The seventh season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from May 14 to September 13, 2012. After the previous season, Piers Morgan left the program due to other commitments; he was replaced by the producers with Howard Stern. However, this change involved moving the venue for the live rounds of the competition from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, which increased the size of the audience that attended each live episode. Along with a visual makeover of the program to improve its presentation on television, a planned break was included with the broadcast schedule between July 24 and August 14, to avoid clashing with the network's live coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
The seventh season was won by dog tricks act Olate Dogs, with stand-up comedian Tom Cotter finishing in second, and earth harpist William Close placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around over 10.05 million viewers.
Season overview Auditions for the seventh season's competition took place during Winter until mid-Spring 2012, with the main auditions being filmed in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Austin, St. Louis and San Francisco. Additional auditions were held in Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, but were not filmed.
After the conclusion of the sixth season's broadcast, Piers Morgan began contemplating his involvement with America's Got Talent, due to his increasing work schedule on other projects by that time. In November 2011, despite having signed a three-year contract the previous year, Morgan quit the show in order to focus on his commitment to producing Piers Morgan Tonight for CNN.Piers Morgan leaving 'America's Got Talent' Due to Morgan's departure, radio personality Howard Stern was chosen to replace him in December. Since Stern had commitments to his SiriusXM radio show in New York that he could not abandon, filming of the live rounds moved from Los Angeles, opting for using the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, Stern was able to handle the involvement of the "Vegas Verdicts" segment without any issue.
While the use of the Performing Arts Center meant that audiences attending live rounds could be much larger than in previous years, the change in venue also allowed executive producer Simon Cowell to have the program undergo a significant "top-to-bottom makeover" of its presentation. Among these included new graphics, a new intro and a new theme song for America's Got Talent, along with an update to set pieces. A significant change was the appearance of the judges' desk, which was re-modeled to appear similar in design to that used on Britain's Got Talent. In addition to these changes, the 2012 Summer Olympics was taken into consideration, since the sporting event would receive live coverage from the network. Episode scheduling had to include a two-week hiatus between July 27 until August 12, as to avoid America's Got Talent clashing with its live broadcast.
Of the participants who auditioned for this season, sixty-two secured a place in the six live quarter-finals, with twelve in each round. The sixth quarter-final consisted of two participants selected from those that failed to reach the live rounds, along with ten quarter-finalists that had been eliminated in their respective rounds. About twenty-three quarter-finalists advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, with an additional semi-finalist being added in at the last minute. Six semi-finalists secured a place in the finals, which consisted of a single stage and not multiple rounds as in previous seasons. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:
| Wildcard Quarter-finalist
