No more Okies on CMT’s “Duet”

Posted by brandy

on May 16, 2008M at 3:16 pm

The Country Music Television reality singing contest “Can You Duet” will be narrowing the field from eight duos to six on tonight’s episode, airing at 7 on CMT.

But Edmond’s the Herndon Twins won’t be among the competitors. The sisters – Addi Panter and Jala Verner – made it into the show’s final 12 but were eliminated on last Friday’s episode.

The reality show’s producers played up the competiton between the Herndon Twins and the other set of twins, Kacey and Kate Coppola of Denver, but ultimately chose the Coppola sisters to continue in the contest.

“It was emotional. It was emotional watching it again, too, and it was hard. But like I said on the episode, it was a humbling experience for us,” Verner said in a phone interview.

She added, “It was an incredible experience and Addi and I can look back and say we would not change one thing about the experience.”

Verner said the competition brought her closer to her sister. They also got to know their cousins Niles and Beau Johnson, fellow Oklahomans who competed on the reality show as Champ Devere. Having family to lean on and support during the contest was a blessing.

The twins competed on the show with much more experienced performers. They went into the contest with no MySpace page, no original music and no intentions to pursue music as a career. Since they returned from Nashville, they have set up www.myspace.com/herndontwins, recorded some original songs, done some demos and are taking their musical sideline more seriously.

“It really challenged us and encouraged us to get a lot of that going,” she said.

The sisters, who are both married and use their maiden name for their duo, spent about two weeks in March in Nashville for the filming of the show. It came at a busy time in their lives. Panter graduated in December with a business accounting degree from Oklahoma Christian University and works as an assistant to OC’s dean of students. Verner just graduated a few weeks ago with a nursing degree from OC and has a job at Integris Baptist Medical Center.

“It’s been a crazy few months, but awesome for sure,” Verner said.

You can see the Herndon Twins perform at 7 p.m. today at the Oklahoma Rodeo Opry in Stockyards City.

-BAM

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