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Fans of AGT is well aware that the show is back, but in a whole new way. AGT: The Champions follows the best of the best as they compete for the title of just that– the BEST in America.
One of the competitors who has been brought back this season to show off his talent is Jon Dorenbos. The former American long snapper is a magician, and was a finalist on season 11 of America’s Got Talent. He finished in third place for the entire season, and now, he’s hoping to win AGT: The Champions.
We’re down to the top twelve acts as we kick off our two-night finale of the show. Who is Dorenbos competing against? He’ll be up against singer Susan Boyle, danger duo Deadly Games, singer Angelica Hale, singer Kechi Okwuchi, sand artist Kseniya Simonova, comedian Preacher Lawson, operatic rocker Cristina Ramos, opera singer Potts, singer Brian Justin Crum, and magician Shin Lim. Dorenbos, along with Darci Lynne Farmer, are the two wildcards.
What does that mean? What’s a wild card? Ten acts were voted (either through actual votes or through a golden buzzer) into tonight’s finale, but NBC has decided to give Dorenbos and Farmer one more chance to redeem themselves by making them wild cards.
The network announced the wild card picks on February 5.
THIS JUST IN: You’re not getting one #AGTWildcard… You’re getting two!
RETWEET if you’re screaming.
Now that he’s a part of the final twelve, Jon Dorenbos could absolutely win AGT: The Champions.
He first competed on the January 22 episode, where he wowed audiences everywhere with a mystifying magic trick. While he was in the top three, the singer did not advance and Paul Potts was voted through by the fans.
Dorenbos played college football at the University of Texas El Paso. He was signed to the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2003. In 2017, doctors discovered that Dorenbos had an aortic aneurysm, which is what ended his career. Dorenbos has long said that magic changed his life. The Washington Post reports him as saying, “It helped me find myself. It simply taught me: don’t hate, don’t blame — and forgive.”
In a separate interview with Acces Live, Dorenbos shares that to this day, music is an integral part of his life. “If I have a decision to make in life, I sit at a table, I shuffle my cards– if it’s five minutes or all night, usually I stand up from that table and I’m like ‘ok.'”
In a matter of hours, we’ll find out whether he has what it takes to be named the champion. Be sure to tune into tonight’s episode of AGT: The Champions to find out Dorenbos’ fate.