Jeremy Vanschoonhoven On America's Got Talent

[JT!]

And..btw, why are you so behind the guy??? i know youve lived in america for some time now..but i didnt think you had the stupid brain of an american.

Because he's a trials rider, and I am too?

All I've shown was you completely contradicting yourself in the same post after celebrating a fellow trials rider being kicked out of one of the biggest competitions a trials rider can be in and you're going to use some pathetic attempt to insult me like a 8 year old would because of that?

You're exactly the same kind of person who'll put down TGS riders, or bitch about how people like Danny Mc aren't really trials riders but BMX riders and can't open their eyes wide enough to see that it's all the same thing.

Pathetic, Joe.

Edited September 9, 2010 by JT!

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

How is he terrible, in any sense of the word? I mean it's not like he can do a line 20 times and then use the best one in front of the judges - which is what we see in most trials videos. I doubt anyone else could have done any better. Hell he was going gaps and a huge drop blindfolded!!!

How is he not!!

Are we watching the same guy?? Were talking about the guy that failed to hop a 2 ft gap to backwheel. Were talking about the same guy that fell about 5ft, straight to his arse. Were talking about the same guy that couldnt even perform a 180 on the spot on 2 small objects??

The blindfold..are you shitting me?? You think that thing was completely non-seethrough?? if you think thats the case then your one naive son of a gun!! The guy fails to hot on the spot with any form of accuracy or balance..

You dont think anyone could of done any better?? Ok , so if you took Kenny Belaey, Vincent Hermance...anyone of some decent standard...you dont think they could of done better?? Bullshit!

Maybe it just annoys me that judges make such a big deal out of ..quite literally a bad rider.

Biggest competition to who?? Someone who love trials or someone trying to make a quick buck?? I didnt see Jeremy at the world championships in canada this past weekend??

He's a trials rider..your a trials rider..im a trials rider...and?? doesnt mean i have to support him lol. There isnt a written law that sais all riders must stick together?

Blah Blah boring boring. He's out..some company will come, make a few bucks from him..he'll get the shit end of the stick and no-one will ever hear of the guy again. Good times.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

I doubt anyone else could have done any better.

You seriously can't mean that.

[Krisboats]

He was a bit sketchy, although maybe it was nerves rather than his riding ability? I've not seen any other videos of himto have anything as a reference point really. But i know that when i get people watching me my balance goes a little out the window, where as normally i'm pretty good.

[Matt Burrows]

When you watch someone do something you love..something that is your passion..is pretty much your life..and you cringe when you watch them..you know thats a bad sign.

This!

Although, thats not necessarily just on Jeremy. I feel the same way when I watch so many riders and videos now, there are very few people that make trials interesting and fun to watch! This is the reason why I'm moving away from trials, it has such a void of style now it is unreal!

As for people doing better, I'm pretty confident I could and I'm probably not even in the top 50 in the country. Have you seen any demos lately? Ashton, the Mad team and Andrei just off the top of my head. All do a better job of building drama and anticipation into the show, and ultimately just entertain a lot more.

Good on him for getting so far though when he is quite clearly not a natural showman and was so nervous, I'm sure it will give him opportunities.

[Luke Dunstan]

He's never been in the "spotlight" before, and to do what he's doing on stage in front of millions, I think anyone would be nervous, which would make you a little sketchy.

[JT!]

You seriously can't mean that.

I mean that he is one of the top riders. You get someone like Kenny Belaey, or Vincent Hermance all you're going to see is them do a few inches higher and few inches further, to the public and the judges it's not really going to make much of a difference.

Besides, AGT is about the show based around the talent it's self, and the person.

[manuel]

I mean that he is one of the top riders. You get someone like Kenny Belaey, or Vincent Hermance all you're going to see is them do a few inches higher and few inches further, to the public and the judges it's not really going to make much of a difference.

Besides, AGT is about the show based around the talent it's self, and the person.

No.

You get Kenny, and you get a style, confidence and just general riding ability that would make this guy look like a total amateur.

And like Burrows said - A much better thought out demo.

[JT!]

You get Kenny, and you get a style, confidence and just general riding ability that would make this guy look like a total amateur.

Well nither of those two would be allowed to enter anyway.

Which American rider would have done a better job?

Here's the last vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4RkJJM6Ij4

[Greetings]

We had a similar story over here, a trials rider got right up to the semi finals and dropped out. None the less he had a massive impact on how trials is perceived by the general public:

1

2

To be honest, trials just isn't tv material.

[Mark W]

To be honest, trials just isn't tv material.

Massively depends on who's doing it, and how it's being done. I think people might appreciate 'real' riding more, rather than choreographed demo riding that people can't really relate to in any way at all.

EDIT: Just watched '2' video. That's precisely what I was saying didn't really help...

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

I mean that he is one of the top riders.

I'd have to disagree there again.

Which American rider would have done a better job?

I do agree the list of proper good American riders is pretty slim but I imagine even Jeff Lenosky or JJ Gregorowicz would've done a better job. Mike Steidley would've wiped the floor with Jeremy I think.

[Greetings]

Massively depends on who's doing it, and how it's being done. I think people might appreciate 'real' riding more, rather than choreographed demo riding that people can't really relate to in any way at all.

EDIT: Just watched '2' video. That's precisely what I was saying didn't really help...

People who aren't interested in the sport or know nothing about it will be blown away by a simple 1ft pedal kick. We aren't really in the position to judge what moves make trials look good because we are trials riders.

FYI I didn't like the 2nd video either. But out of 8 or 10 contestants in the semi-finals he came 4th. It shows that normal people actually appreciate such a show despite what we might think of it. As for choreographed demo riding, there was a very good show on one of these programs in France featuring two pro riders. I'm sure you've seen it, in my opinion it was one of the best trials shows ever.

[JT!]

Mike Steidley would've wiped the floor with Jeremy I think.

Comp before last I was in Mike was there. He is incredible. But from the eyes of the public would there have been any better outcome? I personally don't think any trials rider could have made it into the top 4 so I find it hard to believe how anyone can say other people could have done it better.

[Mat Tea Why]

I think trials alone isn't quite exciting enough to make it all the way to the finals of a show like that. Much of Jeremy's stuff began to look similar to myself, and (presumably) the public. I think maybe a group of extreme sports enthusiasts such as a BMXer, flatland BMXer, trials and a skater could do very well in a competition like this as they could all bring different elements into the performance.

As whoever said Kenny Belaey wouldn't be allowed to enter: hasn't Danny Mac, who is arguably a much more well known rider to the public, recieved about 30 offers to do Britain has got talent? I could swear I read it somewhere.

[JT!]

As whoever said Kenny Belaey wouldn't be allowed to enter: hasn't Danny Mac, who is arguably a much more well known rider to the public, recieved about 30 offers to do Britain has got talent? I could swear I read it somewhere.

Yeah I read Danny was asked to preform on BGT numerous times as a guest, not as a contestant (here they have guest acts to preform as filler on the results show, I think it's the same there). But he turned it down.

[JT!]

Thats because Danny Mac is british you clot.

I pressume you have to be american to go on Americas Got Talent.

Who're you calling a clot, Mat who was asking if Danny had been asked to go on Britain's got Talent, or me explaining he turned it down?

[Al_Fel]

Well done to Jeremy for getting so far. All I've got to say on the matter is why does his wife look so much like him?

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

Well done to Jeremy for getting so far. All I've got to say on the matter is why does his wife look so much like him?

His wife is his sister..

[Greetings]

His wife is his sister..

That's illegal.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

In some American states you can marry your pickup/horse/donkey/sheep.

*May not be entirely true.

[ellis-collins]

I personally think that he did well considering how nervous he was. Also good on him for trying it ! Also thanks for uploading all the links to his AGT performances !

[Mark W]

We aren't really in the position to judge what moves make trials look good because we are trials riders.

