America's Got Talent season 12

Template:Infobox reality talent competition Season twelve of the reality competition series America's Got Talent was ordered on August 2, 2016 and premiered on NBC on Tuesday, May 30, 2017. Howie Mandel, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Simon Cowell returned as judges for their respective eighth, fifth, fifth and second seasons. Supermodel and businesswoman Tyra Banks replaced Nick Cannon, who hosted for eight seasons, making her the first female host of the show. The live shows returned to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles beginning August 15, 2017.

The format of the show was the same as in season eleven, and Dunkin Donuts sponsors the show for a third consecutive season. A guest judge joined the panel for each episode of the Judge Cuts round: Chris Hardwick, DJ Khaled, Laverne Cox and Seal.

Darci Lynne Farmer was named the winner on the season finale, September 20, 2017. She was the third ventriloquist, third child and third female to win a season of America's Got Talent. 10-year-old singer Angelica Hale placed second, and glow light dance troupe Light Balance came in third. Farmer won the show's prize of $1 million and a headlining performance in Las Vegas.

Season changes

Season 12 judges and host

Howie Mandel

Mel B

Heidi Klum

Simon Cowell

Tyra Banks

On October 4, 2016, Simon Cowell signed a contract to remain as a judge through 2019.

Long-time host Nick Cannon announced, on February 13, 2017, that he would not return as host for season 12, soon after he made disparaging remarks about NBC in his 2017 Showtime comedy special, Stand Up, Don't Shoot. Cannon was still under contract to host, and NBC executives did not initially accept his resignation, but they ultimately searched for a new host.

On March 12, 2017, NBC announced supermodel Tyra Banks as the host for this season.

Preliminary auditions

The season had preliminary open call auditions in Chicago, Austin, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego, New York City, Charleston, Memphis, and Los Angeles. As in years past, prospective contestants could also submit online auditions.

Judges' auditions were taped in March at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The premiere aired May 30, 2017.

Golden Buzzer

The Golden Buzzer returned for its fourth consecutive season. Any act that received a golden buzzer during the preliminary auditions was sent directly to the live shows and did not compete in the Judge Cuts round. In the first episode of preliminary auditions, Mel B pressed the golden buzzer for 12-year-old singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer. In subsequent episodes, Simon Cowell pressed it for 29-year-old deaf singer-songwriter and ukeleleist, Mandy Harvey, Howie Mandel chose 16-year-old singer Christian Guardino, Tyra Banks pressed it for Light Balance dance crew, and Heidi Klum chose 13-year-old singer Angelina Green.

Death of Brandon Rogers

On June 11, 2017, contestant Brandon Rogers died in an automobile accident. Rogers was an American physician who specialized in family medicine. Earlier in 2017, after seeing YouTube videos of Rogers singing, Boyz II Men invited him to sing with them as a guest in three of their Las Vegas shows. His successful AGT audition aired on July 11, 2017, in his memory. He competed in the Judge Cuts round, but his performance in that round was not televised.

Judge Cuts

The Judge Cuts round began on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Like the previous season, one guest judge joined the judges' panel each show and was given one golden buzzer opportunity to send an act straight to the live shows. Twenty acts were shown each week and seven advanced, including the guest judge's golden buzzer choice. Guest judges were not given a red buzzer to use. Any act that received all four red buzzers was immediately eliminated from the competition. The four guest judges were Chris Hardwick, DJ Khaled, Laverne Cox, and Seal.

After the Judge Cuts, three wildcards were chosen from eliminated acts to perform in the live shows: Final Draft, Bello Nock and Oskar and Gaspar (who did not perform in the Judge Cuts round). All three of these acts were eliminated in the Quarterfinals.

Golden Buzzer

Each Judge Cuts act that received a golden buzzer advanced to the live shows without any voting by the judges. During the Judge Cuts round, guest judges Chris Hardwick pressed his golden buzzer for 9-year old singer Angelica Hale, DJ Khaled pressed it for 21-year old singer-songwriter and guitarist Chase Goehring, Laverne Cox pressed it for 9-year old singer Celine Tam, and Seal pressed it for soul singer Johnny Manuel.

