"America's Got Talent" Semi-Finals Preview

From LA to Dallas to New York to Orlando to Portland to Chicago then on to Las Vegas and Hollywood, the judges on "America's Got Talent" have been busy this summer looking for the next big talent worthy of a million dollars and a headline show in Las Vegas. It all began on June 1, 2010, when the first acts took the stage in LA to try out for a spot in the finals. Finalists were weeded out in Las Vegas where the AGT judges were looking for the Top 48 acts to send to the quarterfinals in Hollywood. The judges put the acts onto 3 different groups. Talents in Group C are deemed the cream of the crop and received an automatic pass from the judges; Group A talents are the judges favorite acts and would have a chance to perform one more time for the judges for a chance to go on n the Top 48; lastly, Group B were the least favorites and would only get a chance to perform if there are in slots left open after Group A performs. Once the Top 48 acts were chosen, AGT moved to Hollywood where the acts would perform live on the biggest stage yet in front of the biggest audience they have ever faced. On July 13, the first 12 acts of the Top 48 performed Live in Hollywood and now the winners will be chosen by America as America gets to vote for their favorites. On August 4th, America thinks they're in the home-stretch now in the search for an AGT winner, but "America's Got Talent" has other ideas. Opening the door for a new way to audition, "America's Got Talent" teamed up with web sensation YouTube for at-home talents to submit their audition tapes to AGT via YouTube. Eleven acts from those submissions were chosen by the AGT judges for a chance to perform on the big Hollywood stage. America chose the 12th act via online voting on YouTube. And in yet another surprise, the following week the AGT judges brought back 12 of "their favorite talents" to perform for a Wild Card spot in the semi-finals. Last night, the last of the 24 semi-finalist on season five of "America's Got Talent" was chosen by America.

The 24 semi-finalists on season five of "America's Got Talent" is (in order they were put through):

1. Nathaniel Kenyon (singer, Baxley, GA)
2. Fighting Gravity (entertainers, Blacksburg, VA)
3. Christina & Ali (singers, Idaho Falls, ID)
4. Future Funk (young hip hop dancers, judges choice, Oxnard, CA & Las Vegas, NV)
5. AscenDance (innovative wall dancers, Berkeley, CA)
6. Alice Tan Ridley (singer, Mayfield, KY)
7. Michael Grimm (singer, Hancock County, MS)
8. Antonio Restivo (fiery magician, judges choice, Las Vegas, NV)
9. Haspop (entertainer/dancer, Paris, France)
10. Studio One Young Beast Society (hip hop dancers, Orlando, FL)
11. Debra Romer (singer, Kalamazoo, MI)
12. Jeremy Vanschoohovenon (daredevil bicyclist, Talent, OR)
13. Murray (magician, Las Vegas, NV)
14. Taylor Mathews (singer, Alexandria, LA)
15. Prince Poppycock (singer, Los Angeles, CA)
16. ArcAttack (shocking entertainers, judges choice, Austin, TX)
17. Maestro Alexander Bui (pianist, Egg Harbor Township, NJ)
18. Dan Sperry (scary magician, Las Vegas, NV)
19. Jackie Evancho (young singer, Pittsburgh, PA)
20. Kristina Young (singer, judges choice, Little Rock, AK)
21. Michael Grasso (magician, Cape May, NJ)
22. Anna & Patryk (young ballroom dancers, Hyde Park/Woodside, NY)
23. Connor Doran (indoor kite flyer, Bend, OR)
24. Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon (aerialists, judges choice, Los Angeles, CA)

The first 12 semi-finalists will perform live on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, and 5 will be chosen for a spot in the Top 10 of "America's Got Talent."

"America's Got Talent" airs on Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 9:00 pm ET on NBC.

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DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION

Source:

America's Got Talent/NBC