The seventeenth season of the American talent show competition series America's Got Talent premiered on NBC on May 31, 2022, and concluded on September 14, 2022. This season featured the return of a full audience without COVID-19 restrictions, which had begun during the fifteenth season.
The season was won by dance group Mayyas, with pole dancer Kristy Sellars finishing second, and singer and guitarist Drake Milligan placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 6.14 million viewers.
Production On March 31, 2022, it was announced that the entire main cast from the previous season would return for the new season and that the season would premiere on May 31. Originally, host Terry Crews announced the 'end of an era' in September 2021, stating that the season sixteen finale of America's Got Talent and the series finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine had marked the end of his deal with NBC.
Judge Howie Mandel was partially absent from the June 14, July 19, and August 2 episodes, and was entirely absent in the July 12 episode, due to contracting COVID-19 at the 2022 Kids' Choice Awards. Additionally, judge Sofía Vergara was absent from the judge deliberations at Simon Cowell's house.
The live shows for the season were held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the same venue where auditions have been filmed since season eleven. The live shows had been held at the Dolby Theatre since the same season, excluding season fifteen, during which the live shows were held at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Season overview Judge Simon Cowell and host Terry Crews named their favorite Golden Buzzer recipients from the previous seasons in a special retrospective episode on July 5. Singer Nightbirde from season sixteen was ranked as the number one Golden Buzzer in AGT history. Inspired by Nightbirde, who died from cancer in February 2022, Lebanese dance group Mayyas previously honored her during an audition episode on June 21. They received a Golden Buzzer from judge Sofía Vergara.
For the second time in AGT history (the first in season sixteen), a group Golden Buzzer was given by all the judges and host on the July 19 episode, to country trio Chapel Hart for their original song "You Can Have Him Jolene".
Unlike previous seasons of AGT, the live show format was changed to accommodate the top 55 acts, which were divided into five qualifying rounds of eleven acts (two acts from each qualifying round plus a wildcard advanced to the finals), instead of the usual quarter-final and semi-final rounds. In the judge deliberations portion of the episode aired on August 2, the judges selected 54 of the top 55 spots. Following this episode, a public vote was opened to allow viewers to vote the last act into the live shows. Danger act Auzzy Blood, singers Ben Waites and Debbii Dawson, and comedian Jordan Conley were all in contention for the final spot in the top 55. During the August 9 live show, it was announced that Conley had won the America's Wildcard vote.
During the final qualifying round results show on September 7, an Instant Save vote was held for viewers to send a final wildcard into the finals. The four acts included in this vote were acts that were eliminated in the live shows, with each act selected by one of the judges; Mandel selected Don McMillan, Klum selected Lily Meola, Vergara selected Celia Muñoz, and Cowell selected Players Choir. Celia Muñoz ultimately won the public vote, taking the last spot in the season's finals.
America's Wildcard | Final Wildcard | Golden Buzzer Audition
ParticipantAge(s)GenreActFromQualifierResult Acapop! 12-18 Singing A-Cappella Group Various 4 Aiko Tanaka 42 Comedy Comedian Tokyo 2 Amanda Mammana 19 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Trumbull, Connecticut 3 Amazing Veranica & Her Incredible Friends 12 Animals Dog Act Oxford, Florida 1 Amoukanama Acrobatics Acrobatic Group Conakry, Guinea 1 Aubrey Burchell 21 Singing Singer Pittsburgh 5 Ava Swiss 18 Singing Singer Oxford, Michigan 1 Avery Dixon 21 Music Saxophonist Atlanta 1 Bayley Graham 22 Dance Tap Dancer Christchurch, New Zealand 4 Ben Lapidus 29 Comedy / Singing / Music Comic Singer & Guitarist Doylestown, Pennsylvania 1 Blade 2 Blade Danger Knife Throwing Duo Mallorca, Spain 5 Celia Muñoz 36 Comedy Ventriloquist Madrid, Spain 3 Chapel Hart Singing Vocal Trio Poplarville, Mississippi 2 Cline Twins 17 Variety Hockey Trick Shot Duo Waterloo, Ontario 3 Don McMillan 62 Comedy Comedian San Francisco 1 Drake Milligan 23 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Fort Worth, Texas 1 Duo Rings Acrobatics Aerial Duo Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 Freckled Zelda 19 Singing / Music Singer & Instrumentalist