‘The World’s Best’ Recap: Two Episodes in One Bring the End of the Battles and The Start of the Championships
CBS Reading Time: 4 minutes
Tonight we saw the last two one-on-one battles and the first two Category Championship groups on The World’s Best. But dd the judges and experts make the right decisions?
Group Variety Battle #3: Shaolin Yanze (China) vs. Duo Negretai (Brazil)
The first demonstration displayed a nice variety of the group’s capabilities in a short amount of time. From combat, to balancing stunts on spears, to group choreography, they certainly have a wide variety of talents. Drew was surprised at their ability to perform “combat without contact” and went up for a demonstration after the performance.
Duo Negretai performed another hair-raising (er, hair-hanging) routine, with a touch more sensuality than their previous one. The music and lighting helped to create an “epic” atmosphere. RuPaul complimented its “beauty and technique”, expert Patricia commented on their teamwork, and Faith said they should be on Game of Thrones.
Shaolin Yanze’s Scores
Drew: 45
RuPaul: 40
Faith: 44
Judges’ Average: 43
Total Score: 71
Duo Negretai’s Scores
Drew: 38
RuPaul: 48
Faith: 42
Judges’ Average: 43
Total Score: 65
Advancing to the Category Championship Round: Shaolin Yanze
Group Music Battle #3: Liliac Band (United States) vs. Vonnie Lopez & The High Praise Choir (United States)
Liliac Band kicked off the final battle with a pleasant but somewhat generic rendition of “?”. Expert Cisco was “obsessed”, while Faith advised “never let your showmanship get in the way of your performance”.
Vonnie began her rendition of “Amazing Grace” as a soulful solo piece which built as the choir joined in and ended on an even more powerful note. Singer Paulina said she was grateful Vonnie’s talent and the fact that she “brought the presence of God” to the studio.
Liliac’s Scores
Drew: 45
RuPaul: 42
Faith: 42
Judges’ Average: 43
Total Score: 57
Vonnie Lopez’s Scores
Drew: 45
RuPaul: 48
Faith: 48
Judges’ Average: 47
Total Score: 83
Advancing to the Category Championship Round: Vonnie Lopez & The High Praise Choir
THE CHAMPIONSHIPS
For the Championship rounds, the final three acts in each division performed once again. The judges eliminated one act, and the Wall of the World voted on which of the other two would win $50,000 and advance to the overall Finals!
Solo Variety Championship: Justin Flom (United States) vs. Li Wei (?) vs. Nina Conti (United Kingdom)
Justin was up first, and James was “lucky” enough to be his assistant. Justin had him swallow a string then appeared to pull it from a hole in his arm! Much of the Wall of the World was grossed out, but fellow magician Stuart said Justin met his expectations and did a great job with this act.
Li Wei was up next and stepped up his game by adding a theme to his act. Presenting himself as a superhero added to his wire stunts, but he didn’t really update the tricks themselves. I think the proverbial ceiling had pretty much already been hit with this act, though I appreciate the attempt at adding something new to the act.
Nina’s performance played out kind of like a “greatest hits” of her previous ones. She did a bit with her monkey puppet from the last round at the beginning, then brought the mouth masks back out and ended up bringing a total of four audience members onstage, somehow managing to balance voicing them all without things getting too awkward.
After ll the performances, Li Wei was eliminated in third.
Justin Flom
Judges’ Average: 42
Total Score: 66
Nina Conti
Judges’ Average: 45
Total Score: 71
Advancing to the Finals and Receiving $50,000 US: Nina Conti
All three acts in this category were good, but it’s admittedly a little unfortunate that the act that stepped it up the least – in substance or even style – was the one who made it.
Group Music Championship: Naturally 7 (United States) vs.
Vonnie Lopez & The High Praise Choir (United States) vs. The TNT Boys (Philippines)
Naturally 7 was up first and their performance showed even more range than the previous two we’ve seen from them. The judges raved over it!
Vonnie and her choir were next and while this was a very emotional performance, it didn’t have the soul and power displayed during the one of “Amazing Grace” we saw earlier in the night, though the panel was still pleased.
The TNT Boys closed out the night with a rendition of “Flashlight” which was on par with their strong previous performances, but didn’t really bring anything new to the table, though the judges still loved it.
The judges ended up ranking Vonnie third of the three acts, sending her packing. (And while Vonnie is fantastic her performance was admittedly the weakest of this group.)
Naturally 7
Judges’ Average: 43
Total Score: 75
The TNT Boys
Judges’ Average: 49
Total Score: 67
Advancing to the Finals and Receiving $50,000 US: Naturally 7
Naturally 7 was the only act of the three to really push themselves and show us something new in this round, so they were very worthy winners of the Group Music Championship!
Next week we’ll see the last two Category Championship rounds, and then the overall Finals!
