The eleventh season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from May 31 to September 14, 2016. After the previous season, Howard Stern was replaced as a judge by the Got Talent creator, Simon Cowell. Stern's departure removed the contractual condition he had imposed for his involvement, leading to moving live round productions to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. While open auditions were held in multiple cities, the judges' auditions were filmed within the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, an arrangement that would persist in future seasons.
Along with those changes, the "Golden Buzzer" format was adjusted, and a planned break was made in the season's broadcast schedule between August 2–23 to avoid clashing with the network's live coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The guest judges for the season's Judge Cuts stage included George Lopez, Reba McEntire, Ne-Yo and Louis Tomlinson.
The eleventh season was won by singer and ukuleleist Grace VanderWaal, with mentalist duo The Clairvoyants finishing second, and magician Jon Dorenbos placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 11.44 million viewers per episode. The eleventh season became prominent in the program's history for broadcasting a stunt on live television which went wrong nearly resulted in the death of its performer.
Season overview Open auditions for the eleventh season began in late 2015 and were held in Detroit, New York City, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Jose, San Diego, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Orlando, and Dallas. Online auditions were also accepted. Unlike previous years which had used multiple venues, sessions of the judges' auditions were held at a fixed venue, taking place around March 2016 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. This arrangement for auditions was continued in later seasons of the show. Actor George Lopez, singer and actress Reba McEntire, singer Ne-Yo and singer Louis Tomlinson were guest judges in the Judge Cuts stage of the competition.
Before the tenth season aired, Howard Stern announced it would be his last season on AGT during his radio show, as his work schedule in the coming year would make him unable to remain committed to performing as a judge. His announcement led to a replacement for the next season, after NBC renewed the program for another year. AGT creator, Simon Cowell, replaced Stern for the upcoming season. Cowell continued with his role of Britain's Got Talent in the same year.
Due to Stern's departure, the live rounds were no longer restricted to being held within New York at Radio City Music Hall. The live rounds for the new season were brought back to Los Angeles and held in the Dolby Theatre. Other than the change in venue, the "Golden Buzzer" could be used by the host, although only in the first stage of auditions (not during the Judge Cuts). Taking the 2016 Summer Olympics into account (which received coverage by the network), the season included not only a break between August 9–17, but it included two episodes of the Judge Cuts in a span of two weeks to ensure the hiatus happened.
Of the participants who auditioned for the season, thirty-six secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. Among these were opera singer Laura Bretan, singer and ukuleleist Grace VanderWaal, jazz singer Sal Valentinetti, singer Calysta Bevier and burlesque dancer Dorothy Williams, who had each received a golden buzzer from the main judges and host; magician Jon Dorenbos, contortionist and aerialist Sofie Dossi, malambo group Malevo and singer Jayna Brown, who had each received a golden buzzer from the guest judges; dance group Flip, video-mapping dance duo Sila Sveta and magician Steven Brundage who were chosen as Wildcard quarter-finalists. About twenty-two quarter-finalists advanced and split between the two semi-finals, including juggling duo The Passing Zone (chosen as the Wildcard semi-finalist), with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. Here are the results of each participant's overall performance during the season:
