When twin brothers Trent and Colton Edwards, 18-year-old contemporary dancers from Pittsburgh, showed up on episode 4 of the current 16th season of Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” they seemed familiar to more than a few viewers. The handsome twosome (see above) who finished each other’s sentences charmed the judges Mary Murphy — who let go with one of her sonic shrieks of joy — Nigel Lythgoe, Laurieann Gibson and Dominic “D-Trix” Sandoval. They were both given tickets to the Academy. Alas, neither could handle the choreography rounds and were cut from the show.
However, this wasn’t the first time that they faced such rejection That is because they previously appeared on Season 12 of “America’s Got Talent” as a singing and dancing act known as “Mirror Image” (see below). Judges Howie Mandel, Mel B and Heidi Klum gave then a standing ovation. However, a scowling Simon Cowell was not amused. They hung around a while, but did not get enough votes to advance to the semi-finals.
Everyone deserves a second chance. But reality shows rarely ‘fess up to recycling performers with previous exposure on TV. There are a raft of singers who have double-dipped by competing both on “American Idol” and the “Voice.” And “SYTYCD” and “World of Dance” have featured the same hopefuls as well.
SEE ‘ So You Think You Can Dance’: Could this tap dance kid become the 2nd hoofer to win?
We asked you what you thought of this practice of shows recycling the same pool of contestants. Turns out, most don’t mind as long as the repeats have talent — 37% to be exact. A quarter of those responding to our poll thought that everyone deserves a second chance, even if it is on another reality contest.
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Another 25%, however, thought the shows should be more upfront about a “recycled” contestant. And 8% prefer that contestant comes back for another chance on the same show — which happened to the current “American Idol” champ, country singer Laine Hardy, after being rejected in the previous season. But only 5% thought it was unfair that a contestant from another show might already have a following.
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