The reality TV star was remembered by friend Yvette Nicole Brown, who called her &34;the best of us.&34; So You Think You Can Dance finalist Donyelle Jones dies at 46 The reality TV star was remembered by friend Yvette Nicole Brown, who called her &34;the best of us.&34; By Raechal Shewfelt :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RaechalShewfeltauthorphotoc49d3a3b6aa442f588f2bbc0de804e09.jpg) Raechal Shewfelt Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at . She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American Journalism Review and The Shreveport Times.

The reality TV star was remembered by friend Yvette Nicole Brown, who called her "the best of us."

So You Think You Can Dance finalist Donyelle Jones dies at 46

The reality TV star was remembered by friend Yvette Nicole Brown, who called her "the best of us."

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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December 3, 2025 12:56 a.m. ET

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Donyelle Jones, pictured in October, has died. Credit:

Robin L Marshall/Getty

*So You Think You Can Dance* contestant Donyelle Jones died Tuesday, her family announced on her official social media. She was 46.

"Today at 8:34am, Donyelle Denise Wilson, transitioned," they wrote, using her real name. "A wife. A daughter. A sister. A friend. And a warrior who kicked cancer's ass every single day she was here."

The message continued, "Her spirit never dimmed. Her heart never hardened. And even in the storm, she never lost her smile. #GIWMA."

Jones' death came nearly a decade after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The nonprofit organization Dancers Against Cancer, which profiled her, specified that her stage 3C cancer had included "formidable challenges, including a double mastectomy, relentless rounds of chemotherapy, and the harsh reality of metastatic breast cancer."

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Jones memorably competed on the second season of the reality show *So You Think You Can Dance, *which aired in 2006. She finished in third place, behind runner-up Travis Wall and winner Benji Schwimmer.

Later, the professional dancer appeared in *Spirited*, the 2022 holiday movie starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, according to her IMDb page. Her credits also include the 2005 movie *Be Cool*, which starred John Travolta and Uma Thurman.

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Just a week ago, the dancer shared an emotional video on social media, in which she said, "It has come to the point where I have started to get my affairs in order. Most of you guys know, at this point, I am in hospice. I have done everything possible to extend my time here in this dimension and, at this point, I have surrendered to whatever God's will is. And if God's will is that he heals my liver, which is not functioning and not making me able to eat, and I get that miraculous healing, and I'm audacious enough to believe that he can do it — but I'm also cognizant enough to know that I've received 10 years of miracles."

Jones continued, "What else can I possibly ask for, but for his discernment on when it's his time for me to have my time on this side come to an end?"

Donyelle Jones performs on 'So You Think You Can Dance'.

Jason Merritt/FilmMagic

She thanked the thousands of people whom she said had prayed and shown up for her by sending prayers, money, thoughts, love, and light.

Jones' last thought that she wanted to leave, she said, was that people should "get back to community" and "family."

"Nobody does anything alone," she said, adding that she felt the pandemic has shifted the way the world works.

Following Jones' death, actress Actress Yvette Nicole Brown wrote about her on social media.

"My dear friend has gone on to be with the Lord." Brown said, referring to Jones as "the best of us."

Brown added, "Thank you for showing us how to live and fight and love and DANCE!"**

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Source: Celebrity

Published: December 03, 2025 at 08:57AM on Source: RON MAG

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