| Wildcard Quarter-finalist | Wildcard Semi-finalist Golden Buzzer - Auditions | Golden Buzzer - Judge Cuts
Participant Age(s) Genre ActFromQuarter-FinalResult Alla & Daniel 8 & 32 Dance Ballroom Duo Upland, California 3 Blake Vogt 27 Magic Magician Lebanon, Indiana 3 Brian Justin Crum 28 Singing Singer San Diego, California 3 Calysta Bevier 16 Singing Singer Grand Rapids, Ohio 2 Daniel Joyner 17 Singing Singer Alamo, Tennessee 1 Deadly Games 32 & 34 Danger Knife Throwing Duo Las Vegas 1 Dorothy Williams 91 Dance Burlesque Dancer Hilo, Hawaii 1 Edgar 15-36 Singing / Music Family Band Los Angeles 3 Flip 14-17 Dance Dance Group Lévis, Canada 2 Grace VanderWaal 12 Singing / Music Singer & Ukuleleist Suffern, New York 3 Hara 25 Magic Illusionist Japan 1 Jayna Brown 14 Singing Singer Baltimore, Maryland 1 Jon Dorenbos 35 Magic Magician Philadelphia 1 Julia Scotti 63 Comedy Comedian Whiting, New Jersey 3 Kadan Bart Rockett 10 Magic Magician Los Angeles 3 Kadie Lynn Roberson 12 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Kemp, Texas 2 Laura Bretan 14 Singing Opera Singer Chicago 1 Linkin' Bridge 36-41 Singing Vocal Group Louisville, Kentucky 3 Lori Mae Hernandez 13 Comedy Comedian Lancaster, California 1 Malevo 17-42 Dance Malambo Group Buenos Aires, Argentina 3 Moya Angela 32 Singing Singer Las Vegas 2 Musicality 15-18 Singing Vocal Group Chicago 1 Outlawz 17-20 Dance Dance Group Gilbert, Arizona 1 Ronee Martin 62 Singing Singer Columbia, Virginia 3 Ryan Stock & AmberLynn 34 & 34 Danger Sideshow Duo Las Vegas 2 Sal Valentinetti 21 Singing Jazz Singer Bethpage, New York 2 Sila Sveta 20-35 Dance Videomapping Act Los Angeles 1 Sofie Dossi 15 Acrobatics Contortionist Cypress, California 2 Sos & Victoria 37 & 44 Magic Quick Change Duo Mannheim, Germany 2 Steven Brundage 25 Magic Magician Saratoga Springs, New York 2 Tape Face 37 Comedy Mime Canterbury, New Zealand 1 The Clairvoyants 28 & 29 Magic Mentalist Duo Vienna, Austria 2 The Passing Zone 49 Variety Juggling Duo Hermosa Beach, California 3 ThroWings 25 & 29 Acrobatics Trapeze Duo Boston 2 Vello Vaher 52 Acrobatics Contortionist Tallinn, Estonia 3 Viktor Kee 45 Variety Juggler Priluki, Ukraine 2
Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (July 26) Guest Performers, Results Show: Mat Franco, and Paul Zerdin
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 27) Jayna Brown 1 Hara 2 Outlawz 3 Musicality 4 Lori Mae Hernandez 5 Deadly Games 6 Jon Dorenbos 7 Daniel Joyner 8 Tape Face 9 Dorothy Williams 10 Sila Sveta 11 Laura Bretan 12
During the Results show, Deadly Games' picture was portrayed as Daniel Joyner during the Online Public Vote segment; it was later corrected.
Quarter-final 2 (August 2) Guest Performers, Results Show: Fitz and the Tantrums featuring Team iLuminate
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 3) Flip 1 Moya Angela 2 Viktor Kee 3 Kadie Lynn Roberson 4 Ryan Stock & AmberLynn 5 Calysta Bevier 6 Sofie Dossi 7 The Clairvoyants 8 Sal Valentinetti 9 ThroWings 10 Steven Brundage 11 Sos & Victoria 12
Quarter-final 3 (August 23) Guest Performers, Results Show: Recycled Percussion, and Michael Phelps
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 24) Vello Vaher 1 Ronee Martin 2 Kadan Bart Rockett & Brooklyn 3 Linkin' Bridge 4 Alla & Daniel 5 Blake Vogt 6 Edgar 7 Julia Scotti 8 Brian Justin Crum 9 Malevo 10 The Passing Zone 11 Grace VanderWaal 12
The Passing Zone were later appointed as the judges' WildCard semi-finalists.
Semi-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (August 30) Guest Performers, Results Show: The Illusionists
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 31) Sal Valentinetti 1 Blake Vogt 2 Edgar 3 Lori Mae Hernandez 4 Musicality 5 Deadly Games 6 Tape Face 7 Jon Dorenbos 8 Grace VanderWaal 9 Malevo 10 Laura Bretan 11
Semi-final 2 (September 6) Guest Performers, Results Show: Andra Day, and Blue Journey
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (September 7) Jayna Brown 1 Kadan Bart Rockett & Brooklyn 2 Kadie Lynn Roberson 3 Viktor Kee 4 Linkin' Bridge 5 The Passing Zone 6 Calysta Bevier 7 Steven Brundage 8 Sofie Dossi 9 The Clairvoyants 10 Brian Justin Crum 11
Finals (September 13–14) Guest Performers, Finale: Pitbull, LunchMoney Lewis
FinalistPerformed with(2nd Performance)Result (September 14) Brian Justin Crum N/A Grace VanderWaal N/A Jon Dorenbos Paula Abdul Laura Bretan Il Volo Linkin' Bridge Silhouettes Sal Valentinetti Jersey Boys Sofie Dossi Il Volo Tape Face Shon China Lacy The Clairvoyants Paula Abdul Viktor Kee Il Volo
Sofie Dossi, Laura Bretan and Viktor Kee conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers. The Clairvoyants and Jon Dorenbos conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers. Tape Face also involved a number of the other finalists as part of his second performance.
Ratings The following ratings are based upon those published by Nielsen Media Research after this season's broadcast:
Show Episode title First air date Timeslot (EDT) Rating(18–49) Share(18–49) Viewers Nightlyrank Weeklyrank 1Auditions Week 1 May 31, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.6 10 11.67 1 3 2Auditions Week 2 June 7, 2016 2.3 8 10.79 1 3 3Auditions Week 3 June 14, 2016 2.6 10 11.54 1 5 4Auditions Week 4 June 21, 2016 2.3 9 11.73 1 1 5Auditions Week 5 June 28, 2016Tuesday 9:00 p.m. 2.4 9 11.21 1 1 6Auditions Week 6 July 5, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.7 10 12.81 1 1 7Judge Cuts 1 July 12, 2016 2.4 9 11.54 1 1 8Judge Cuts 2 July 13, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.4 9 11.85 1 2 9Judge Cuts 3 July 19, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.3 9 11.10 1 2 10Judge Cuts 4 July 20, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.3 9 10.78 1 1 11Quarterfinals, Week 1 (Performances) July 26, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.3 9 10.47 1 1 12Quarterfinals, Week 1 (Results) July 27, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 1.8 8 9.52 1 3 (tie) 13Quarterfinals, Week 2 (Performances) August 2, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.5 9 11.57 1 4 (tie) 14Quarterfinals, Week 2 (Results) August 3, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 1.8 7 9.39 1 (tie) 8 (tie) 15Quarterfinals, Week 3 (Performances) August 23, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.4 9 11.26 1 1 16Quarterfinals, Week 3 (Results) August 24, 2016 Wednesday 9:00 p.m. 2.1 8 10.67 1 (tie) 2 (tie) 17Semifinals, Week 1 (Performances) August 30, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.6 10 12.28 1 2 18Semifinals, Week 1 (Results) August 31, 2016 Wednesday 9:00 p.m. 2.0 8 10.50 1 4 19Semifinals, Week 2 (Performances) September 6, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.5 9 11.96 1 6 20Semifinals, Week 2 (Results) September 7, 2016 Wednesday 9:00 p.m. 2.0 7 10.61 2 9 21Finals (Performances) September 13, 2016 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.8 10 13.97 1 4 (tie) 22Finale September 14, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.8 10 14.41 1 4 (tie)
Specials
Show Episode title First air date Timeslot (EDT) Rating(18–49) Share(18–49) Viewers Nightlyrank Weeklyrank S1Best of Season 11 Auditions July 6, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 1.8 7 8.48 2 5 S2Quarterfinals Week 3 Recap August 24, 2016 1.4 6 7.26 2 13 (tie) S3Semifinals Week 1 Recap August 31, 2016 1.2 7 6.46 2 16 S4Holiday Spectacular December 19, 2016 Monday 8:00 p.m. 1.8 6 9.54 1 5 (tie)
Incidents