you have the cable success version [True Blood] and then you have the primetime network success version [The Vampire Diaries]. You have all three of those that creates this vampirical world. There are obviously comparisons, but they're apples and oranges."

Somerhalder also suggested that the different shows appeal to different people, saying: "There's no sex in [Twilight]. There's lots in [True Blood] and there's a ton in [The Vampire Diaries], but it's in a network version. So a 13-year-old girl can't sit with her parents and watch True Blood. That would get a little uncomfortable."

Somerhalder added that he has never seen or read Twilight because he does not want to compare himself to the vampires in it, but admitted that he has a different reason for avoiding True Blood.

"I couldn't watch it for a while because I really wanted to do True Blood and I blew my audition," he explained. "I realised I really wanted this job and any time you realise you want something, then you're done."