America's Got Talent revealed five of its Season 11 finalist acts during Wednesday night's live broadcast of the NBC reality competition series.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sal Valentinetti, a 20-year-old crooner from Long Island, NY; Jon Dorenbos, a 36-year-old NFL magician from Humble, TX; and Grace VanderWaal, a 12-year-old singer from Stuffern, NY, were revealed to have finished as the Top 3 votegetters following Tuesday night's performance show, automatically earning them a spot in America's Got Talent's eleventh-season finals.
Tuesday night's episode had featured 11 of the season's semifinalist acts performing for home viewer votes.
America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon also revealed last night that Blake Vogt, a 27-year-old magician from Lebanon, IN; Lori Mae Hernandez, a 13-year-old comedian from Lancaster, CA; Musicality, an A cappella group ages 15-18 from Chicago IL; Deadly Games, a husband and wife knife-throwing act, ages 34 and 32, from Las Vegas, NV; and Malevo, a drumming and dancing act ages 17-42 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, had received the five lowest home viewer vote totals.
With comedian and mime Tape Face, 13-year-old opera singer Laura Bretan, and the Edgar Family Band in jeopardy -- as they were the 4th, 5th and 6th ranked acts based on votes -- America had the chance to save one of them. The judges were surprised to see these three acts fighting for survival.
ADVERTISEMENT
America then had about a 30-minute window to tweet their votes, and home viewers ultimately voted to save Tape Face via the "Dunkin' Save." Less than 200 votes separated the Top 2, so Tape Face advanced by the skin of his teeth.
The announcement left Laura from Chicago, IL, and Edgar Family Band, a trio ages from 15-36 from Toluca Lake, CA, competing for the fifth finalist spot.
America's Got Talent judges Heidi Klum, Simon Cowell, Melanie "Mel B" Brown and Howie Mandel had the daunting task of determining which act should advance in the competition to the final round.
Before getting to the night's final results, Howie announced that the Wild Card pick is going to be The Passing Zone, a knife-throwing act featuring a 49-year-old man from Hermosa Beach, CA.
The Passing Zone made it to the finals in Season 1 as well, and they promised to incorporate Simon into their next performance.
ADVERTISEMENT
It then came down to Laura vs. Edgar Family Band. Heidi voted to advance Laura, as did Mel B. Howie then picked Edgar Family Band to move forward in the competition. That left Simon, and he selected Laura to remain in the competition. The decision sent Edgar Family Band packing.
Next week, the remaining semifinalists will perform for an additional five spots in the Season 11 finals.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski