SALT LAKE CITY — The two Utah-based acrobatic acts on “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” put their all into the show’s final round Monday night.
It started with Salt Lake-based trapeze artists Duo Transcend.
“Tonight we’re performing something we’ve never done before. We’re both so nervous, but we’ve put in the work. We trust each other.”
That’s how Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen, one-half of Duo Transcend, introduced the routine — the second performance of the night.
In previous episodes of “AGT,” Duo Transcend has upped the danger by putting on blindfolds halfway through a routine. But during the finals, Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen and her husband, Tyce Nielsen, did something they’ve never done before: They both wore blindfolds the entire time — for all three minutes and 30 seconds.
It was their most dramatic performance to date.
The Nielsens — one of 10 final acts during Monday night’s episode — moved below and above the trapeze bar, sometimes hanging upside down, sometimes doing flips. And then Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen proceeded to do one of Duo Transcend’s scariest moves — a move she’d never performed blindfolded before. As her husband sat upright on the trapeze bar, she walked across his left arm and made it over to his right shoulder.
“AGT” judge Simon Cowell watched with his mouth agape, adjusting his glasses as Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen slightly wobbled and found footing. And then came another scary move: the big drop from her husband’s right shoulder. The judges and crowd screamed as she fell through the air before making a safe landing by grabbing onto Tyce Nielsen’s feet.
Both performers were dripping in sweat when the act was over. Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen was visibly emotional. Tyce Nielsen raised his fist in the air. The two shared a hug and kiss.
“We wanted to be the best performers we could be, and we just wanted to be stronger in our act, but It’s made us stronger in our relationship,” Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen said in a clip that aired before the routine.
The judges had nothing but praise for the performance.
“You guys are so captivating,” judge Heidi Klum told the pair. “It was incredible, it was all feel and touch, and I know you’ve never done this before. You really upped your game.”
“I think this was the best performance we’ve ever seen from these two. It was such a ginormous risk,” judge Simon Cowell added. “It was so difficult what you just did. So dangerous. ... You want to be better, you’re pushing yourselves. I can see how much this means to you.”
Duo Transcend has had the judges’ support since its first appearance on “America’s Got Talent” in 2018. And during last week’s episode of “AGT: The Champions,” the judges pushed the act through to the final round after the superfan voting failed to give Duo Transcend enough votes.
“Thank you, judges, for believing in us,” Mary Ellen Wolfe-Nielsen said with emotion.
Interestingly, Duo Transcend’s biggest competition on the show is another acrobatic routine out of Utah.
Cassie Sandou of Price, Utah, has stunned the judges throughout the season with her high-flying Russian bar act, and Monday night was no different.
Well, except for the fact that she added nails, flames and a blindfold to the performance.
It was the last act of the night. Blindfolded, Sandou stepped through flames, sprung off the Russian bar and flew high into the air, safely landing back on a bar held just inches above nails.
“Literally every time we see you you raise your bar and you get better and better,” judge Alesha Dixon said. “One of the things I love about you is the way you command that stage, your stage presence, your showwomanship. You are a superhero!”
“You’ve just thrown the competition wide open again after that,” Cowell added. “I think this is one of the top 2 performances tonight. ... I thought I knew where this competition was going to go before, and this has completely changed my mind.”
NBC will air the results of “AGT: The Champions” on Monday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. MST.