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America’s Got Talent season 19 aired its first quarterfinal episode on August 13, after a strategic two-week hiatus for the Paris Summer Olympics. The episode saw 11 acts including Arshiya, Ashes and Arrows, Attraction Juniors, Flewnt and Inkabee, Hakuna Matata Acrobatic, Hypers Kids Africa, Liv Warfield, Los Osos High School, Phillip Lewis, Richard Goodall, and duo Roni Sagi & Rhythm.
After eight episodes of auditions, America’s Got Talent will air four quarterfinals in total with Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell judging the live events. In the first quarterfinal, out of the 11, only one act received a Live Show Golden Buzzer, giving them a direct ticket to the final.
What happened in America’s Got Talent season 19 quarterfinals 1?
The host of the show, Terry Crews, came out to the cheering public and declared that only three of the 11 acts would proceed to the finals. Of the three, two performers would advance through votes given by the public, while one act would move ahead with Sofia's Golden Buzzer.
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The father-son duo of Flewnt & Inkabee started the much-anticipated competition. The rap group from Australia stated their intent to “give the Aboriginal people a voice” beforehand. Judges loved the fact that apart from rapping, they sang the chorus part as well. Meanwhile, Simon pointed out that it was a smart decision to come to the show as a group, but they might need to separate after the show.
Attraction Juniors from Hungary were next to perform on the sets of America’s Got Talent. Started by one of the sons of former Britain's Got Talent winner Attraction, they were able to impress everyone besides Howie. To the shock of the live audience, Howie claimed they were worse than they were in the audition process.
Meanwhile, Simon gave the Golden Buzzer to singer Liv Warfield in the audition rounds and she performed a song that Prince wrote for her. Liv was one of the backup singers for Prince during his live stages and the judges called her performance “unbelievable.”
Next up was the dance group Hypers Kids Africa hailing from Uganda. The kids revealed that they did everything together including living with one other. After the performance, judges couldn't help but give a standing ovation as they felt that the kids had improved heavily since the audition process.
The country rock band, Ashes & Arrows, came onto the stage next. During the auditions, they were called "a pub band" by Howie and expressed he wanted more of a "concert feel". Being a local act, the band hoped for many votes from the American audience sitting at home.
It was revealed that the student dance team Los Osos High School hailing from California got their own room to practice this time around. After their performance, the crowd noise drowned out the judge's voices but Howie made it clear that he wasn't impressed. The America’s Got Talent judge stated that the act looked like a "football halftime show" and they weren't ready for the America’s Got Talent stage.
Then, Hakuna Matata Acrobatic performed who had suffered through some issues during their audition process. The men from Tanzania switched the material of their boards and performed “one of the most dangerous and difficult acts” according to Simon. Every judge was on their feet and Sofia finally hit her Golden Buzzer, awarding the act a direct pass to the finals.
Before Phillip Lewis came to perform on stage, the footage of him struggling to catch batons was revealed. The self-taught baton twirler dropped three batons but decided to up his game by lighting the batons on fire. The judges were impressed by Phillip's desire to improve the spectacle of his act and expressed they didn't care about the dropped batons.
Just like the winners of last season's America’s Got Talent, Roni Sagi & Rhythm duo did a dog act to emulate their predecessor. Roni revealed that her father met with an accident recently and she couldn't be with him during this tough time because she decided to be here with her pet, Rhythm. The judges were full of praise after the performance and even claimed that Rhythm was a better dancer than most humans.
Meanwhile, Indian dancer Arshiya surprised America’s Got Talent judges and audiences alike with her horror-inspired contortionist act during the auditions. The judges enjoyed her scary performance in the first quarterfinal as well.
The final act of the night was the singer Richard Goodall, who dedicated his performance to his fiancée who was having surgery during the time of his audition. The judges gave a standing ovation to the act and asked him to “start believing in himself”.
The next episode of America’s Got Talent will air Wednesday, August 14 on NBC.
