The fifth season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 1 to September 15, 2010. For the season, production staff introduced two new quarter-finals: one for Wildcards selected from the participants eliminated during auditions or their respective quarter-final, and one for acts that auditioned via YouTube, following changes in the online application process. After the conclusion of the fourth season, David Hasselhoff left the program, and was replaced by Howie Mandel.
The fifth season was won by soul singer Michael Grimm, with classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho finishing in second, and blacklight performaners Fighting Gravity placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged about 11.11 million viewers, with its season finale being the most watched in the program's history with approximately 16.41 million viewers.
Season overview Auditions for the fifth season's competition took place during Winter until mid-Spring 2010. Auditions were filmed in Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Chicago and at the Universal Orlando Resort. Prior to production starting, David Hasselhoff left the show to focus on a new project, leaving a replacement needed for his role as judge. A week after Hasselhoff announced his departure from AGT, the network unveiled his successor as Howie Mandel, who had recently finished his fourth season as host of the American edition of Deal or No Deal (before its eight-year hiatus began that year).
For the season, format changes included the addition of two new rounds in the quarter-finals. The first new round was arranged for online auditions, which in itself was modified in rules and arrangements. Prior to the fifth season, most online auditions were made via MySpace and did not guarantee that any submissions made would secure a place in the competition. However, these online applications were later changed so that applicants could submit recorded auditions on a special YouTube channel. Eleven acts were picked by the judges, while a twelfth would be selected by voting from online viewers, guaranteeing a place in the competition via a special quarter-final round. The second new round was a reformatting of the Wildcard system. Unlike the original format, the judges could each pick about four participants who were eliminated from the competition, either at the Vegas Verdicts stage or in the quarter-finals. The decision to include two new quarter-finals to the competition's schedule, meant that the number of quarter-finalists allowed to move on to the semi-finals, were reduced to around four from each quarter-final. The top three were voted on by the public, and the fourth was chosen by the judges from those placed fourth and fifth respectively, in the public vote.
Another change in the format was a deeper involvement of guest performers in America's Got Talent. While the program had mainly made use of them for entertainment during the Results episode aired after the Performance episodes in the previous season, additional guest performers became involved in the program after the rules on performances in the live grand-final were changed. Participants could each conduct a performance alongside a guest performer, with the choice determined by the type of act they performed. Despite arranging a variety of guest performers for this season, the involvement of Susan Boyle during the results of the Top 10 final was cancelled at the last minute, due to a legal complication securing the rights to a song by Lou Reed.Susan Boyle upset on America's Got Talent, additional text.
Of the participants who auditioned for the season, sixty-five secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. Seven of these would later be given a second chance in the Wildcard quarter-final, after losing their initial quarter-final. About twenty-four advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the finals, and four finalists securing a place in the grand-final of the competition. Below are the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:
