‘America’s Got Talent’ recap: Wild-card results surprise

Finally, an “America’s Got Talent� with a few surprises – and I’m not talking about how shockingly uninspiring that performance by the cast of the Broadway show “Bring It On� was. (If the judges were allowed to buzz guest performers, we surely would have seen an X or two -- or three -- up there during that snoozy number.)

The wild-card results show Wednesday night, on which Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City also performed, didn’t pan out quite the way many probably imagined. And though judges Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel kept telling us anything could happen, even they seemed startled by how things shook out.

Stern, at least, wasn’t too pleased. “I think America got some of these things wrong tonight, I really do,� he said at one point. When one batch of results didn’t go as he would have liked, he barked, “This is a crime!�

The unexpected twists came early, with 10-year-old mariachi singer Sebastien “El Charro de Oro� besting crossbow sharpshooter Ben Blaque, as well as the balancing duo the Bandbaz Brothers, to move on to the semifinals. Perhaps only Mandel, who had picked the young vocalist for the wild-card round, and Sebastien himself weren’t surprised. The singer compared himself to “America’s Got Talent� success story Jackie Evancho -- a “small package� with a big voice.

The second group of contestants -- Horse, Jake Wesley Rogers, Andrew De Leon -- enjoyed a more predictable fate, with operatic goth De Leon (also a Mandel pick) advancing. “If Marilyn Manson and Adam Lambert had a child� who happened to be a fan of Andrea Bocelli, Mandel told De Leon, “it would be you.�

Stern later told us not to worry about groin-shot recipient Horse, quipping, “They just announced he’s gonna be Kelly Ripa’s new co-host.� Ha! Certainly it’s true that being sent home by “America’s Got Talent� voters is not the lowest blow Horse has ever had to recover from.

After comedian/ventriloquist/dog act Todd Oliver happily triumphed over serial faller Cristin Sandu and young escape artist Spencer Horsman, the last three acts were summoned to the stage.

Would magicians Jarrett and Raja, dancer Lindsey Norton, or male cloggers All That! duke it out for the judges’ votes? Perhaps only the judges were startled to learn that the magician act, whose trick they’d gushed over the previous night, was the one voters had sent packing. Stern huffed that the duo had been “robbed.�

Stern ultimately chose All That! to advance. Mandel gave Norton his nod. That left Osbourne to cast the deciding vote between two of the acts she’d invited back. She said it was like choosing between her children. But eventually she blurted out her pick for the act that would continue in the competition: All That!

Was anyone else surprised to see them advance? What did you think of the Wild Card results?

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