Key	Buzzed	Golden buzzer	Advanced	Quarterfinal Wildcard	Eliminated	Eliminated Immediately	Advanced Immediately

Week 1

Guest judge: Chris Hardwick

Date: July 18, 2017

Act	Order	Performance Type	Buzzes					Result
			Cowell	Klum	Hardwick	Mel B	Mandel
Sara and Hero	1	Dog Act						Advanced
The Baker Family	2	Bluegrass Band						Eliminated
Mariachi Nuevo Santander	3	Mariachi Group						Eliminated
The Masqueraders	4	Vocal Group						Advanced
Eric Jennifer	5	Comedian						Eliminated
Harrison Greenbaum	6	Comedian						Eliminated
Dancing Pumpkin Man	7	Dancer						Eliminated
Tom London	8	Technology Magician						Eliminated
Eric Jones	9	Close-Up Magician						Advanced
Angelica Hale	10	Singer						Advanced Immediately
Danylo and Oskar	11	Acrobat Duo						Eliminated
Lera and Nika Tomanova	12	Aerial Duo						Eliminated
Yoselin Chi	13	Hand Balancer						Eliminated
Darcy Callus	14	Singer And Keyboardist						Eliminated
Carlos De Antonis	15	Opera Singer						Eliminated
Canion Shijirbat	16	Multimedia Dancer						Eliminated
Just Jerk	17	Hip-Hop Dance Group						Advanced
Maw Kitty	18	Singer						Eliminated
The Singing Trump	19	Singing Trump Impersonator						Advanced
Demian Aditya	20	Escape Artist						Advanced

Week 2

Guest judge: DJ Khaled

Date: July 25, 2017

This is the first Judge Cuts episode in the show's history in which an act with at least one "X" buzzer was nevertheless promoted to the live shows. This was also the only Judge Cuts episode of the season in which an act received 4 red buzzers.

Act	Order	Performance Type	Buzzes					Result
			Cowell	Klum	DJ Khaled	Mel B	Mandel
Sammulous	1	Singer						Eliminated
Steven Scott	2	Comedian						Eliminated
The Quiddlers	3	Puppeteer Group						Eliminated
Str8jacket	4	Dance Group						Eliminated
Solto & T Dot	5	Dance Duo						Eliminated
Junior and Emily	6	Salsa Dance Duo						Advanced
Jokgu and Aichan	7	Piano-Playing Chickens						Eliminated Immediately
Dakota Striplin	8	Singer and Guitarist						Eliminated
Chase Goehring	9	Singer and Guitarist						Advanced Immediately
Azeri Brothers	10	Danger Duo						Eliminated
The Godfathers	11	Acrobat Group						Eliminated
Tulga	12	Strongman						Eliminated
Mirror Image	13	Vocal/Dance Duo						Advanced
Evie Clair	14	Singer						Advanced
Kyle Eschen	15	Magician						Eliminated
Xavier Mortimer	16	Magician						Eliminated
Colin Cloud	17	Mentalist						Advanced
Pelican212	18	Family Band						Eliminated
Puddles Pity Party	19	Singing Clown						Advanced
Yoli Mayor	20	Singer						Advanced

Week 3

Guest judge: Laverne Cox

Date: August 1, 2017

This was the first Judge Cuts episode in which no acts received a red buzzer from any of the judges.

Act	Order	Performance Type	Buzzes					Result
			Cowell	Klum	Laverne Cox	Mel B	Mandel
Oscar Hernandez	1	Dancer						Advanced
Tony and Jordan	2	Digital Magicians						Eliminated
The Naked Magicians	3	Magicians						Eliminated
Jeki Yoo	4	Magician						Eliminated
Herbie Russ	5	Singer And Saxophonist						Eliminated
Mike Yung	6	Singer						Advanced
5 Alive	7	Boy Band						Eliminated
Final Draft	8	R&B Vocal Group						Quarterfinal Wild Card
Brobots & Mandroidz	9	Hip-Hop Dance Group						Advanced
Marisa McKaye	10	Singer						Eliminated
Celine Tam	11	Singer						Advanced Immediately
Aileen George	12	Pole Dancer						Eliminated
Shemika Charles	13	Limbo Dancer						Eliminated
Jay Jay Phillips	14	Keyboardist						Eliminated
Diavolo	15	Acrobatic Dance Group						Advanced
Jonathan Rinny	16	Balancing Acrobat						Eliminated
Bello Nock	17	Daredevil						Quarterfinal Wild Card
Daniel Ferguson	18	Singing Impressionist						Eliminated
Preacher Lawson	19	Comedian						Advanced
Billy & Emily England	20	Extreme Rollerskating Duo						Advanced

Week 4

Guest judge: Seal

Date: August 8, 2017

Act	Order	Performance Type	Buzzes					Result
			Cowell	Klum	Seal	Mel B	Mandel
Artyon & Paige	1	Dance Duo						Advanced
Britt Saasen	2	Singer						Eliminated
In The Stairwell	3	A Capella Group						Advanced
Will Tsai	4	Magician						Eliminated
Henry Richardson	5	Magician						Eliminated
Elena and Sasha	6	Acrobatic Duo						Eliminated
Lost Legends	7	Dance Group						Eliminated
Nick Uhas	8	Scientist						Eliminated
Veronica Gonzalez	9	Foot Puppeteer						Eliminated
Sirqus Alfon	10	Digital Comedy Trio						Eliminated
DaNell Daymon & Greater Works	11	Gospel Choir						Advanced
Pompeyo Family Dogs	12	Dog Act						Advanced
Johnny Manuel	13	Singer						Advanced Immediately
Maria Popazov	14	Hand Balancer / Contortionist						Eliminated
Maxim Popazov	15	Hand Balancer						Eliminated
German Cornejo Dance Company	16	Dance Group						Eliminated
The Honeybee-z Plus	17	Dance Group						Eliminated
Merrick Hanna	18	Dancer						Advanced
Kechi Okwuchi	19	Singer						Advanced
Brandon Rogers	N/A	Singer						Eliminated

Footnotes

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles starting on August 15, 2017. They featured the nine golden buzzer acts, the 24 other acts promoted during the Judge Cuts round, and three wildcard acts chosen by the producers and judges. Twelve acts performed each week, with results announced the on following nights; each week seven acts were sent through to the semifinals. Puddles Pity Party and Mirror Image received an "X" from Cowell in the Quarterfinals. Demian Aditya received "X's" by Mel B and Cowell in the second Quarterfinals.

Key	Buzzed	Advanced (Won Public Vote)	Judges' Choice	Won Judges' Choice	Lost Judges' Choice	Dunkin' Save	Judges' Wildcard

Week 1 (August 15–16)

Guests: Grace VanderWaal, August 16

Act	Order	Performance Description	Buzzes and judges' choices				Result
			Cowell	Klum	Mel B	Mandel
Christian Guardino	1	Singer; sang "Make it Rain" by Ed Sheeran.					Dunkin' Save
Artyon & Paige	2	Dancing Duo; Danced to "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins.					Eliminated
In The Stairwell	3	Cappella Group; Sang "Some Nights" by Fun.					Advanced
The Singing Trump	4	Singing Donald Trump Impersonator; danced and sang "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk The Moon and "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer, with background dancers dressed as Trump's guards.					Eliminated
Angelica Hale	5	Singer; sang "Clarity" by Zedd.					Advanced
Bello Nock	6	Danger Act/Daredevil; performed the "Wheel of Death", an act where he ran both inside and on top of a huge wheel in the apparatus, including a back-flip.					Eliminated
Just Jerk1	7	Hip-Hop Dance Group; Danced to "Turn Up The Music" by Chris Brown.					Lost Judges' Choice
Puddles Pity Party	8	Singing Clown; sang "Royals" by Lorde.					Eliminated
Preacher Lawson	9	Comedian; joked about things he saw on the streets.					Advanced
Yoli Mayor1	10	Singer; sang "Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man.					Won Judges' Choice
Billy & Emily England	11	Extreme Rollerskating Duo; Did their original skating routine, but spinning on a small, rising flat surface.					Advanced
Darci Lynne Farmer	12	Singing Ventriloquist; Serenaded Mel B with her shy, stuttering Motown mouse puppet, Oscar, performing Smokey Robinson's "Who's Lovin' You".					Advanced

^1 After the judges split evenly in the Judges' Choice, Yoli Mayor was announced to have received more of America's votes than Just Jerk, and she advanced to the semi-finals.

Week 2 (August 22–23)