| Wildcard Quarter-finalist
ParticipantAge(s) GenreActFromQuarter-FinalResult Airpocalypse 22-40 Music Air Band Seattle 1 Alice Tan Ridley 57 Singing Singer New York City 2 Anna and Patryk 12 Dance Ballroom Duo New Hyde Park, New York & New York City 4 Antonio Restivo 39 Magic / Danger Magician Las Vegas 2 ArcAttack 25-37 Music Band Austin, Texas 4 AscenDance 29 Acrobatics / Dance Acrobat Duo Berkeley, California 2 Austin Anderson 31 Comedy Comedian Omaha, Nebraska 5 Booker Forte 21 Dance Dancer Virginia Beach, Virginia 5 Cam Hodges 22 Singing Singer Seattle 5 Cheer SF 19-52 Acrobatics / Dance Cheerleading Group San Francisco 2 Chipps Cooney 61 Comedy / Magic Comic Magician Edgewater, New Jersey 3 Christina & Ali 13 & 20 Singing Singing Duo Idaho Falls, Idaho 1 CJ Dippa 12 Music Rapper Denton, Texas 3 Connor Doran 17 Variety Indoor Kite Flyer Bend, Oregon 6 Da Maniacs 25-56 Dance Dance Group Dallas 4 Dan Sperry 25 Magic Magician Las Vegas 5 Debra Romer 21 Singing Singer Kalamazoo, Michigan 3 Dylan Plummer 12 Variety Jump Roper Cincinnati, Ohio 5 Eric "Doogie" Horner 30 Comedy Comedian Philadelphia 4 Fighting Gravity 19-22 Dance Blacklight Dance Group Blacksburg, Virginia 1 Future Funk 5 & 10 Dance Dance Duo Las Vegas 1 Hannibal Means 59 Singing Opera Singer Vienna, Austria 2 Harmonica Pierre 74 Music Harmonica Player Tucson, Arizona 3 Haspop 32 Dance Dancer Los Angeles (originally Lyon, France) 3 Iron Horse 22-27 Singing / Music Band Crete, Illinois 2 Jackie Evancho 10 Singing Classical Singer Pittsburgh 5 Jeremy VanSchoonhoven 27 Danger Trial Bike Rider Talent, Oregon 3 Kaya & Sadie 32 & 36 Dance Belly Dance Duo Denver 3 Kristina Young 22 Singing Singer Little Rock, Arkansas 5 Kruti Dance Academy 15-33 Dance Dance Group Atlanta 6 Kung Fu Heroes 23-31 Acrobatics Martial Arts Group Costa Mesa, California 1 Lil Chris 12 Singing Singer Sarasota, Florida 2 Lindsey Stirling 23 Music Violinist Provo, Utah 4 Luigi 20 Singing Singer Highland, California 3 Maestro Alexander Bui 16 Music Pianist Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey 5 Maricar 38 Variety Burlesque Painter Los Angeles 1 Mary Ellen 74 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Manheim, Pennsylvania 4 Michael Grasso 36 Magic Magician Cape May, New Jersey 6 Michael Grimm 30 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Hancock County, Mississippi 2 Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon 29 & 30 Acrobatics Aerial Duo Los Angeles 6 Mona Sampath Dance Company 9-31 Dance Dance Group Sunnyvale, California 2 MURRAY 30 Magic Magician Las Vegas 4 Nathaniel Kenyon 19 Singing Singer Baxley, Georgia 1 Nick Pike 30 Danger Daredevil Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 1 NU Covenant 21-27 Singing Vocal Group Cleveland, Ohio 4 Paul Safy Jr. 26 Singing Singer New York City 1 Pizza Patt 27 Variety Pizza Dough Juggler Columbus, Ohio 5 PLUtonic 19-28 Singing A Cappella Group Tacoma, Washington 5 Polina Volchek 24 Acobatics Acrobat Las Vegas (originally Moscow, ) 3 Prince Poppycock 32 Singing Opera Singer Los Angeles 4 Pup 58 Animals Dog Act Redwood City, California 5 RNG 11-13 Dance Dance Group Seattle 1 Ronith 59 Comedy Impressionist Seattle 2 Rudi Macaggi 43 Acrobatics Acrobat Las Vegas 4 Studio One Young Beast Society 10-21 Dance Dance Group Orlando 3 Ryan Rodriguez 29 Dance Dancer Santa Cruz, California 5 Sally Cohn 75 Music Hand Whistler Portland, Oregon 1 Strikers All Stars 22-26 Dance Dance Group Los Angeles 4 Swing Swift Slide Show 30-31 Danger Sideshow Performers Las Vegas 6 Taylor Mathews 18 Singing Singer Alexandria, Louisiana 4 The Hot Shot Tap Dancers 19-25 Dance Tap Dance Group Portland, Oregon 1 The South Philly Vikings 16-56 Dance Dance Group Philadelphia 3 The Strange Familiar 27 Singing / Music Band Woodland Hills, California 3 The Strong Man 43 Variety Strongman Pesotum, Illinois 2 Wreckless 17-26 Dance Dance Group Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 2
Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season. These participants were entered into the Wildcard quarter-final after losing their initial quarter-final. For health and safety reasons, ArcAttack had to perform outside the studio for their live round performances; judges were required to view the performance in person, and used hand-carried signs in place of their buzzers. This participant was originally eliminated during the Vegas Verdicts, but was brought back after another act that had passed that stage was forced to drop out for unknown reasons. The age of the dog in this act was not disclosed on the program. This participant initially dropped out for personal reasons, despite securing a place in the live rounds, but agreed to return as a quarter-finalist in the Wildcard round.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (July 13) Guest Performers, Results Show: Selena Gomez & the Scene, and cast of Rock of Ages & Dee Snider
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 14) Kung Fu Heroes 1 Christina & Ali 2 Airpocalypse 3 The Hot Shot Tap Dancers 4 Paul Safy Jr. 5 Future Funk 6 Sally Cohn 7 Nick Pike 8 RNG 9 Maricar 10 Fighting Gravity 11 Nathaniel Kenyon 12
Quarter-final 2 (July 20) Guest Performers, Results Show: Cast of Cirque Du Soleil, and Train.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 21) Cheer SF 1 Alice Tan Ridley 2 Mona Sampath Dance Company 3 Iron Horse 4 The Strong Man 5 Ronith 6 Hannibal Means 7 Wreckless 8 Lil Chris 9 AscenDance 10 Antonio Restivo 11 Michael Grimm 12
Quarter-final 3 (July 27) Guest Performers, Results Show: Mike Posner, and the JabbaWockeeZ.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 28) The South Philly Vikings 1 CJ Dippa 2 Harmonica Pierre 3 Polina Volchek 4 The Strange Familiar 5 Haspop 6 Luigi 7 Chipps Cooney 8 Kaya and Sadie 9 Jeremy VanSchoonhoven 10 Debra Romer 11 Studio One Young Beast Society 12
Quarter-final 4 (August 3) Guest Performers, Results Show: Taio Cruz, and Bret Michaels.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 4) Da Maniacs 1 NU Covenant 2 Anna and Patryk 3 Lindsey Stirling 4 Doogie Horner 5 Rudi Macaggi 6 Taylor Mathews 7 Mary Ellen 8 ArcAttack 9 Prince Poppycock 10 MURRAY 11 Strikers All Stars 12
Quarter-final 5 – YouTube Round (August 10) Guest Performers, Results Show: Lin Yu Chun, Evolution of Dance, and David & Dania.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 11) PLUtonic 1 Dylan Plummer 2 Pup 3 Cam Hodges 4 Ryan Rodriguez 5 Austin Anderson 6 Booker Forté 7 Pizza Patt 8 Kristina Young 9 Maestro Alexander Bui 10 Dan Sperry 11 Jackie Evancho 12
Quarter-final 6 - Wildcard Round (August 17) Guest Performers, Results Show: LeAnn Rimes, and Criss Angel.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 18) Kruti Dance Academy 1 Rudi Macaggi 2 CJ Dippa 3 RNG 4 Harmonica Pierre 5 Michael Grasso 6 The Hot Shot Tap Dancers 7 Doogie Horner 8 Connor Doran 9 Anna and Patryk 10 Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon 11 Swing Shift Side Show 12
Mandel originally buzzed Harmonica Pierre after being introduced out of frustration due to Morgan buzzing the acts that he and Osbourne brought back. Mandel apologized for the buzz during the results show.
Semi-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (August 24) Guest Performers, Results Show: Jimmy Fallon, Kylie Minogue, and Recycled Percussion.
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 25) Anna & Patryk 1 Christina & Ali 2 Antonio Restivo 3 Future Funk 4 Taylor Mathews 5 Connor Doran 6 Dan Sperry 7 Kristina Young 8 ArcAttack 9 Michael Grimm 10 AscenDance 11 Prince Poppycock 12
Semi-final 2 (August 31) Guest Performers, Results Show: Cast of Le Rêve, and Jason Derülo.