Canada’s Got Talent, episode 10: the inaugural results show, with a twist

Anyone familiar with American reality TV talent shows knows the drill: there’s usually one two-hour performance episode that fills time with lots of dramatic pauses and flashbacks to what happened just before the commercial break, then a one- or two-hour results show later in the week. Mercifully, the Canada’s Got Talent producers didn’t subject us to all that in last night’s half-hour episode. Here’s the format: after Monday’s live episode, viewers have two hours to vote for their favourite contestants, and the act with the most votes will move on to the next round, while the judges pick between the acts with the second and third most votes. The country picked dance troupe Freshh, while Wushu by Storm and Julie LaFontaine were left to wait out the judges’ decision. The judges do that standard “You’re just both so great, we can’t choose” thing that all reality show judges—and bachelors and bachelorettes—do, but considering the overwhelming praise she’s received from Martin Short, Measha Brueggergosman and Stephan Moccio, we thought it was only natural to see Lafontaine move on to the next round with a unanimous vote from the team.

The evening’s one surprise came from the addition of two “last chance” auditions—hopefuls who made YouTube clips to be nominated. The show is unclear about what will become of singer Caitlin Bell and rapper Mathew “The Emsee” Cathcart, but we presume they’ll be performing live this Sunday in the next round of eliminations. We’re not sure their casting is fair to the rest of the contestants, who had to take time off work, wait in a giant line and audition under more pressure (in front of the judges and fellow contestants), but maybe facing the gauntlet that is the typical YouTube comments section is harsh enough.

The semi-finals continue this Sunday, but what did you think of the results?

[poll]