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Post by Admin on May 23, 2020 1:14:20 GMT
Not every America's Got Talent performance has been Sofia Vergara's cup of tea. During her virtual visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Modern Family alum dished on her new AGT judge gig and revealed that there are certain acts that she has a hard time getting behind, especially when they involve a ukulele. "Well, sometimes I wonder—there's people that come and I don't know if they're being honest or they think they deserve to be there and win $1 million, or they're just doing it for the fun of it," she told host Jimmy Fallon. "So, that's kind of weird. But also, I realized something I had never even thought in my 47 years of life: I don't really enjoy the ukulele." Seeing the Saturday Night Live star's puzzled reaction, Sofía continued, "I don't know. I don't love it that much. When the act comes out—I never even thought of a ukulele until now. What is it? It's so tiny. It's not a guitar. It's not—what is it? I don't know." But, that's not to say that she would ever turn away a deserving contestant. "I mean, I'm not saying there are not acts that are good with the ukulele but it's not my favorite. It doesn't excite me," she added. "And so, now, I do try to be fair. I do try to open my heart and I say, ‘Okay, it's a ukulele.' But, you know, I try to be fair. I give them the chance. I don't just push the red button because the ukulele showed up. No, I give them the chance." Before launching into her hilarious ukulele rant, Sofía admitted that she apprehensive to join the AGT family. "I was like, ‘What? Me? What do I know about anything?'" she recalled thinking after she was offered the position. "When they told me that, that is something that had never occurred me that I was going to do. And I'm like, ‘What do I know about anything? I don't know anything about music or dancing.' I mean, I know, but I am no an expert on anything in the world." Despite her reservations, the Hot Pursuit star said that she found a new perspective to bring to the show. She continued, "But then I realized, you know, I'm just gonna be, like, the people that are sitting in their house with their TV and I'm just gonna say what it makes me feel and be honest with who I am, and that's it."
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Post by Admin on Jun 10, 2020 18:44:21 GMT
While drama and scandal unfolded behind the scenes at America’s Got Talent this week — with ousted former judge Gabrielle Union formally filing a discrimination complaint against NBC, Fremantle, and Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, and current host Terry Crews coming under fire for his “black supremacy” tweet — the show continued apace Tuesday, attempting to bring viewers some distracting feel-good content. Unfortunately, this evening it was judge Heidi Klum’s turn to generate controversy, when she rudely hit her red X button during plus-sized contestant Amanda LaCount’s audition.
Nineteen-year-old dancer, model, choreographer, singer, actress, and activist Amanda has a big online fanbase — 260,000 followers alone on Instagram, where she frequently posts clips of her dazzling, frenetically paced hip-hop routines. She has performed in Katy Perry and Walk the Moon music videos, on Dancing With the Stars and The Voice, in Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty show at New York Fashion Week, at Coachella with Lizzo, and even in her own national dance tour "Amanda LaCount Live,” and she has also spearheaded a campaign, #breakingthestereotype, to inspire people of all shapes and sizes to pursue dance. So when size 2 supermodel Heidi buzzed Amanda before she’d even finished her performance to Todrick Hall’s “Nails Hair Hips Heels,” fans on Twitter were not happy.
Another judge, Howie Mandel, also caught some Twitter flak for initially voting no for Amanda (he praised the dancer’s vivacious spirit, but argued that he couldn’t see her winning AGT). However, in the end, the roaring audience convinced Howie (but not Heidi) to change his vote — and so, Amanda scraped through with three yeses. (Simon, who was blasted for his rude treatment of plus-sized contestants back in his American Idol heyday, raved that he “loved every minute” of Amanda’s audition.) Amanda explained to the judges that she’s been told all her life that she can’t be a professional dancer due her weight, so something tells me this setback will only fire her up, to prove Heidi and Howie wrong next time.
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Post by Admin on Jun 17, 2020 7:04:06 GMT
Simon Cowell and the judges went through various ups and downs on Tuesday's episode of America's Got Talent.
Though the panel gave their fair share of rejections to contestants auditioning, among the highlights was Cowell bestowing his Golden Buzzer to the W.A.F.F.L.E. dance crew, whose name stands for We Are Family For Life Entertainment. "With my Golden Buzzer, I absolutely loved the act I've given it to," Cowell, 60, tells PEOPLE, explaining that he chose them after seeing "a combination of talent, who they are, and how much I liked them."
