Dante and Gina Yashere were revealed to be the first two Top 10 finalists to be eliminated from Last Comic Standing's fifth season during last night's broadcast of the NBC reality competition series.
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Last night's Last Comic Standing 5 episode began with the Top 10 finalists arriving in Hollywood to compete in "The Heckle," a stand-up challenge that required the finalists to take turns performing for a studio audience while another finalist tried to heckle them. Once all 10 of the finalists both performed and heckled, the audience chose Lavell Crawford as the winner of the challenge, making him immune from the season's first head-to-head challenge.
After the heckle challenge, the finalists voted to determine which three comedians would compete in the head-to-head challenge, a three-way stand-up performance showdown that would end with another studio audience picking one finalist as their favorite and eliminating the other two from the competition.
Dante received three votes -- the most of any finalist -- and found himself participating in the head-to-head challenge. Gina, Lavell and Ralph Harris all voted for Dante, however because Lavell had won immunity, Dante didn't get the opportunity to decide which two of the three he would face in the challenge. Instead, Gina and Ralph were automatically placed in the head-to-head challenge against Dante.
"So I'm going into this head-to-head. I'm feeling apprehensive because obviously, I could be going home tonight," said Gina after it was revealed she'd be participating in the challenge. Dante -- who only made the Top 10 as a studio audience pick -- was more confident.
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"I think the fact that I'm going to the first head-to-head is meant to be," he said. "If I end up going to all of them, so be it."
Dante, Gina and Ralph each performed their stand-up acts for a live studio audience, who voted for their favorite immediately following all three routines. Last Comic Standing 5 host Bill Bellamy then revealed Ralph was safe after receiving 62% of the studio audience's vote, sending Dante and Gina home.
"It was a big disappointment," said Gina after she was ousted. "I was happy with my performance and couldn't of lost to a better man."
"Of course I'm disappointed to be going home," added Dante. "I just had a different plan..."
Last Comic Standing 5's eight remaining finalists are Lavell, Ralph, Gerry Dee, Matt Kirshen, Jon Reep, Amy Schumer, Doug Benson, and Debra DiGiovanni. Last Comic Standing 5's next episode will air on Wednesday, August 8 at 9PM ET/PT on NBC and end with the elimination of one more finalist.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio