AGT Crowned their 15th Season Winner

By: Carlos Glick

America’s Got Talent logo. Credit: Gold Derby

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to win $1 million dollars? Or to win the spotlight and receive your own Vegas show? Well that’s what winners of each season of America’s Got Talent get to experience.

On September 23, 2020, “America’s Got Talent” crowned its Season 15 winner, Brandon Leake, from Stockton, California. Surprisingly, Leake is the first ever spoken word poet to appear on “America’s Got Talent.” 

While America’s Got Talent has had comedic spoken word artists perform in the past, Leake brings about a unique twist to spoken word for the first time in AGT’s history.

“America’s Got Talent” has a judging panel that mainly consists of four judges. This season, the judges were Simon Cowell, Howie Mandell, Heidi Klum, and Sofia Vergara. 

Due to the pandemic this year, all four judges weren’t present during all the episodes. Even then, we had guest judges come in to fill their places, such as Keenan Thompson from SNL along with Kelly Clarkson and Eric Stonestreet. Coincidentally, Vergara and Stonestreet star in the TV series “Modern Family.”

Throughout the 15 seasons of AGT history, we’ve seen a variety of acts, from singers to dance groups, daredevils, and comedians. No matter your age or where you come from, you can be on the biggest stage in the world and perform your act for the millions of people watching. 

This season, besides Brandon Leake, the acts that made it to the finals included aerialist Alan Silva from Las Vegas, singer Archie Williams from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; dancing duo Bad Salsa from India; acrobatic trio Bello Sisters from Germany; singing duo Broken Roots from Chicago, Illinois; singer Christina Rae, from Chicago, Illinois; singer Daneliya Tuleshova, from Kazakhstan; singer Kenadi Dodds from Logan, Utah and singer Roberta Battaglia from Toronto, Canada. 

These acts have progressed from the audition stages all the way through to the finals. The progress that they made from their auditions to the finals have been spectacular. 

Singer Archie Williams spent 37 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. He spent a lot of his time watching AGT in prison, dreaming to one day be on the “America’s Got Talent” stage. 

“America’s Got Talent” even accepts contestants who are not from the United States. For example, going back to the top 10 finalists, Bad Salsa, the dancing duo, came all the way to appear on “America’s Got Talent” from India. Another finalist, the Bello Sisters, the acrobatic trio, traveled from Germany to appear on “America’s Got Talent.” Roberta Battaglia also comes from Canada.

In my opinion, “America’s Got Talent” is one of the greatest talent TV shows of all time! It is even better than “American Idol” or “X Factor” because of its variety. AGT is the greatest talent show ever and I hope you guys watch the seasons that are yet to come!