The members from the Bronx — Andrew Saunders, Yushon Stroughn, Joel Leitch, Johnathon Williams, Dashawn Martin, Randy Vargas, Sean Kirkland, Bryan Sibblies, Donovan Demetrius, Tyree Sowell and Damien Morales — are LiteFeet dancers who have known each other for over a decade and have previously performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show multiple times. "We're from a city where there's no hope, there's no influence. We don't see the right things when we go back home. We never gave up on our hopes and dreams, so we want to give the young people something positive to look to. ... We understand that there's a million dollars at stake right now, we already invest in our community with just as little as our pocket money," they told the judges before Cowell pushed the coveted button.
Then, halfway into the two-hour episode, host Terry Crews informed the audience and the at-home viewers that "unfortunately Heidi Klum is a little under the weather." When the episode was filmed in early spring, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic, judge Heidi Klum fell ill on set and was dismissed from production after "experiencing fever and sore throat," she told PEOPLE recently.
As seen in the latest episode, the audition process continued with an empty seat between newcomer Sofia Vergara and veteran judge Howie Mandel. Thankfully, in March, AGT secured Vergara's Modern Family costar Eric Stonestreet as a guest judge and temporary replacement.
"We didn't have days to think about it. We had hours to think about it," Cowell tells PEOPLE about finding someone to fill in for Klum, who ultimately tested negative for the coronavirus.
"Heidi obviously got ill and, for obvious reasons, she had to stay at home. Someone said, 'Well, why don't we hire Eric?' And we said it's a good idea because Sofia and Eric worked together and they have chemistry. He was a real trooper. He stepped in at the last moment," Cowell recalls.
Tuesday's episode also showed the beginning of the end for AGT's production as the pandemic had become increasingly dangerous. The live audience was eventually eliminated as the episodes continued to film.
"It was surreal, but interestingly, we developed this really close bond with the contestants during that whole period," Cowell says. "When you don't have an audience, you feel for them because it's much harder to audition without a crowd. So, they're coming on to total silence."
AGT has yet to address when or if production will continue for season 15, but Cowell says broadcasting without a live audience is not ideal. "I wouldn't want to do that again in the future," he says. "The expression, 'The show must go on,' to a point, we did as much as we could. And then after two days, we realized we had to finish."
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Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2020 6:05:35 GMT
Up until this point on America’s Got Talent, viewers have been watching judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and newcomer Sofía Vergara throw their support behind spectacular acts. But on Tuesday night’s episode, fans will notice an empty chair at the judges’ table for some auditions and inevitably wonder about Heidi's absence. Where is Heidi on America’s Got Talent? In late February, AGT announced that Heidi was returning to the judging panel for season 15. Shortly after, the hit NBC competition show began production with its signature audition rounds. But according to TMZ, Heidi left the set before the start of a taping on March 10. Although she looked upbeat heading into work at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, it turns out she wasn’t feeling well. As a precaution during the earlier months of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., the AGT star went home ill and filming continued without her. The following day, Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet was brought in as Heidi’s replacement, per Deadline. Heidi and her husband, Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz, ended up getting tested for COVID-19. On March 14, the AGT judge shared that both she and Tom were waiting for their results. More than a week later on March 24, Heidi took to Instagram to announce that she didn’t have the coronavirus. http://instagram.com/p/B-IpR8MJcBa This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Rest assured, Heidi will still appear on the show. On May 12, she was featured in an at-home promo video for the current season, indicating that she's still very much involved with the series. http://instagram.com/p/CBg-F5yAULz
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Post by Admin on Jul 4, 2020 6:26:39 GMT
Heidi Klum has been missing from the last few episodes of America’s Got Talent this season. We’ve known for a while that this was because Heidi fell ill during filming and had to go home. In a recent interview with her fellow judges on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Heidi shared what it was like to show up to work feeling sick as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting the United States. http://instagram.com/p/CCFBu0WpU7i “I came to set, and I had a fever, I had a cough, I wasn’t feeling good,” Heidi said of the day she left the show. “You know, when you have your body ache everywhere.” She said she told someone as soon as she got to set, and was examined by a medic.
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