Guests: Circus 1903

Act	Order	Performance Description	Buzzes and judges' choices				Result
			Cowell	Klum	Mel B	Mandel
Brobots & Mandroidz	1	Hip-Hop Dance Group; danced as a group to an electric mix of hip-hop songs "Boneless", "Get Busy", and"Jump".					Eliminated
Celine Tam	2	Singer; sang "When You Believe" by Whitney Houston.					Advanced
Mirror Image	3	Vocal Dance Duo; Sang "Somebody to Love" by Queen and while dancing.					Eliminated
Johnny Manuel	4	Singer; sang "And I'm Telling You" by Dream Girls.					Advanced
Merrick Hanna	5	Dancer; Danced out a story based on a cover of "Lost Boy".					Advanced
Eric Jones1	6	Close-up Magician; Had Mandel sign a random playing card, then had Mel and Heidi hold a piece of glass, and pressed a poker chip against the glass using his left hand, until it went through the glass on his right hand. Next, Howie pushed a set of cards, with the signed card included, onto a much larger piece of glass. Eric pulled the signed card from Howie's cards through the glass. Finally, Eric's entire body passed through the glass behind cloth.					Won Judges' Choice
The Masqueraders1	7	Vocal Group; sang their original song, "I'm Just an Average Guy".					Lost Judges' Choice
Light Balance2	8	Light-Up Dance Group; Did a performance based on their dress rehearsal, including spinning lights.					Advanced
Evie Clair	9	Singer; performed "Wings" by Birdy.					Dunkin' Save
Demian Aditya3	10	Escape Artist; Demian climbed into a wooden box, handcuffed, and the lid of the box was nailed completely shut. The only support keeping the box in the air was a rope. The rope was looped through pulleys and secured directly above a blowtorch. Demian attempted to escape before the rope burned through and the locks came crashing down onto three solid steel spikes lit on fire. Unfortunately, technical issues arose during the performance: the box failed to fall into the spikes when the rope was burnt through. Nevertheless, Demian appeared behind the judges with a fire extinguisher in hand.					Eliminated
Pompeyo Family Dogs	11	Dog Act; Had a safari themed act; had dogs performing tricks such as hopping over obstacles, biting those obstacles and moving them, jump roping with two ropes, and leaping through a hoop held up by one of the trainers.					Judges' Wild Card
Mandy Harvey	12	Singer-Songwriter/Ukulelist, sang an original song called "Mara's Song".					Advanced

^1 After the judges split evenly in the Judges' Choice, Eric Jones was announced to have received more of America's votes than The Masqueraders, and he advanced to the semi-finals.

^2 Due to a technical issue, Light Balance's performance was based on their dress rehearsal.

Week 3 (August 29–30)

Guests: Mat Franco, Piff the Magic Dragon, and Jon Dorenbos, August 30

Act	Order	Performance Description	Buzzes and judges' choices				Result
			Cowell	Klum	Mel B	Mandel
DaNell Daymon & Greater Works	1	Gospel Choir; sang "You're The One That I Want" from the musical "Grease".					Won Judges' Choice
Junior and Emily Alabi	2	Salsa Dance Duo; danced together to "Eclipse" by Hardwell.					Eliminated
Final Draft	3	Vocal Group; sang a rendition of "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran.					Eliminated
Oscar Hernandez	4	Dancer; Danced to "M.I.L.F. $" by Fergie.					Eliminated
Angelina Green	5	Singer; sang "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles.					Lost Judges' Choice
Colin Cloud	6	Mentalist; Colin first invited Simon to sit on a bench on the stage. Next, Colin had Mel B point a random audience member to come up on stage and write a reason to kill Simon on a piece of paper. Colin asked the audience to think of naughty memories in detail. Colin identified one such member and correctly guessed that member's memory. Colin then asked the stage audience member to pick a knife from five. He then told Mel to plunge the knife into Simon's chest; the knife turned out to be rubber. Finally he revealed a plaque on the bench already had the reason for murder engraved on the bench. It was revealed that the other four knives were real.					Dunkin' Save
Mike Yung	7	Singer; sang "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran.					Advanced
Oskar and Gaspar	8	Videomapping Act; Video and visual effects were being mapped onto the bodies of two models as they moved to diamonds.					Eliminated
Sara and Hero1	9	Dog Act; Did a number of tricks including going in and out of hoops, flips, including another dog named Loki.					Advanced
Chase Goehring	10	Singer-Songwriter/Guitarist; Performed an original song called "Illusion" while playing guitar.					Advanced
Diavolo	11	Acrobatic Dance Group; consisted of performing a space-themed piece that involved acrobats climbing a set of ropes in tied to a giant barrel while doing backflips, cartwheels, and other tricks.					Advanced
Kechi Okwuchi	12	Singer; performed "By the Grace of God" by Katy Perry.					Advanced

Semifinals

The live semifinals started on September 5, 2017. They featured the 21 acts voted to the semifinals, plus the judges' semifinal wildcard pick. Each week, eleven acts performed; five went through to the finals, and six were eliminated. No acts were buzzed.

