America's Got Talent (season 14)


The fourteenth season of America's Got Talent, an American talent show competition, began broadcasting in the United States during 2019, from May 28 to September 18 on NBC. Following the previous season, Tyra Banks, Mel B and Heidi Klum left the program to focus on other projects, leading to them being replaced by Terry Crews as the new host, having hosted earlier that year, and Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough as new judges. The guest judges for Judge Cuts this season included Brad Paisley, Dwyane Wade, Ellie Kemper, and Jay Leno. This season saw the involvement of two additional guest judges for the semi-finals - Sean Hayes and Queen Latifah - while an undisclosed technical problem impacted the voting system for the first quarter-final.
The fourteenth season was won by singer and pianist Kodi Lee, with choir Detroit Youth Choir finishing second, and stand-up comedian Ryan Niemiller placing third.

Season overview

Open auditions were held in late 2018, within New York City, Detroit, Knoxville, Tampa, Charlotte, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. As with the previous year, the judges' auditions were held in March 2019, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The Judge Cuts stage of the competition saw the involvement of singer Brad Paisley, former basketball player Dwyane Wade, actress Ellie Kemper, and television personality and host Jay Leno. Following the previous season, Tyra Banks decided to leave the program to focus on other television projects, announcing her decision in late December 2018. Because of her departure, production staff needed to find another host for America's Got Talent and opted on giving a contract to Terry Crews, who proved popular with viewers when watching him on the first season of spin-off series ' as its host, unveiling him as Banks' replacement prior to the new season beginning in April 2019. Alongside Banks' departure, the producers also had to replace two of the judges for the new season, due to conflicting obligations in 2019 - Mel B could not return as she was needed to headline the Spice Girls reunion tour that year, while Heidi Klum had signed on to producing a new fashion competition series for Amazon and thus could not remain committed to the program. The departure of both women led to actress Gabrielle Union and dancer Julianne Hough being offered the role of judges, with the announcement of them being their predecessors' replacements made at the same time as Crews in April 2019.
The new season saw a minor change to the format of the program, in that the semi-finals would feature guest judges - their inclusion would only be for feedback on the performances of the semi-finalists that reached that stage, but neither would have a say in stopping a performance with a buzzer or having any involvement with the judges' vote. The judges recruited for this format's use in this season were Sean Hayes and Queen Latifah. Other than this amendment to the format, the program saw no other changes, though during the first quarter-final's results, an undisclosed issue forced the judges' vote to be suspended - while the top six quarter-finalists voted for by the public were advanced, those placed 7th, 8th and 9th respectively faced only the online vote as a result.
Of the participants who auditioned for this season, 36 secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one - amongst these included: singer and pianist Kodi Lee, singer and rapper Joseph Allen, violinist Tyler Butler-Figueroa, the Detroit Youth Choir, and singer Luke Islam, who had each received a golden buzzer from the main judges; singer and guitarist Sophie Pecora, acrobatic dance group V.Unbeatable, light-up dance group Light Balance Kids, and opera singer Emanne Beasha, who had each received a golden buzzer from the guest judges; and singer Ansley Burns, mentalists The Sentimentalists, and aerialist Matthew Richardson, who were chosen as WildCard quarter-finalists. Around 22 quarter-finalists advanced to and were split between the two semi-finals - including dog tricks act Lukas & Falco, chosen as the WildCard semi-finalist - with 10 semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:
ParticipantAge GenreActFromQuarter-FinalResult
Alex Dowis40VarietyBlack-light PainterPrague, Czech Republic1
Ansley Burns 12SingingSingerEasley, South Carolina1
Benicio Bryant15SingingSingerMaple Valley, Washington3'
Berywam25-30MusicBeat-boxing GroupToulouse, France3
Bir Khalsa30-39DangerDanger GroupTarn Taran, India1
Carmen Carter55SingingSingerLos Angeles1
Charlotte Summers13SingingSingerMarbella, Spain2
Chris Kläfford30Singing / MusicSinger & GuitaristLindesberg, Sweden2
Detroit Youth Choir 8-18SingingChoirDetroit, Michigan3'
Dom Chambers26MagicMagicianMelbourne, Australia3
Emanne Beasha 10SingingOpera SingerNorth Port, Florida3'
Emerald Belles15-18DanceDrill Dance TeamSouthlake, Texas1
Eric Chien26MagicMagicianHouston3
GFORCE10-13SingingVocal GroupToronto, Canada1
Gonzo33MusicTambourinistTokyo, Japan3Eliminated
Greg Morton60ComedyImpressionistToronto, Canada1
Jackie Fabulous48ComedyStand-up ComedianNew York City3
Joseph Allen 21SingingSinger & RapperKilleen, Texas2
Kodi Lee 23Singing / MusicSinger & PianistLake Elsinore, California1'
Light Balance Kids 11-13DanceLight-Up Dance GroupKiev, Ukraine2'
Lukas & Falco 22, 9 AnimalsDog ActVienna, Austria3
Luke Islam 12SingingSingerGarden City, New York1
MacKenzie31SingingSingerHume, Virginia3
Marcin Patrzalek18MusicGuitaristKielce, Poland3
Marina Mazepa22Dance / VarietyContortionist DancerKonotop, Ukraine2
Matthew Richardson 33AcrobaticsAerialistSavannah, Georgia3
Messoudi Brothers25-30AcrobaticsAcrobatic TrioEinbeck, Germany1
Ndlovu Youth Choir13-27SingingChoirLimpopo, South Africa2'
Nick & Lindsay38, 33Singing / DangerOpera Singer & Danger ActNew Orleans2
Robert Finley65SingingSingerWinnsboro, Louisiana2
Ryan Niemiller36ComedyStand-up ComedianIndianapolis2'
Sophie Pecora 15Singing / MusicSinger and GuitaristDanville, California1
The Sentimentalists 25, 44MagicMentalistsToronto, Canada2
Tyler Butler-Figueroa 11MusicViolinistRaleigh, North Carolina2'
V.Unbeatable 12-27Acrobatics / DanceAcrobatic Dance Group Mumbai, India2'
Voices of Service45-54Singing Vocal GroupVirginia1''''