Notice though how for big televised BMX comps it's almost always a BMXer who's helping run in as they want to 'protect' the image of BMX riding, rather than letting people who have no idea about it decide how to run it? Just because people don't understand the difference between a tech move and a hard move doesn't mean that every time the public get involved with watching trials someone has to take their front wheel off or hop over someone lying on the floor. If people aren't interested in trials then they aren't interested in it, so I don't really understand how making some sort of weird side-show circus act of trials is a good thing? It's barely even trials that's getting promoted, so all it's really doing is just raising people's awareness that there are bikes available with no seats. Judging from OTN, people are still none-the-wiser about what is actually going on with it from the way that people just say to riders "Oh, do you know that Jeremy guy?"

It's pretty much no different to going to a job interview and just completely lying about yourself, and putting across a totally false impression of who you really are.

FYI I didn't like the 2nd video either. But out of 8 or 10 contestants in the semi-finals he came 4th. It shows that normal people actually appreciate such a show despite what we might think of it. As for choreographed demo riding, there was a very good show on one of these programs in France featuring two pro riders. I'm sure you've seen it, in my opinion it was one of the best trials shows ever.

I don't really understand why people are so keen to see a 30sec blitz of someone doing front pivots and backhops, but from what everyone's saying it's that whole 'raising the profile of trials' thing. I don't know if it's a UK based thing, but I've had a lot of people come up to me and ask me if I know who Danny Mac is, or if I've seen that video, or if I do that kind of riding - and they even call it trials riding in a lot of cases - whereas I haven't had anyone ever ask me if I know of, say, Kenny Belaey after that "flash mob" trials video he did, or any of the 'bike dancing' types out there. I know that the context of a TV show like this is totally different to a video, but doesn't that just highlight the fact that a shitty TV talent show isn't the right vehicle for promoting something like trials? To put it another way, how many 'serious' musicians go on something like X-Factor and make it big, or even try to go on there? They don't - they just do their own thing and put themselves across in the best way possible. This is the same thing exactly.

[Matt Burrows]

I know that the context of a TV show like this is totally different to a video, but doesn't that just highlight the fact that a shitty TV talent show isn't the right vehicle for promoting something like trials? To put it another way, how many 'serious' musicians go on something like X-Factor and make it big, or even try to go on there? They don't - they just do their own thing and put themselves across in the best way possible. This is the same thing exactly.

Word. The same as parkour really, trying to turn it into a show would just lose what its all about.

Its a shame so many riders have no interest in creating great videos and concentrate on demos and comps. Nobody is making decent videos these days, the kind with some purpose and style that would make it appeal to non riders.

[Krisboats]

Nobody is making decent videos these days, the kind with some purpose and style that would make it appeal to non riders.

I'm not so sure on that at all, in fact i think it's probably the opposite. When i first started all the videos were either a couple of clips thrown together or some shakey, super fisheyed monstrosity with heavy screamo music and a load of windows movie maker, luminous scrolling font titles shoved in.

Now we have far better quality, far more creative works coming out. Camera equipment is much better (some of the latest TRA and tarty vids with the narrow focus SLR usage) better understanding of angles and more considerate selection of songs. Not to mention riding ability in general being of a higher standard. TRA has some very well presented videos, with exceptional riding and a very unique riding style. The recent "wherestheseat" videos i've really enjoyed watching. The tarty videos (i think it was slingers fairly recent video done by mark or adam, though i'm not 100% on that) are looking lovely. And now HD cameras are filtering down into the mainstream so the standard for film quality has just taken another step up in our online contributions. The video that came out in the past couple of days of the chap riding through the mining museum had a very distinctive atmosphere.

I'm not trying to say that there were never any good videos as there are obviously classics like do the goon that i watched over and over. But i think there are some really talented and creative pieces being pushed out at the minute and i think that this standard of video will only improve. It's basic survival of the fittest at the end of the day. The crap ones wil get swtched off half way through and so people either wont make them or improve their output to keep up with the gems.