We have tragic news to report from the world of reality television:
Joshua Allen — the charismatic champion of So You Think You Can Dance Season 4 — has passed away.
He was just 36 years old.
A family member tells TMZ that Allen was struck by a train near his home in Fort Worth, Texas.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The dance community loses a beloved member
Over the course of his career, Allen made many high-profile friends in the dance community, including Stephen “tWitch” Boss, who came in second place on SYTYCD Season 4.
Boss would go on to serve as the in-house DJ and co-producer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for eight seasons before taking his own life in 2022.
Allen was also close friends with fellow dancer Emmanuel Hurd, who tells TMZ that he will remember his late friend as “a very honest, real person.”
“He didn’t always do things the way that everybody thought he should, but that’s why he was a winner.”
After his 2008 victory on the show, Joshua opened up to Entertainment Weekly about his lack of formal training:
“I really wasn’t that technically trained. I would just try to take classes in the summer, and when it was school time I would take class, run track, play football,” he told the outlet, adding:
“I would always just train in the summer. So it was never hard training.
“I took a few modern dance classes, ballet classes, because I felt that to be a better dancer I would have to take different classes, and expand my horizons in the art of dance. I didn’t want to audition for the show not knowing anything.”
In 2016, Allen was arrested and charged with domestic violence in Los Angeles.
He was ultimately sentenced to a year in jail, plus one year of probation.
We will have further updates on the circumstances surrounding his death as new information becomes available.
Our thoughts go out to Allen’s loved ones during this enormously difficult time.