Dancers from Kenya steal the show on America’s Got Talent!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m entertained by Howie torturing Piers and the two fighting here and there in a show. However, at times, it seems forced and makes me think that the producers may be pushing the duo to argue so to help attract more viewers. For example, in this episode, Howie got help to move a vending machine in front of Piers’ dressing room. For sure the producers asked for a prank or, at least, Howie told them in advance as everything was filmed. I doubt that the cameras are always rolling behind the scenes. You?

Some of the acts not going through:

• Litz and Robert, opera singers, got 3 Xs and the crowd booed as they were singing opera. I would have liked to hear a bit more as, from the few seconds we’ve heard, they weren’t that bad.
• The act Mr. Mystic PTP performed was quite unique: magic and rap! However, it was extremely poorly performed. Piers claimed it was one of the most stupid things he’s seen. My bet is that the most stupid magic act Piers has ever seen was that of Chipps Cooney, the bad magician from last season.
• Luckily, 69-year-old Anita McCoy wasn’t vote through to the next round — she did get a yes from Howie — as her hula hoop and baton twirling skills were not impressive. However, her split was! By the way, Anita auditioned for AGT last year via the YouTube event.
• One-of-a-kind paper horn player Carlton Baltimore failed to impress Sharon and Piers. The latter was so unimpressed that not only did he press his X button but he walked out and retreated to his dressing room! Piers has endured far worst acts than this one and hasn’t left his seat then, so why now? I blame the song choice here. If Carlton had played/sang something known — like “Oh When the Saints” which he performed with Nick while waiting for Piers to return to his seat — I believe that at least Sharon would have given him a chance. You can see Carlton sing/perform other songs in the TV report below.

The Worst of the Worst: Count me in as a “You’re a hater!” member. A+C Twins, who claim they have been singing together for years and are the next Jackson 5, sang an off key version of My Girl with some basic body movements (what they did cannot be called dancing). Their reaction to the bad comments from the judges and the booing from the crowd was more entertaining than their performance. The twins were pissed off and claimed that Howie was a “hater”. They claimed that they could sing better than Howie, so he joined them on stage to repeat their performance. Let’s admit it, Howie was barely better than the A+C Twins but, at least, Howie knows he is not a singer!

Some of the acts going through:

• The Daring Jones Duo, aerial performer who performed an impressive and daring act.
• Sadie, an 8-year-old singer with a deep voice perfect to sing blues and jazz.
• PopLyfe, a young band from California, which a great female singer to whom Piers asked to drop the band and come back as a solo singer! She refused and the band was voted through thanks to Howie and Sharon. It will be interesting to see how PopLyfe sounds in an electric setting as they were really good in an acoustic setting.

The “I Can’t Believe this Act is Going to Vegas” act: Mauricio Herrera, a 33-year-old who was a star in Costa Rica, performed a subpar version of Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca. However, thanks to his silliness, blue outfit, and ego the size of the stage, Mauricio was able to get Howie’s vote. The latter, in a moment of insanity if you ask me, was able to convince Sharon that they needed to vote Mauricio through as he is silly and funny! Come on Howie! You voted off people with more talent!!! I hate it when the judges vote through acts like this one only so that there would be some silliness in the next round (remember Boy Shakira?).

The Show Stealers: The members of Zuma Zuma totally made their trip from Kenya to Seattle worth while as they treated us with an extremely good routine with some impressive moves, daring figures, and jaw dropping tricks! See for yourself in the video below (move to the 1:35 mark).

The Best of the Best: Melissa Villasenor wowed the crowd with impressions of Barbara Walters, Nathalie Portman, Miley Cirus, Katie Griffin, and Christian Aguilera singing the US National Anthem (see the video below as proof). Not only were her impressions spot on, but her act was fun and triggered a good number of laughs. She clearly has talent and could easily headline a show. Melissa’s audition was so fantastic that Piers even used the word “sensational” when giving his comments. Melissa will go far in the competition.

Which act did you prefer? Share your comments about the performers below!

Clacked by Isabelle Carreau
on Jun 08, 2011 @ 12:11 EST5EDT