ParticipantAge(s) GenreActFromQuarter-FinalResult 7 in Unison 14-15 Dance Dance Group Yorba Linda, California 5 787 Crew 19-31 Dance Dance Group San Juan, Puerto Rico 1 Academy of Villains Dance Dance Group San Francisco 5 All Beef Patty 38 Singing Drag Singer Brooklyn, New York 3 All That! 23-36 Dance Clogging Group Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 4 All Wheel Sports 18-35 Acrobatics / Danger BMX Stunt Team Los Angeles 3 American BMX Stunt Team 20-44 Acrobatics / Danger BMX Stunt Team Durham, North Carolina 1 Andrew De Leon 19 Singing Opera Singer Kyle, Texas 6 Aurora Light Painters 38-46 Variety Light Painting Group San Francisco 2 Bandbaz Brothers 34 & 59 Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo Las Vegas 6 Ben Blaque 33 Danger Crossbow Shooter Branson, Missouri 2 Big Barry 70 Singing Singer Fort Lauderdale, Florida 2 Bria Kelly 16 Singing Singer Virginia Beach, Virginia 5 Cast in Bronze 61 Music Carillon Musician St. Peters, Pennsylvania 5 Clint Carvalho & His Extreme Parrots 52 Animal Parrot Trainer Las Vegas 5 Cristin Sandu 18 Danger Balancing Acrobat Las Vegas 3 Danielle Stallings 14 Singing Singer Richmond, Virginia 2 David "The Bullet" Smith 34 Danger Human Cannonball Englewood, Florida 4 David Garibaldi and His CMYK's 26-30 Variety Painting Group Sacramento, California 1 Distinguished Men of Brass 24-60 Music Brass Band Tampa, Florida 1 Donovan & Rebecca 44 & 36 Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo Stony Brook, New York 2 Drew Erwin 16 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Arlington, Tennessee 5 Edon 14 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Chicago 1 Elusive 21 Dance Dancer Austin, Texas 3 Eric & Olivia 20 Singing / Music Band Austin, Texas 4 Eric Buss 37 Variety Novelty Act Tucson, Arizona 5 Eric Dittelman 26 Magic Mentalist Boston 4 Hawley Magic 30 Magic Magic Duo Shelby, North Carolina 2 Horse 25 Variety Nutshot Taker Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 4 Inspire the Fire 13–29 Singing / Dance Choir & Dance Group Charlotte, North Carolina 3 Jacob Williams 23 Comedy Comedian Chicago 3 Jake Wesley Rogers 15 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Ozark, Missouri 3 Jarrett & Raja 39 & 32 Comedy / Magic Magic Duo Las Vegas 1 Joe Castillo 64 Variety Sand Artist Lexington, Kentucky 4 Lightwire Theater 25-43 Dance Light-Up Dance Group New Orleans 3 Lil' Starr 6 Dance Tap Dancer Chino, California 1 Lindsey Norton 17 Dance Dancer Tampa 4 LionDanceMe 14-35 Dance Lion Dance Group San Francisco 2 Lisa Clark Dancers 14-18 Dance Dance Group Suisun City, California 2 Melinda Hill 39 Comedy Comedian Los Angeles 5 Michael Nejad 55 Music Household Musician San Jose, California 1 Nikki Jensen 25 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Austin, Texas 1 Olate Dogs 19 & 55 Animal Dog Act New York City 4 Reverse Order Singing / Music Band Hackettstown, New Jersey 5 Rock Star Juggler Mike Price 33 Variety Juggler Las Vegas 3 Romeo Dance Cheetah 30 Music Air Guitarist Chicago 5 Rudy Coby 48 Magic Magician Los Angeles 5 Sebastien "El Charro de Oro" 10 Singing Mariachi Singer San Antonio, Texas 4 Shanice & Maurice Hayes 18 & 62 Singing Singing Duo Kansas City, Missouri 1 Spencer Horsman 26 Danger Escape Artist Baltimore, Maryland 3 The All Ways 19-22 Singing / Music Band New York City 2 The Magic of Puck 46 Magic Magician Roosevelt, New York 5 The Scott Brothers 47 & 48 Dance Dance Duo Las Vegas 1 The Untouchables 8-13 Dance Dance Group Miami 3 Tim Hockenberry 50 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist San Francisco 2 Todd Oliver 53 Comedy / Animals Ventriloquist Branson, Missouri 1 Tom Cotter 48 Comedy Comedian Stony Point, New York 2 Turf 21 Acrobatics / Dance Contortionist Dancer San Francisco 2 Ulysses 49 Singing Singer Statesville, North Carolina 4 Unity in Motion 11-16 Dance Dance Group Cape May, New Jersey 4 William Close 42 Music Earth Harpist Los Angeles 4 Wordspit and the Illest! 20-27 Singing / Music Band New York City 3
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.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (July 2) Guest Performers, Results Show: Cast of Cirque du Soleil: Zarkana, and will.i.am
