COMMENTARY | "America's Got Talent" has been stirring up controversy since new judge Howard Stern joined the panel this season. Now more news is coming out from the ex-wife of a musical contestant named Timothy Michael Poe. He shared his backstory with judge Howie Mandel and the rest of the judging panel which includes Stern and Sharon Osbourne. He informed them of his harrowing tale as a war hero in Afghanistan.
As a result of his injury he now talks with a stutter. Interestingly the stutter seemed to briefly go away miraculously at times during his appearance on "AGT." As it turns out his story was fabricated, according to The Associated Press on Thursday. Poe appeared on the Monday night audition episode held in Austin, Texas.
Even though reality shows are supposed to be real, they obviously aren't at times. One such website called Vote for the Worst is always on the lookout for bogus reality TV show contestants claiming to never have experience in performing in front of a live audience. Yet it's been discovered they've had record deals or been the opening act for a major headliner.
According to Shannon Conroy, the ex-wife who is speaking out claims Poe has been singing "pretty much his whole life." He spent four years fronting an alternative rock band performing cover songs in Rochester, Minn. On his MySpace page it lists Poe as a vocalist for the local band Crawl. His MySpace has not been updated since 2009.
Conroy was married to Poe from November 2005 to April 2012. She confirms he was never hurt on the battlefield in Afghanistan back in 2009. The Minnesota Army National Guard says its records show he was never injured in combat in Afghanistan or Iraq.
The UK's Daily Mail reports Poe has been receiving death threats as result of being exposed as a fraud on a televised talent show. Some people are saying he is experiencing post-traumatic stress. In 2011 he was honorably discharged due to a medical condition.
To add insult to injury the photo shown of Poe in the "America's Got Talent" video montage was that of Sgt. Norman Bone. Bone was quoted with the following statement after seeing his photo on TV "First thing that came to my mind was 'Why would this lying son of a b***h do this?' I'm absolutely furious. Been seeing red all day." This is taking reality TV to the extreme and not in a good way.
