Heidi Klum and Terry Crews Discuss the New Live Golden Buzzer: "It's Electric!"
Everyone is fired up over the new Live Golden Buzzer on America’s Got Talent.
With such a diversity of Acts, America’s Got Talent changes up every episode so there’s no telling what’s in store. But Season 19 threw in another wild card: the Live Golden Buzzer.
For the first time ever, the Judges have the power to fast-track a favorite Act from the Live Quarterfinals to the Finals. Sophia Vergara kicked off the new era in epic fashion by pressing the buzzer for Hakuna Matata, putting the million-dollar prize just within their reach. The gravity-defying trio of acrobats from Tanzania risked their lives with a nail-biting performance that had audiences stunned into silence.
“It’s real, and it’s scary,” said Host Terry Crews about the Act when NBC Insider caught up to him on the red carpet recently.
The competition is already so fierce, but did the live Golden Buzzer make the stakes even higher?
“Absolutely,” he said, noting there was a change in energy backstage with a Live Show buzzer in the mix.
“Oh my God, first of all, it’s electric. In the Auditions, you have a far way to go. It’s like, I get a Golden Buzzer, I’m gonna make it to the Live, but this automatically puts you in the running for that million dollars. If you get this Golden Buzzer here, you’re skipping a lot. The voting process for America is hair-raising, and if you can skip that, that’s a big advantage."
Watching the confetti rain down at the Live Shows is “like watching an Olympic win,” he said after revealing he had an emotional moment when Vergara pressed the buzzer for Hakuna Matata.
“They risked their lives when they got that Golden Buzzer, the emotion that was on that stage. These guys are from Tanzania, and they’re trying to support their families; they’re giving it all they got,” he explained.
Heidi Klum has been passionate this season about the Golden Buzzers, at one point wishing out loud that she had an unlimited supply. But for her, the Live Buzzer is extra special.
“It’s a great feeling. Because sometimes we sit there and we’re like, ‘How is this possible? How come this person is so amazing? How come no one voted for this person?’” she told NBC Insider.
Fans of the show know all too well that many awesomely talented performers who seem like shoo-ins for the Finals inexplicably don’t get voted through. But now the Judges have a small say in the matter during the Live shows.
“I feel like a lot of the times people at home don’t vote for really good ones because they’re like, ‘Oh, this one got it already, let’s vote for this one instead,’” Klum explained. “Sometimes the really good ones, they don’t make it through, and I feel like it’s good that they give us one.”
How to watch the Live Shows
A mind-boggling 44 Acts perform on stage at Pasadena Civic Auditorium for seven action-packed weeks of Live Shows. With the first of four quarterfinals behind us, there will be three more to come on Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC. Result shows will air the following night on Wednesdays after each Live Show at 8/7c.
Catch up on America’s Got Talent on Peacock now.
