#5: Drew Thomas Magic (Season 4)
Mario & Jenny's decision to completely reinvent themselves as something safe and stupid is especially baffling when you consider that, only one week before, someone else had made the exact same mistake.
After so many disappointing magic acts on America's Got Talent, most viewers had learned not to have too much faith in them. Prospects for Thomas seemed especially dim after the judges decided that they only needed one magician in the Top 40 -- we still remembered what happened to Kevin James once he didn't have any rivals.
Still, Drew Thomas surprised a lot of viewers by being the first magician to buck the trend. He did so with an illusion that had once been seen on "Breaking The Magician's Code", but if there were a lot of viewers who knew the secret, they didn't go forth and share it, or at the very least did not do so until after the votes had been cast.
Like Mario & Jenny, Drew Thomas had no trouble getting into the semifinals on the merits of his first act, and also like Mario & Jenny, Thomas immediately proceeded to squander that vote.
After performing a very solid illusion, Thomas suddenly came to the semifinals with nothing but shadow boxes, once again making many a viewer wonder if Thomas had even done his homework, or even been paying attention. This was the same mistake made, not only by Bruce Block the year before, but also by Jay Mattioli in the quarter finals of that same season.
Even worse, Thomas recycled a lot of his props, including one that had been absolutely critical to his previous performance.
So Thomas didn't just deliver a completely useless performance that gave the impression he just didn't care enough to do otherwise. In the process of doing so, he completely gave away the secret behind his previous illusion and ruined that too.
America had sent home a lot of better acts so that Thomas could do this, including Thia Megia, who would later become an American Idol finalist.
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