The twelfth season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from May 30 to September 20, 2017. After the previous season, Nick Cannon ended his involvement with the program after a disagreement with the network, and was replaced as host by Tyra Banks before production of the new season began. The guest judges for this season's Judge Cuts stage included Chris Hardwick, DJ Khaled, Laverne Cox and Seal.
The twelfth season was won by singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne with singer Angelica Hale finishing second, and glow-light dance troupe Light Balance placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 12.66 million viewers, becoming the most watched in the program's history to date. A tribute was included in the season for auditionee Brandon Rogers, who had died three months after originally auditioning for the competition.
Season overview Open auditions took place in late 2016 within Chicago, Austin, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego, New York City, Charleston, Memphis and Los Angeles. Online auditions were also accepted. As with the previous year, the judges' auditions were filmed in March and held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The Judge Cuts stage of the competition included comedian Chris Hardwick, media personality DJ Khaled, actress Laverne Cox and singer Seal as guest judges. After eight years of hosting, Nick Cannon faced criticism from NBC over a joke he made on his 2017 Showtime comedy special Stand Up, Don't Shoot, which the network deemed as potentially racist. Cannon determined it was best to leave AGT rather than face the possibility of being fired by the network, announcing his resignation from the program on February 13, 2017 (a month before production of the twelfth season began). Although the network would not accept his announcement to begin with (as Cannon was still under contract to host AGT), the network eventually agreed that his decision was the best course of action under the circumstances, and sought to find a replacement before the new season began. On March 12, television personality Tyra Banks was unveiled as the new host, prior to filming commencing.
Of the participants who auditioned for this season, thirty-six secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. Among these included: singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne, singer and ukeleleist Mandy Harvey, singer Christian Guardino, glow-light dance troupe Light Balance and singer Angelina Green, who had each received a golden buzzer from the main judges and host; singer Angelica Hale, singer and guitarist Chase Goehring, singer Celine Tam and soul singer Johnny Manuel, who had each received a golden buzzer from the guest judges; vocal group Final Draft, comic daredevil Bello Nock and video-mappers Oskar and Gaspar, who were chosen as Wildcard quarter-finalists. About twenty-two quarter-finalists advanced and split between the two semi-finals, including dog tricks act Pompeyo Family Dogs (chosen as the Wildcard semi-finalist), with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. The table lists the results of each participant's overall performance in the season:
| Wildcard Quarter-finalist | Wildcard Semi-finalist Golden Buzzer - Auditions | Golden Buzzer - Judge Cuts
Participant Age(s) Genre ActFromQuarter-FinalResult Angelica Hale 10 Singing Singer Atlanta 1 Angelina Green 13 Singing Singer Miami 3 Artyon & Paige 9 & 8 Dance Dance Duo Murrieta, California 1 Bello Nock 47 Danger Daredevil Sarasota, Florida 1 Billy & Emily England 30 & 27 Danger Rollerskating Duo Las Vegas 1 Brobots & Mandroidz 16-24 Dance Dance Group Torrance, California 2 Celine Tam 9 Singing Singer Hong Kong 2 Chase Goehring 21 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Nolensville, Tennessee 3 Christian Guardino 17 Singing Singer Patchogue, New York 1 Colin Cloud 30 Magic Mentalist Edinburgh, Scotland 3 DaNell Daymon & Greater Works 24-59 Singing Gospel Choir Various 3 Darci Lynne 12 Comedy / Singing Singing Ventriloquist Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1 Demian Aditya 36 Danger Escape Artist Jakarta, Indonesia 2 Diavolo 21-39 Acrobatics / Dance Acrobatic Group Los Angeles 3 Eric Jones 36 Magic Magician Philadelphia 2 Evie Clair 13 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Florence, Arizona 2 Final Draft 22-26 Singing Vocal Group Atlanta 3 In The Stairwell 18-22 Singing A Cappella Group Colorado Springs, Colorado 1 Johnny Manuel 32 Singing Singer Flint, Michigan 2 Junior & Emily Alabi 31 & 27 Dance Salsa Duo Los Angeles 3 Just Jerk 18-27 Dance Dance Group Seoul, South Korea 1 Kechi Okwuchi 27 Singing Singer Houston 3 Light Balance 22-36 Dance Light-Up Dance Group Dnipro, Ukraine 2 Mandy Harvey 29 Singing / Music Singer & Ukulelist St. Cloud, Florida 2 Merrick Hanna 12 Dance Dancer Encinitas, California 2 Mike Yung 56 Singing Singer New York City 3 Mirror Image 16 Singing / Dance Vocal Duo Pittsburgh 2 Eliminated Oscar Hernandez 34 Dance Dancer Orange County, California 3 Oskar & Gaspar Variety Videomapping Act Lisbon, Portugal 3 Pompeyo Family Dogs 7-35 Animal Dog Act Sarasota 2 Preacher Lawson 25 Comedy Comedian Memphis, Tennessee 1 Puddles Pity Party 52 Singing Singer Atlanta 1 Sara & Hero 22 & 5 Animals Dog Act North Bay, Ontario 3 The Masqueraders 72-74 Singing Vocal Trio Nashville 2 The Singing Trump 56 Singing Singing Donald Trump Impersonator Palm Springs, California 1 Yoli Mayor 21 Singing Singer Miami 1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season. Locations for members of this group were not disclosed on the program. The ages of these participants were not disclosed on the program. The age denoted here pertains to the owner of the dogs in this act; the age range for the animal group was not disclosed by their owner. Sara & Hero involved a second dog in their live round performances; the latter value denotes the age of the dog Hero only.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (August 15) Guest Performers, Results Show: Grace VanderWaal
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 16) Christian Guardino 1 Artyon & Paige 2 In The Stairwell 3 The Singing Trump 4 Angelica Hale 5 Bello Nock 6 Just Jerk 7 Puddles Pity Party 8 Preacher Lawson 9 Yoli Mayor 10 Billy & Emily England 11 Darci Lynne 12
Quarter-final 2 (August 22) Guest Performers, Results Show: Circus 1903
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 23) Brobots & Mandroidz 1 Celine Tam 2 Mirror Image 3 Johnny Manuel 4 Merrick Hanna 5 Eric Jones 6 The Masqueraders 7 Light Balance 8 Evie Clair 9 Demian Aditya 10 Pompeyo Family Dogs 11 Mandy Harvey 12 Due to a technical issue, Light Balance's performance was based on their earlier dress rehearsal for the quarter-final.Stagnitta, Ali. "America's Got Talent Recap: 2 Onstage Disasters Prevent Fan-Favorite Acts from Performing", Hollywood Life, August 22, 2017, accessed September 13, 2017 Demain Aditya's performance suffered from technical difficulties during the live broadcast, due to a fault in the participant's equipment for his routine. Pompeyo Family Dogs were later appointed as the judges' WildCard semi-finalists.