South Lake Tahoe, California 2 Funkanometry 19 & 20 Dance Dance Duo Vancouver Island, Canada 3 Fusion Japan Dance Dance Group Japan 2 Harper 10 Singing Metal Singer Somerset, England 4 Hayden Kristal Comedy Comedian Pueblo, Colorado 3 Jack Williams 25 Comedy Ventriloquist Indianapolis, Indiana 4 Jannick Holste 19 Magic / Dance Magician & Dancer Germany 4 JoJo and Bri Singing Vocal Duo Virginia 3 Jordan Conley Comedy Comedian Garden Grove, California 5 Kristen Cruz 19 Singing Singer Irving, Texas 5 Kristy Sellars 36 Dance Pole Dancer Ballarat, Australia 5 Lace Larrabee Comedy Comedian Atlanta 1 Lee Collinson 21 Singing Singer Southampton, England 4 Lily Meola 27 Singing Singer Maui, Hawaii 4 MPLUSPLUS Dance LED Dance Group Tokyo 3 Madison Taylor Baez 11 Singing Singer Yorba Linda, California 2 Max Ostler 18 Dance Contemporary Dancer Glenmore Park, Australia 5 Mayyas 13-25 Dance Dance Group Lebanon 5 Merissa Beddows 23 Singing / Comedy Impressionist Yonkers, New York 4 Mervant Vera Singing / Magic Rapper & Magician Philadelphia 5 Metaphysic Variety Artificial Intelligence Act Belgium & Australia 4 Mia Morris 18 Singing / Music Singer & Musician Nashville 3 Mike E. Winfield Comedy Comedian Baltimore, Maryland 4 Mr. Pants Comedy Comedian Brooklyn, New York 2 Nicolas RIBS Magic Magician Paris 3 Oleksandr Yenivatov Acrobatics Contortionist Ukraine 1 Players Choir Singing Choir Various 1 Sara James 14 Singing Singer Ośno Lubuskie, Poland 3 Shu Takada 25 Variety Yo-Yo Artist Tokyo 5 Stefanny and Yeeremy Dance Salsa Duo Colombia 1 The Brown Brothers 30 & 32 Comedy / Music / Singing Impressionist & Keyboardist Duo Annapolis, Maryland 2 The Lazy Generation Danger Stunt Group London 4 The Pack Drumline Music Percussion Group Chicago 2 Travis Japan 23-27 Singing J-Pop Band Tokyo 5 urbancrew (Flyers of the South) Dance Dance Group Metro Manila, Philippines 5 Wyn Starks 39 Singing Singer Nashville 2 XOMG POP! 10-15 Singing Girl Group Various 3 Yu Hojin 29 Magic Magician Seoul, South Korea 2
Qualifiers summary Buzzed Out | | |
Qualifier 1 (August 9) Guest Performer, Results Show: Dustin Tavella with Sarah Hyland
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (August 10) Amoukanama 1 Amazing Veranica & Her Incredible Friends 2 Ava Swiss3 Ben Lapidus4 Lace Larrabee 5 Drake Milligan 6 Oleksandr Yenivatov 7 Players Choir 8 Stefanny and Yeeremy 9 Don McMillan 10 Avery Dixon 11
Klum's buzzer was pressed by Cowell at the end of Ben Lapidus' performance.
Qualifier 2 (August 16) Guest Performer, Results Show: Jon Dorenbos
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (August 17) The Pack Drumline 1 The Brown Brothers 2 Mr. Pants 3 Fusion Japan 4 Freckled Zelda 5 Duo Rings 6 Wyn Starks 7 Aiko Tanaka 8 Madison Taylor Baez 9 Yu Hojin 10 Chapel Hart 11
Qualifier 3 (August 23) Guest Performers, Results Show: Kodi Lee with Teddy Swims and Neal Schon
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (August 24) MPLUSPLUS 1 JoJo and Bri 2 Cline Twins 3 Eliminated Amanda Mammana 4 XOMG POP! 5 Nicolas RIBS 6 Mia Morris 7 Hayden Kristal 8 Celia Muñoz 9 Funkanometry 10 Sara James 11
Celia Muñoz was later brought back as a Wildcard act for the Finals.
Qualifier 4 (August 30) Guest Performers, Results Show: Piff the Magic Dragon and Riverdance
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (August 31) Bayley Graham 1 Acapop! 2 Jannick Holste 3 Lee Collinson 4 Jack Williams 5 Metaphysic 6 The Lazy Generation 7 Merissa Beddows 8 Harper 9 Mike E. Winfield 10 Lily Meola 11
Qualifier 5 (September 6) Guest Performer, Results Show: Cast of & Juliet
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (September 7) Kristen Cruz 1 Mervant Vera 2 Travis Japan 3 Max Ostler 4 Jordan Conley 5 Kristy Sellars 6 Blade 2 Blade 7 urbancrew (Flyers of the South) 8 Aubrey Burchell 9 Shu Takada 10 Mayyas 11
Finals (September 13–14) Guest Performers, Results Show: Black Eyed Peas and Light Balance
FinalistPerformed with(2nd Performance)Result (September 14) Avery Dixon Trombone Shorty Celia Muñoz Terry Fator and Darci Lynne Chapel Hart Darius Rucker Drake Milligan Jon Pardi Kristy Sellars N/A Mayyas N/A Metaphysic Jeff Ross, Don McMillan, Mr. Pants, and Lace Larrabee Mike E. Winfield Jeff Ross, Don McMillan, Mr. Pants, and Lace Larrabee Nicolas RIBS Shin Lim Sara James Black Eyed Peas Yu Hojin Shin Lim
Nicolas RIBS and Yu Hojin conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performer. Chapel Hart and Drake Milligan conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers. Metaphysic and Mike E. Winfield conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers. Kristy Sellars and Mayyas conducted a joint routine for their second performance.
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