Simon Cowell Gives His ‘AGT Extreme’ Golden Buzzer to “Drone Nerds”
Eliza Morse/NBC Reading Time: 2 minutes
Simon Cowell rolled his eyes when Verge Aero’s Tony, Chris, Anthony, and Nils explained they would fly a high tech fireworks show made entirely of drones. By the end of their performance, he lit up the sky with his Golden Buzzer.
During the first episode of the season, Verge Aero’s drones formed stars, an outline of The United States, and ended with the AGT logo all set to Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars.”
“I can’t even imagine the brain power of you four that went into that,” said judge Nikki Bella after the epic performance. “When it was done, I felt myself wanting so much more.”
This group met in college and bonded during late nights working on code to make their larger-than-life drone show. They took on AGT Extreme with 160 drones creating patterns in the sky taller than 30-story skyscrapers. The group described their act as a new type of light show, “like high tech fireworks.”
“This was better than any fireworks show I’ve ever seen,” said judge Travis Pastrana. “That was absolutely amazing.”
Simon Cowell Awards Golden Buzzer After Drone Light Show
This act was five years in the works completely created by unique code created by Verge Aero.
“We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible,” said Nils. “Talent comes in many different forms, engineers have talent.”
In true Cowell form, he didn’t immediately praise the group. He, in fact, told them how much he usually hates drones.
“I think drones are some of the most annoying things on the planet, honestly,” said Cowell. “Until now. There’s so many ways to define the word ‘extreme,’ and I think this for me comes under ‘spectacular’ and that’s what we look for.
“I had a group called One Direction, and you’re like No Direction, but that’s what I love about you. I need to give you something,” he said before hitting his Golden Buzzer and igniting the fireworks.
Verge Aero stated that they are funded mostly out of their own pockets, so they hope to use the $500,000 prize money to hire more engineers and expand, if they win. Now that they’ve earned a Golden Buzzer, the group will go straight through to the finals of AGT Extreme where “super fans” across the country will vote for the winner.
