#5: Mario & Jenny (Season 4)
Just like the acts named during Suck Month, the pain of a letdown performance predominantly stems from the fact that their places in the Top 48 were granted at the expense of another. Every chance that is squandered on America's Got Talent is a chance that was deprived of someone who could have made better use of it instead.
Bombing in the first round is one thing. If you wanted to, you could argue that they were never really a contender and that the only people who were truly let down were the judges.
Getting into the semifinals, however, requires the viewers to grant them a place at another act's expense. Semifinalists who bomb are not only letting the judges down, but also letting America down.
Mario & Jenny did exactly that during Season 4. They made it through the open calls by juggling chainsaws, and when they performed live in the quarter-finals, juggled flaming guitars and a flaming cube.
Once again, AGT's disgruntled "not a singer" viewers thought there was a chance that a variety performer could win for the season. Mario & Jenny ranked in the top four during the results show, earning them an automatic spot in the semifinals.
In the semifinals, however, Mario & Jenny apparently decided that they weren't a danger act anymore. They also decided that they weren't jugglers anymore.
Instead, they stomped their feet and played drums. Badly.
This was such a letdown, not just because it was barely a performance at all, but because America had voted for them already.
More than that, America had voted for Mario & Jenny over other talented performers. Most notably, America had given Mario & Jenny more votes than the youth group Pixie Mystere, who were unamiously voted down at the judges' choice in favor of FootworKINGz, and the singer BRI, who was eliminated automatically.
America allowed these two acts to be sent home so Mario & Jenny could have a spot in the semifinals. In exchange, they did next to nothing with it.
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