Analysing the ‘America’s Got Talent: The Champions’ Week 5 Lineup
NBC Reading Time: 6 minutes
America’s Got Talent: The Champions is back with 10 more acts hoping for a place in the finals, but the competition is going to be tougher than ever this week.
No, really, we mean it. No hyperbole here, folks. Considering this show was created for fan-favorite acts to return and compete for the glory of being deemed the “champion of champions” we knew we were going to be treated to epic lineups of performers every week. But this week? This week is something else. Just take a look at who we’ll be seeing on Monday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mydam9Vo8rc
That’s right: Two runner-ups and FIVE winners from the Got Talent franchise are up this week. Half the acts competing in episode 5 – more than in any previous episode – already have a victory under their belt. And the five who haven’t have some pretty special achievements of their own.
It’s also worth noting that half of these acts (including four of the winners) have never performed on America’s Got Talent before, so those who don’t keep up with other versions of the show will be seeing a lot of new faces tomorrow night!
The Singers
Sons of Serendip: This all-male quartet performs “fusion music” combining neo-soul, R&B, and classical styles. They finished in fourth place during Season 9 of America’s Got Talent. Musical acts have been doing very well on Champions, and while we’ve been seeing a lot of them, these guys will stand out from the rest since they’re the closest thing this competition has to a band in the mix.
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Sal Valentinetti: Sal is a lounge singer who’s performances elicit “old school” vibes. He received Heidi Klum’s Season 11 golden buzzer on AGT and ended up as a finalist, placing fifth overall. That’s actually a low finish for this episode’s standards, but he has an album under his belt is is currently touring the eastern US, so he’s been doing pretty well since his season ended!
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Jackie Evancho: Jackie was runner-up on Season 5 and has since gone on to be one of AGT‘s most well-known alumni, releasing six albums and performing all over the place from Carnegie Hall to Presidential inaugurations. Unfortunately, she’s also dealt with depression and an eating disorder, but has recently been opening up about her struggles and if she talks about it on the show I can see it helping the audience connect with her.
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The Magic
Cosentino: Cosentino is the runner-up of Australia’s Got Talent Season 5. He’s a magician who has quite the variety of tricks up his sleeve and the charisma to deliver them well. He might face a bit of an uphill battle for the “magic vote”, though, since there are two other magic acts this episode and the “50 States” are more likely to be familiar with them since both have already appeared on the American version of the show and Cosentino has not. But hey, that did end up turning out pretty well for Cristina Ramos a few weeks ago, and of course there’s also that golden buzzer from Terry Crews…
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Colin Cloud: Colin is a mentalist who takes inspiration for his acts from mysteries (he’s actually been dubbed “the real-life Sherlock Holmes”) and has performed all over the world including Broadway and the Royal Variety Performance. The thing that sometimes works against Colin is that he’s best as a long-form performer; he creates and performs an hour-long show in Scotland every year and always gets glowing reviews, but when he does a more complex act on AGT reactions tend to be mixed since it can be tough to squeeze so much into a small time frame and still make it easy for the audience to follow. Also potentially working against Colin is the fact that he is the only act this week to have never made a Got Talent final. Will that all change tomorrow night?
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Shin Lim: Shin is a card magician the reigning AGT champion, having won Season 13 at the end of last summer. Before his time on AGT, Shin won various magic competitions and appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us twice (and fooled them both times!). Since his big win he’s headlined in Vegas, performed on Broadway, and been named one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive. Some people have said Shin’s win was undeserved, so I’m sure he’ll be hungry to prove his victory wasn’t just a fluke on Champions.
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Side Note: Remember a few weeks ago when every act was up against another with striking similarities? That’s sort of the case this week with Shin and Colin; they’ve known each other for years and often seem to end up performing in the same shows like The Magicians and The Illusionists, so I imagine there’ll be a bit of a sense of rivalry between the two tomorrow night (albeit most likely a friendly one if this interview is any indication!).
The BGT Champs
Attraction: Even though the members of this shadow theatre group competed in Britain, they actually call Hungary home! Prior to their participation and victory on BGT, they performed at the Hungary Olympic Oath Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. That same year, they came in seventh place on Das Supertalent, the German edition of Got Talent. Attraction has the unique factor going for them since they’re the only shadow act to participate in Champions, so we’ll see if that helps them get the golden buzzer or 50 States vote!
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Tokio Myers: Tokio won BGT in 2017 and has since gone on to release an album called “Our Generation”. As a pianist, his act is the only musical one this week that does not involve singing, and it’s hard to say whether that will help or hurt his chances of moving forward.
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Lost Voice Guy: Lost Voice Guy is the reigning champion of BGT. He has cerebral palsy which, in his case, does not allow him to speak, so he uses a special “voice box” to talk, including in his stand-up comedy performances. He recently did a set at the 2018 Royal Variety Performance as reward for his BGT victory.
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The Lone Wolf
Kseniya Simonova: Kseniya stands out from the crowd in this week’s lineup. She’s not a singer, magician, or BGT winner; she is a sand animation artist who won Ukraine’s Got Talent, and is a certified Merited Artist of Ukraine. She’s not just the only sand artist on Champions, she’s the only sand artist to be on AGT in a very long time, so that variety may prove to be an asset in the competition.
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Which acts are you rooting for this week? Let us know in the comments below!