Quarter-final 3 (August 29) Guest Performers, Results Show: Mat Franco, Piff the Magic Dragon, and Jon Dorenbos
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 30) DaNell Daymon & Greater Works 1 Junior & Emily Alabi 2 Final Draft 3 Oscar Hernandez 4 Angelina Green 5 Colin Cloud 6 Mike Yung 7 Oskar & Gaspar 8 Sara and Hero 9 Chase Goehring 10 Diavolo 11 Kechi Okwuchi 12
Semi-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (September 5–6) Guest Performers, Results Show: The Clairvoyants
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (September 6) Yoli Mayor 1 Eric Jones 2 DaNell Daymon & Greater Works 3 Preacher Lawson 4 Johnny Manuel 5 Billy & Emily England 6 Evie Clair 7 Sara & Hero 8 Chase Goehring 9 Darci Lynne 10 Mike Yung 11
Semi-final 2 (September 12) Guest Performers, Results Show: Absinthe
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (September 13) Celine Tam 1 Colin Cloud 2 Christian Guardino 3 In the Stairwell 4 Merrick Hanna 5 Mandy Harvey 6 Pompeyo Family Dogs 7 Diavolo 8 Kechi Okwuchi 9 Light Balance 10 Angelica Hale 11 Due to the majority vote for Diavolo, Klum's voting intention was not revealed.
Finals (September 19–20)
FinalistPerformed with(2nd Performance)Result (September 20) Angelica Hale Kelly Clarkson Chase Goehring James Arthur Darci Lynne Terry Fator Diavolo N/A Evie Clair James Arthur Kechi Okwuchi Kelly Clarkson Light Balance Derek Hough Mandy Harvey Shania Twain Preacher Lawson N/A Sara & Hero N/A Angelica Hale and Kechi Okwuchi conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers.
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 30, 2017 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.7 11 12.32 1 3 2Auditions Week 2 June 6, 2017 2.7 11 12.53 1 3 3Auditions Week 3 June 13, 2017 2.6 11 12.70 1 2 4Auditions Week 4 June 20, 2017 2.6 11 12.74 1 1 5Auditions Week 5 June 27, 2017 2.5 10 12.36 1 1 6Auditions Week 6 July 11, 2017 2.5 10 12.59 1 1 7Judge Cuts 1 July 18, 2017 2.5 11 12.57 1 1 8Judge Cuts 2 July 25, 2017 2.6 11 13.08 1 1 9Judge Cuts 3 August 1, 2017 2.8 12 13.33 1 1 10Judge Cuts 4 August 8, 2017 2.7 11 13.32 1 1 11Quarterfinals, Week 1 (Performances) August 15, 2017 2.8 11 13.44 1 1 12Quarterfinals, Week 1 (Results) August 16, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.1 9 10.89 1 2 13Quarterfinals, Week 2 (Performances) August 22, 2017 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.6 10 12.76 1 1 14Quarterfinals, Week 2 (Results) August 23, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.0 9 10.84 1 2 15Quarterfinals, Week 3 (Performances) August 29, 2017 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.6 11 13.13 1 2 16Quarterfinals, Week 3 (Results) August 30, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 1.9 8 11.07 1 3 17Semifinals, Week 1 (Performances) September 5, 2017 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 2.6 10 13.29 1 3 18Semifinals, Week 1 (Results) September 6, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.1 8 11.99 1 6 19Semifinals, Week 2 (Performances) September 12, 2017 Tuesday 9:00 p.m. 2.3 9 11.57 1 3 20Semifinals, Week 2 (Results) September 13, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 2.1 8 11.59 1 2 21The Finals September 19, 2017 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 3.0 12 14.70 1 4 22Season Finale September 20, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 3.0 11 15.64 1 2
Specials
Show Episode title First air date Timeslot (EDT) Rating(18–49) Share(18–49) Viewers NightlyRank WeeklyRank S1Best of Season 12 Auditions July 13, 2017 Thursday 8:00 p.m. 1.3 6 7.10 2 10 S2Road to Finals August 9, 2017 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 1.3 6 7.01 2 8
Incident During the season, the show paid tribute to American physician Brandon Rogers, who auditioned for a place in the competition, but died on June 11, 2017, three months after he originally auditioned. His performance was not shown by producers during the audition episodes, as it was felt unwise to do so without consent from his family, but was later aired as a tribute during the Judge Cuts episode that was broadcast on July 11.
References