'America's Got Talent' season 12 premiere's best acts and worst blunders
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[Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers from season 12 of "America's Got Talent."]
NBC’s hit competition series “America’s Got Talent” returned in full force on Tuesday for the premiere of season 12. However, it was anything but ordinary as new host Tyra Banks helped usher in some of the best performers and worst rejections yet.
The night wasn’t without its low points as certain acts didn’t impress judges Simon Cowell, Melanie B, Heidi Klum, and Howie Mandel.
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One such act was known only as The Man of Mystery, who proclaimed himself the greatest “escapologist” that anyone has ever seen, or will ever see. Sadly, his act didn’t live up to the hype for the judges.
The strange man walked on stage clad in a mask and an all-black ensemble. After having Banks and Mandell chain him up and zip him into a bag, he began wriggling furiously to try to get out. As the struggle passed the point of tense, it simply became weird, prompting all four judges to press their rejection buttons.
However when he emerged, the shock convinced two of them to take their X’s back. There stood the man of mystery, still in his mask, but now clad in a leopard-print cocktail dress.
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Surprisingly, that ended up being the lowest point of the evening. One noteworthy highlight proved to be magician Will Tsai. “America’s Got Talent” have seen plenty of magic acts before, but Cowell told Tsai he was the best the show had seen in all 12 seasons.
The highlight of his act was making coins disappear and reappear right in front of the crowd’s eyes. No tarp, no hand wave, just pure magic.
Another unanimous vote went to the young Merrick Hanna, who used his incredible breakdancing skills to tell the story of a robot whose creator abandons him. By the end, the crowd was on its feet, as well as all four judges. They passed Merrick to the next round without hesitation and the young man looked thrilled.
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The final surprise of the night came in the form of 12-year-old Darci Lynne. After discovering ventriloquism at her church, her parents surprised her with a puppet at the age of 10.
In those two years, she developed an act that saw the judges’ jaws drop — none more so than Mel B. The judge simply threw caution to the wind and pressed her golden buzzer.
For those unaware, that means Mel B was so confident in the performance that she was willing to send Darci Lynne to the next round regardless of what the other judges said.
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With tears in Lynne's eyes and being embraced by her mother, the credits rolled on the season 12 premiere of “America’s Got Talent.”