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 3) Distinguished Men of Brass 1 Edon 2 Jarrett and Raja 3 Lil' Starr 4 Todd Oliver 5 American BMX Stunt Team 6 Nikki Jensen 7 The Scott Brothers 8 Michael Nejad 9 787 Crew 10 Shanice & Maurice Hayes 11 David Garibaldi and His CMYK's 12
Quarter-final 2 (July 10) Guest Performers, Results Show: Gavin DeGraw, and TRACES
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 11) LionDanceMe 1 Turf 2 The All Ways 3 Hawley Magic 4 Lisa Clark Dancers 5 Aurora Light Painters 6 Danielle Stallings 7 Donovan & Rebecca 8 Big Barry 9 Tom Cotter 10 Ben Blaque 11 Tim Hockenberry 12
Quarter-final 3 (July 17) Guest Performers, Results Show: Ashleigh and Pudsey, and Havana Brown
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 18) The Untouchables 1 Rock Star Juggler Mike Price 2 Inspire the Fire 3 Cristin Sandu 4 Elusive 5 Jake Wesley Rogers 6 All Wheel Sports 7 WordSpit and the Illest! 8 Jacob Williams 9 All Beef Patty 10 Spencer Horsman 11 Lightwire Theater 12
Quarter-final 4 (July 24) Guest Performers, Results Show: Cher Lloyd, and the cast of Once
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 25) David "The Bullet" Smith 1 All That! 2 Ulysses 3 Joe Castillo 4 Sebastien "El Charro de Oro" 5 Eric Dittelman 6 William Close 7 Unity in Motion 8 Eric & Olivia 9 Lindsey Norton 10 Horse 11 Olate Dogs 12
For health & safety reasons, David Smith had to perform outside the studio; the judges were required to view the performance in person, and used hand-carried signs in place of their buzzers.
Quarter-final 5 – YouTube Round (August 14) Guest Performers, Results Show: Gabby Douglas, Karmin, The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 15) Clint Carvalho and His Extreme Parrots 1 Reverse Order 2 Rudy Coby 3 7 in Unison 4 Drew Erwin 5 Melinda Hill 6 Eric Buss 7 Romeo Dance Cheetah 8 The Magic of Puck 9 Bria Kelly 10 Cast in Bronze 11 Academy of Villains 12
Due to complications, Cast In Bronze had to perform outside the studio; the judges were required to be in person to view the performance, and used hand-carried signs in place of their buzzers.
Quarter-final 6 Wild Card Round (August 21) Guest Performers, Results Show: Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen, and cast of Bring It On
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 22) Spencer Horsman 1 All That! 2 Jarrett & Raja 3 Jake Wesley Rogers 4 Cristin Sandu 5 Todd Oliver 6 Bandbaz Brothers 7 Sebastien "El Charro de Oro" 8 Horse 9 Lindsey Norton 10 Andrew De Leon 11 Ben Blaque 12
Semi-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (August 28) Guest Performers, Results Show: Neon Trees, and Steve Harvey
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 29) Andrew De Leon 1 Todd Oliver 2 Donovan & Rebecca 3 Edon 4 The Scott Brothers 5 Eric Dittelman 6 Turf 7 Bria Kelly 8 Joe Castillo 9 William Close 10 Tom Cotter 11 Academy of Villains 12
Semi-final 2 (September 4) Guest Performers, Results Show: Train, Nathan Burton, and Haunted by Heroes with Dee Snider
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (September 6) All That! 1 Sebastien "El Charro de Oro" 2 The Magic of Puck 3 Clint Carvalho and His Extreme Parrots 4 Jacob Williams 5 Shanice and Maurice Hayes 6 All Wheel Sports 7 Tim Hockenberry 8 The Untouchables 9 Olate Dogs 10 Lightwire Theater 11 David Garibaldi and His CMYK's 12
Due to live coverage of the NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, the results episode was aired the day after to avoid conflicting with it.
Finals (September 12) Guest Performers, Results Show: Justin Bieber, Big Sean, Green Day, Joan Rivers, OneRepublic, Ne-Yo, Flo Rida, Frankie J, Blue Man Group, and Burton Crane
FinalistOrderResult(September 13) David Garibaldi and His CMYK's 1 4th Tom Cotter 2 2nd The Untouchables 3 6th Joe Castillo 4 5th William Close 5 3rd Olate Dogs 6 1st
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