

Things are certainly never boring on America’s Got Talent! The live shows continued on, and you know what that means — anything can happen! While the audience was treated to some amazing acts including singers, dancers and comedians, one contestant did not feel the love. Judge Howard Stern never has a problem with voicing his opinion, but this time he was silent and laid down on the table while the judges critiqued roller dancer, Juan Carlos.
Loop Rawlins, brought some old school cowboy moves to the Radio City Music Hall stage. Not only did Loop show off his lassoing moves, he literally set them on fire. While the judges loved the act, they were not sure that he would be able to keep the audience guessing in the weeks to come — I guess we will just have to wait and see!
John & Andrew were up next and brought some amazing salsa moves to the floor. These two have only been dancing together for six months, but they are so in sync and certainly know how to work an audience. All four of the judges gave glowing reviews, especially Howard for urged American to “turn out in droves” for them.
Audrey Moraru, showed off his incredible balancing again. This time he took things to new heights by balancing on one hand and flipping his back over towards his front. All of the judges were standing by the end, and Howie Mandel gave him the honor of best of the night!
12-year-old Mara Justine‘s powerhouse voice returned triumphantly with a performance of Katy Perry‘s, “Unconditionally.” While everyone was a fan, Howard did encourage her to switch it up and not always lead with her big voice, while Mel B warned her about song choice.
Aerial Animation, gave the most diverse act of the night. Mixing animation with her own acrobatics, a beautiful story was seamlessly told. Everyone was on the feet and gave plenty of praise for her different and great concept. All four judges were very impressed and thought that her performance was very memorable and distinct.
Mat Franco, got down on the judges level for his magical performance. In the beginning of the trick, he predicted something about the judges using spray paint before going into a card trick. In an amazing twist involving flames and fake tricks, the card was in Howie’s pocket, who was on the other side of the table and as he said “I am not involved” — oh yes you are Howie! Needless to say, he got rave reviews.
The opera duo, Acte II, closed out the night with their take on Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Heidi Klum greeted the duo with a standing ovation and said, “you have to go through.” Mel and Howie also loved the performance, while Howard was not impressed and did not think it was their best.
Juan Carlos is an upbeat and extremely energetic and passionate roller dancer. While he may have had the audience on their feet while he danced to Madonna‘s “Vogue,” he certainly didn’t have a fan in Howard. About ten seconds into the routine, the judge had already slammed him with his X, which definitely put a damper on the rest of his flashy performance — which was complete with a gold sequined jumpsuit.
Howie and Mel B were certainly on Juan’s side though and were all giggled during the performance and showed Juan plenty of love. That didn’t stop Howard though, he actually called out his fellow judges saying that they were fake laughing and pretending to be entertained! The angry judge was disgusted because he felt that other acts should have been there in his place. He even went so far as to lay down on the table while the others were critiquing — we have never seen that before!
While everyone is extremely talented, there were a few acts of the night that did not get rave reviews from the judges. Luckily, if one of your favorites landed in this category you can vote and have them stay around to prove the judges wrong!
The 26 girls on Hart Dance Team opened the show with an electric dance number to “Team” by Lorde and “Burn” by Ellie Goulding.In perfect synchronization all of the dancers made it look effortless. The best part was when one of the dancers was whipped into the air and spun around. Although it was a “stunning” performance as Mel B said, Howard and Heidi were both not thrilled with the act and felt that they had seen this before.
Livy, Matt & Sammy brought there musical talents singing, “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen. This was only their third performance ever as a group together, but unfortunately the judges were not fans. While they praised their singing abilities, especially Livy for being pitch perfect, but they felt that the group played it safe.
Jaycob Curlee sang “Beneath Your Beautiful” by Labrinth. He brought his signature soothing tone to the performance, but unfortunately it didn’t capture the judges attention like he had hoped. All were in agreement that he had touched on the fact that it was beautiful, but lacked passion.
The comedic stylings of Darik Santos, were up, and with his funny and slightly awkward approach he made the crowd laugh and even Howard cracked a little smile. Unfortunately, Mel B did not “laugh once” and Heidi was not a fan of the material.
Luckily, it is out of the judges hands and up to America! Make sure to vote for you favorite, only five of the twelve acts will make it through to the next round!
What do YOU think, HollywoodLifers? Do you agree with the judges? Which act was your favorite of the night?
— Caitlin Beck