  • Ages denoted in this column pertain to a participant age in their final performance for this season.
  • The latter value denotes the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

    Quarter-final Summary

Quarter-final 1 (August 13)

Guest Performers, Results Show:''' Shin Lim, Bianca Ryan, Brian King Joseph, and Sofie Dossi
  • Due to an undisclosed technical issue, the judges' vote was not held for this quarter-final; the results pertain to the standard public vote for the top 6 quarter-finalist, and the online vote for the 7th favored by the public.

    Quarter-final 2 (August 20)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Susan Boyle

Quarter-final 3 (August 27)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Celestia, and Deadly Games

Semi-final 1 (September 3)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Darci Lynne, and Preacher Lawson
Guest Judge, Performance Show: Sean Hayes

Semi-final 2 (September 10)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Tokio Myers & Stewart Copeland, and Piff the Magic Dragon
Guest Judge, Performance Show: Queen Latifah

Finals (September 17–18)

Guest Performers, Finale: Cher, and Lilly Singh
FinalistActPerformed with
Result
V.UnbeatableAcrobatic Dance GroupJulianne Hough'
Detroit Youth ChoirChoirKygo & Macklemore '
Emanne BeashaOpera SingerLang Lang
Ryan NiemillerStand-up ComedianChris Jericho '
Voices of ServiceVocal GroupBilly Ray Cyrus'
Light Balance KidsLight-Up Dance GroupPaula Abdul
Benicio BryantSingerOzuna
Tyler Butler-FigueroaViolinistBrian King Joseph
Kodi LeeSinger & PianistLeona Lewis
Ndlovu Youth ChoirChoirKygo & Macklemore

  • Ndlovu Youth Choir & Detroit Youth Choir conducted two joint routines for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performer for each.
  • Ryan Niemiller's second performance with Chris Jericho was pre-recorded before the finale.

    Ratings