America's Got Talent determined its final five fifth-season Top 10 finals acts during Wednesday night's live broadcast of the NBC reality competition series.
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Jackie Evancho, a 10-year-old opera singer from Pittsburgh, PA; Fighting Gravity, a dance group from Blacksburg, VA; Michael Grasso, a magician from Cape May, NJ; and Jeremy Vanschoonhoven, a stunt bike rider from Talent, OR, were revealed to have finished as the Top 4 vote-getters after Tuesday night's performance show which featured 12 of the season's 24 semifinalist acts performing for home viewer votes, automatically earning them a spot as in the finals.
America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon also revealed that 16-year-old pianist Maestro Alexander Bui, hip-hop dancer Haspop, musician and singer Nathaniel Kenyon, aerialist duo Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon, magician Murray, and musician and singer Debra Romer had received the six lowest home viewer vote totals and been eliminated from the competition.
The announcements left America's Got Talent judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel with the task of deciding which of the two acts that had received the fifth and sixth highest vote totals -- Studio One Young Beast Society, a dance crew from Orlando, FL, or Alice Tan Ridley, a singer from New York, NY -- should become the fifth act to advance to the Top 10 finals.
"This is like the cruelest moment of the entire season... it's going to be heartbreaking for one of you. Alice, I love you as a performer, [you're] a great singer. It's your bad fortune that this year we have so many great singers, but last night, I thought you were terrific, up there with the best," Morgan said.
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"Studio One Young Beast Society, you're the last dance troupe left in the competition. You got there through perseverance, hard work, and you're great roles models. You were great last night [too], so this is really tough. I'm going to go with the act that last night I really felt to myself, 'They should be in the Top 10' -- and it's Studio One."
Osbourne then cast also cast her vote for Studio One, negating the need for Mandel to reveal his vote.
"Alice, last night your performance was sensational -- you are a powerhouse of a woman. You've got such great soul, an amazing voice, an amazing stage presence. Studio One, you're got great enthusiasm, you're dedicated, and as Piers said, I love the fact that you are a great role model for the youth of America. I love that," she said.
"Both acts deserve to go through, but unfortunately we know you can't. And I'm going to put through... Studio One."
"That's two, that means congratulations, you guys are the winners -- Studio One Young Beast Society!" Cannon shouted.
About The Author: Steven Rogers