Letdown At The Final Showdown

Three street dance crews competed in the grand finals of Showdown 2010 aptly called the Final Showdown held on July 14 at KL Live in Kuala Lumpur. They were Wakaka Crew, Giller Battle Crew and Floor Fever. Comprising of seven members each, the three crews were the survivors from the original twelve finalists at the start of the competition which premiered over 8TV on March 31. The host of the Final Showdown which was telecast live was Hafiz Hatim while the panel of judges comprised of Maple Loo, Boudeng Edonce, B-Boy Choco and Joe Flizzow. The winner of the competition got to take home a prize money of RM50,000.

At the grand finals, each crew had to perform two routines each. After their performances, the audience and TV viewers at home were urged to sms their votes for their favourite teams. The team with the least votes would be eliminated and the remaining two teams would then battle it out to determine the winner, also through sms votes. All three crews were in their elements and gave their all. I quite liked Floor Fever's performance and interesting choreography. However sad to say, they received the least votes in the first round and were eliminated. In my opinion, Floor Fever should have made it to the battle with Wakaka Crew.

In what looked like an anti-climax, Wakaka Crew went on to slay Giller Battle Crew in the battle to emerge champions. The problem with these TV reality dance shows is that the viewers would often vote for their favourite dancers rather than for the best dancers. It happened during the Strictly Come Dancing Season 6 shows in the UK in 2008, so much so that the judges had to remind the TV viewers to vote for the best dancers and not for their favourite dancers. In Malaysia, the grand finals of So You Think You Can Dance Season 2 in 2008 caused a hue and cry when it appeared that the favourite and not the best dancer had won the competition.