‘America’s Best Dance Crew 2’ Auditions: Shhh! was robbed, Super CR3W + Supreme Soul deliver

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The second season of MTV’s ‘Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew’ got off to a rough start when Shhh!, an all-female crew of Latina dancers from North Bergen, N.J., was promptly eliminated from the first round during a live taping in Burbank on Saturday.

Being die-hard fans of this street-dancing reality competition ...

Jevon and I were on the scene to witness Shhh!’s unexpected elimination. Were you surprised at home? Because let me tell you, the reaction in the audience was shock, awe and a chorus of angry ‘Shhh!s.’

Clearly detecting the disappointment in the room, an audience wrangler came out immediately after Shhh!’s untimely end to try to hype up the crowd. He tossed some free T-shirts into the bleachers and organized a quick (if sloppy) audience dance-off. It took some persuasion to get everyone back in the game.

Here’s what I recall happening.In the East Coast heat, Shhh! was competing against Sass x7 (a perky Jersey girl crew from Rutgers in knee socks and booty shorts); Phresh Select from Philadelphia; and the Boogie Bots (best-named dance crew anywhere).

Dubbing themselves the ‘first all-Latina group,’Shhh! brought the caliente in black Selena-esque bustiers (whose limits were tested during some deep back bends). All in all, the judges responded unanimously well.

Shane Sparks said Shhh! ‘turned it up’; JC Chasez complimented their deep back bend; and Lil Mama noted Shhh! could ‘bring a whole ‘nother demo to the show.’ This is where the voting got odd. A similar level of positivity did not greet Sass x7 after their limp-smile dance routine, filled with hair flips and high kicks.

The judges seemed to agree. Shane Sparks said Sass x7 was ‘really cute’ but noted they were like cheerleaders and certainly not as good as last season’s Fysh N Chicks. Lil Mama said Sass x7 was like ‘a cheerleader team for a basketball game.’ Only JC Chasez offered kind words, saying Sass x7 was a ‘little cheery’ but ‘look great as a group.’

And that clinched it. JC Chasez’s vote for pert and cute clearly trumped Shhh!’s apasionada. Most remarkably, Chasez’s vote seemed to outweigh Lil Mama and Shane Sparks’ protests that Sass x7 was too cheery.

Can we get a recount?

Why should one judge’s vote for cute outweigh two dissenting votes? All three judges had warm words for Shhh! so how did they end up eliminated? Is it a North Jersey vs. South Jersey conspiracy? Something ain’t right with those ABDC2 voting machines. Is Diebold counting ABDC2 ballots this season?

Highs and lows from the rest of the episode:

• Two Jersey girl dance crews must be one too many for ABDC2. But, I’m telling you judges, the wrong one was eliminated.
• The Boogie Bots have a name we like saying and retractable toy moves we like watching.
• Phresh Select, from Philadelphia, is really playing up the City of Brotherly Love angle. This we can roll with, but multiple mawkish references to a crew member’s father, who’s in a coma, is a little too ‘reality-show manipulative’ -- even for Show Tracker, home of ‘American Idol’. (That said, we still can’t take our eyes off that little tiny dancer who fits inside a suitcase.)
• A.S.I.I.D., out of Detroit, loves its completely deaf team member, Joey, and has a stylistic affinity for neon keffiyeh scarves.
• How outrageous was that Super CR3W surf stunt? Those b-boys are in it to win it. (See our video player above for the surf stunt Super CR3W performed in the nationwide casting audition.)
• Fanny Pak. I. Don’t. See. The. Appeal. This ‘80s dress-up act seems a little thin on novelty and skill. Yet somehow, inhaler jokes are evergreen.

What was your favorite line in the show? Vote now.

-- Sheigh Crabtree