“America’s Got Talent: The Champions” has a new winner.
During Monday night’s two-hour finale, V.Unbeatable — a group of 29 dancers from Mumbai, India — stayed true to its name and was crowned the season 2 champion.
The dancers rose to international prominence last year when they competed on the 14th season of “America’s Got Talent” and received a golden buzzer from guest judge Dwyane Wade.
This year, while competing against 39 acts from across the world on “Champions,” the dancers immediately advanced to the final round when judge Howie Mandel gave them the golden buzzer. Mandel continued to be one of the group’s biggest fans throughout the season.
“This is by far the best act that has ever graced any of the stages in any talent show,” Mandel told the dancers following their routine during last Monday’s episode, according to the Deseret News.
Mandel expressed his excitement on Twitter after the finale. “Thank you for opening up the world to us. ... You deserve this incredible moment,” he wrote. “Congratulations to my Golden Buzzer on WINNING.”
The second season of “AGT: The Champions” was filmed last October. A panel of pre-selected superfans from all 50 states voted to determine the winner. Here are the other top acts according to the tallied votes:
- Duo Transcend: The trapeze artists from Salt Lake City, Utah, placed second.
“We just love being able to display our art form to people around the world, and there’s really no bigger way for us to show people what we do than being on the ‘AGT’ stage,” Tyce Nielsen of Duo Transcend previously told the Deseret News. “We hope that it’s not just scary, it’s not just dangerous, but we hope that it’s beautiful.”
- Eleven-year-old violinist Tyler Butler-Figueroa from North Carolina came in third.
- Marcelito Pomoy — a Filipino singer who has both a tenor and soprano voice range — came in fourth.
- Sandou Trio Russian Bar rounded out the top 5.
“You’ve just thrown the competition wide open again,” judge Simon Cowell told Cassie Sandou of Price, Utah, last week after a performance that included a blindfold, flames and spikes, according to the Deseret News. “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.”
The finale also included appearances from previous champions and contestants on “AGT,” including magician Shin Lim — who won “AGT” in 2018 and “Champions’ in 2019 — violinist Lindsey Stirling and the heartwarming singer Kodi Lee, a Utah native who won “AGT” last year.
Utah has had a strong presence on “AGT” recently thanks to Lee, Sandou Trio Russian Bar and Duo Transcend. A few hours before the finale aired, Duo Transcend took to Facebook to express gratitude for the show.
“We aren’t the best acrobats in the world, we aren’t a huge production, but what we do have is an authentic connection, love between the two of us that we hope can inspire others,” the trapeze artists wrote. “Thank you everyone for going on this journey with us.”