America's Got Talent advanced card magician Anna Deguzman and Japanese dance crew Chibi Unity from the "Qualifiers" round to Season 18's finals and eliminated nine acts during Wednesday night's episode on NBC.
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In the "Qualifiers" round, 55 acts are divided into five groups of 11, and there will be a total of five weeks of performance shows and results. Each week, acts are hoping to advance to the America's Got Talent finale.
America's vote determines which two acts from each of the five qualifying groups will win spots in the America's Got Talent finale.
Since the decision in is viewers' hands, America's Got Talent judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Sofia Vergara only offer praise, criticism or advice for the acts following their performances.
During Tuesday night's "Qualifiers 4" performance episode, 11 more acts took the stage for votes.
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In addition to Anna Deguzman and Chibi Unity, those 11 acts included pre-teen singer D'Corey Johnson, Los Angeles-based singing group The Freedom Singers, country singer Kylie Frey, and puppet act Puppet Simon & The Cowbelles.
The rest of the acts who took the stage for America's votes were vocalist Roland Abante, contortionist and dancer Mariandrea, standup comedian Orlando Leyba, shadow act and comic Shadow Ace, and mixed martial artist and wrestler Zion Clark.
The Top 5 acts of the night were unveiled on Wednesday night's broadcast: Anna Deguzman, Chibi Unity, D'Corey Johnson, Shadow Ace, and Zion Clark.
The following six acts were therefore eliminated: The Freedom Singers, Kylie Frey, Puppet Simon & The Cowbelles, Roland Abante, Mariandrea, and Orlando Leyba.
America's Got Talent host Terry Crews later revealed that the Top 3 acts -- the performers who had received the most home viewer votes -- were Anna Deguzman, Chibi Unity, and Shadow Ace.
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But only two acts could make it into America's Got Talent's upcoming Season 18 finale.
Those two special finalist acts were Anna Deguzman and Chibi Unity.
Shadow Ace was therefore eliminated from the competition.
The "Qualifiers 1 Results" kicked off on August 23, with Sofia's "Golden Buzzer" recipient, singer Lavender Darcangelo, making the cut. The memorable dog act of Adrian Stoica & Hurricane also made it to the AGT finals.
The "Qualifiers 2 Results," which aired on August 30, featured stand-up comedian Ahren Belisle and French dance act Murmuration advancing in the competition.
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The "Qualifiers 3 Results" episode on September 6 concluded with two Golden Buzzer acts, Mzansi Youth Choir from South Africa and singer/pianist Putri Ariani, being sent through to The Finals.
Mzansi Youth Choir had received the audience's Golden Buzzer, and Simon had pushed his Golden Buzzer for Putri Ariani.
The winner of America's Got Talent this year will participate in the "AGT Superstars Live" stage show in Las Vegas.