It’s a wrap for season 13 of my favorite summer diversion, America’s Got Talent. The finale, which aired Wednesday night, opened with KISS performing “Detroit Rock City” and announcing their “End of the Road” (but far from the end of endless merchandising) world tour, which kicks off soon.
The bloated two-hour show had its share of surprises, including the return of the best contestant this season, Hans, as well as check-ins with some off the most eccentric acts from the auditions (Caterpillar Man, I’m looking at you). As is traditional in the finales, the top ten all got to perform with some famous people. Among the notable performances, Glennis Grace joined Bebe Rexha for a duet of “Meant to Be”. Opera singer Daniel Emmet performed with the legendary Placid Domingo and Michael Ketterer sang a song written for him by Garth Brooks. The comedians didn’t fare so well. Vicki Barbolak, whom I have stanned for since Hans left, got stuck with David Spade for a lame bit about Hollywood speak and Samuel J. Comroe had to coach Mel B. in the ways of stand up. Actually, Mel in a unicorn onesie, giggling while trying to tell horrible jokes, was kind of cute.
The biggest surprise of the night was when singer Courtney Hadwin, who many thought had the competition in the bag, failed to make the top five. Before getting cut, she sang “Piece of My Heart” with The Struts, which I actually enjoyed, but I dig The Struts. Judge Howie Mandel, who gave Courtney his Golden Buzzer, was as surprised as the rest of us, telling USA Today, “I was wrong and I didn’t guess it and I loved it,” adding, “I think America did the best job it’s ever done as far as weeding out who deserved to be in the Top 10. All 10 of them rose to the occasion.” In the end, violinist Brian King Joseph placed third, dance troupe Zucaroh placed second and 26-year-old magician Shin Lim won the season.
As the credits rolled, Shin told the audience, “Thank you so much, everyone. I love you all so much.” People Magazine quoted him as saying, “When you told me at 16 that an awkward, shy kid would one day be performing at the Dolby Theatre performing on America’s Got Talent, I wouldn’t have believed them. To compete on AGT, it means the world to me.”
Canadian-born Shin taught himself magic and studied piano. He was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome at age 20 and was forced to choose between the two, making the wise decision to pursue magic. He appeared on Penn and Teller: Fool Us twice, fooling the pros both times with his amazing close-up magic. He is now only the second magical to win America’s Got Talent.
After Shin headlines the America’s Got Talent show at the Paris in Las Vegas from November 2-4, he will be appearing onstage with The Illusionists as part of their Magic of the Holidays show on Broadway. And, if he’s anything like the other magicians who have appeared on AGT, you can expect to find him in Las Vegas after that.
As much as I was hoping Vicki Barbolak would have won (as she would have been the first comedian and first adult woman to do so), I’m happy for Shin Lim. He really is an amazing magician.
Congratulations @shinlimmagic for winning this season of @agt!!!! Now come see him LIVE on Broadway this holiday season in TheIllusionists – Magic of the Holidays #ShinToWin #AGTFinale #TheIllusionists pic.twitter.com/zHLib3JvRq
— THE ILLUSIONISTS Δ (@Illusionists7) September 20, 2018
GO SHIN!!!!!!! YOU LEGEND!!!!!!!!!! @agt #AGTFinale pic.twitter.com/U8Tm6dIgKL
— Hans (@Accordionhans) September 20, 2018
Photos: WENN, Instagram
He really is a great magician. There is a bar near me that does close-up magic once a month and I feel like an amazed kid whenever I go.
About the fact that an adult woman has never won — we know why. And it’s depressing. (Related, for any Celebitchy Gamers — have you ever played a video game where a woman who looked older than 25 was a main or major character?)
“have you ever played a video game where a woman who looked older than 25 was a main or major character?”
Ha-ha, surely you jest. Why, any female character older than 25 would destroy a game’s mechanics! Except for “crones”, we need crones to strike fear into the heart of our heros. THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL HAVE DO DEAL WITH IN A FEW YEARS! RUN, LITTLE HERO, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! I’m sorry. I’m a gamer and I’m so, so annoyed at the moment.
LOL pretty sure the entire gaming world falls apart if anyone tries to create a playable character over 25 that isn’t perky and thin.
I can hear the gamer bro arguments now.. “but there’s an older lady in…!” “Men have unrealistic standards within video games too!!” Let me know when a male character is going into battle in the equivalent of a bikini dude 🙄
INeedANap – Yes, World of Warcraft’s Jaina Proudmoore and her mother Katherine are big players in the current expansion, Battle for Azeroth. Jaina is probably 40 years old now, and of course her mother is older. Also, many of the faces on the new Allied Races have lines and wrinkles on them, and the new Kul Tiran race has men and women who are beefy. (I’m not playing BfA for many reasons, but wanted to mention it since you asked.)
I’m actually playing Final Fantasy XIV, as a Highlander female character. Look them up and you’ll see that they’re not dainty; rather, you can make them quite tall and muscular. The Roegadyn race are even moreso. I love how you can customize their appearances, from muscularity to cleavage. (Something that WoW doesn’t have.) Having only recently started playing, I can’t say if the game has any main older women in the storylines yet.
whoa, thanks for the info
I wanted Samuel J Comroe to win. He was awesome!
I voted for Shin. He is amazing. If he does a show in Vegas in the future, I would go see it. Loved the dance troupe and violinist as well. I was one of the few people NOT impressed with Courtney. I loved the trapeze but they got boring towards the end. The right person one. The guy is practically a Harry Potter.
Wow, I really expected Courtney to do a much better job with a Janis song. I was not impressed at all.