Key	Advanced (Won Public Vote)	Judges' Choice	Won Judges' Choice	Lost Judges' Choice	Dunkin' Save

Week 1 (September 5–6)

Guests: The Clairvoyants

Act	Order	Performance description	Judges' choices				Result
			Cowell	Klum	Mel B	Mandel
Yoli Mayor	1	Singer; performed "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur					Eliminated
Eric Jones	2	Close-up magician: The judges are seated on the stage. A $2 bill in Eric's hand turns into 4 coins. Simon hands him a signed hundred-dollar bill in exchange for the 4 coins. He shakes the coins together between his palms, and one of the coins disappears. Eric gives Heidi the three coins, asks her to focus on one of them, and makes that coin disappear. Howie holds the two coins between his thumb and middle finger, and when he drops them, only one coin remains. Eric then places it onto Mel B's hand, teleports it to her shoulder, and that coin disappears as well. All four coins are found under Simon's 100-dollar bill, and Eric changes them into the $2 bill.					Lost Judges' Choice
DaNell Daymon & Greater Works1	3	Gospel choir; performed "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith					Eliminated
Preacher Lawson	4	Comedian; laments being single, explains why he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, Tyra, and worries about passing his big lips on to his future offspring. He ends with a joke about his reaction to his 4-year-old cousin calling him ugly.					Advanced
Johnny Manuel	5	Singer; performed an original song called "Blind Faith"					Eliminated
Billy and Emily England	6	Extreme rollerblading duo: rollerblades on a high platform in which Emily hangs on to Billy in several positions while they spin around. Billy then flings Emily off the edge of the platform into the jaws of animated dragons.					Eliminated
Evie Clair	7	Singer; performed "Yours" by Ella Henderson					Dunkin' Save
Sara & Hero	8	Dog act: Hero pretended to perform CPR on Sara before she "revives" and they play volleyball together. Guest performer Loki, Sara's younger dog, circles backwards around a standing Hero, who then gets on a skateboard and catches frisbees. Sara and Loki get on a surfboard, and then Hero jumps through a hoop before Sara jumps through the hoop with Hero. The act ends with Loki in Sara's arms.					Advanced
Chase Goehring1	9	Singer-songwriter/Guitarist; performed an original song called "What Is Love".					Won Judges' Choice
Darci Lynne Farmer	10	Singing ventriloquist's puppet, Edna Doorknocker, complains about being stuck in the elevator with The Singing Trump, while gushing about Simon. She then sings "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin to him, eventually cuddling a blushing Simon.					Advanced
Mike Yung1	11	Singer; performed "Don't Give Up on Me" by Solomon Burke					Eliminated

^1 Chase Goehring, DaNell Daymon & Greater Works, and Mike Yung were not initially announced as performing on week one of semifinals.

Week 2 (September 12–13)

Guests: Absinthe

Act	Order	Performance description	Judges' choices				Result
			Cowell	Klum	Mel B	Mandel
Celine Tam	1	Singer; performed "How Far I'll Go" from Moana.					Eliminated
Colin Cloud	2	Mentalist; printed thousands of tweets collected from the public, each listing a random celebrity, city and object, on cards (each containing a couple dozen of the tweets) distributed to the live audience members. Judges collected some of the cards from the audience at random. Mel B selected one card from these, and Heidi chose one tweet on the card at random, which contained a unique list: Ellen, Rome, cheese. Cloud demonstrated with prerecorded video snippets of himself and the judges that he had correctly predicted the list. A picture on stage, when flipped upside down, gave the same list in reverse order.		2			Lost Judges' Choice
Christian Guardino	3	Singer; performed "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.					Eliminated
In the Stairwell	4	A Cappella Group; performed "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran					Eliminated
Merrick Hanna1	5	Dancer; performed robot-themed urban dance routine that involved some flying.					Eliminated
Mandy Harvey1	6	Singer; performed an original song, "Release Me", while translating the song into American Sign Language.					Advanced
Pompeyo Family Dogs	7	Dog Act; dogs of varying sizes, dressed as Arctic/Antarctic animals such as a polar bear and penguins, performed agility and acrobatic tricks including walking and handstanding on two legs, sometimes in size order, leaping through hoops and over humans, jumping rope with a human and climbing a ladder.					Eliminated
Diavolo	8	Acrobatic Dance Group; dancers rose into the air hanging artfully, or climbing on, and leaping from, various moving, transforming apparatuses, with a post-apocalyptic or futuristic theme.		2			Won Judges' Choice
Kechi Okwuchi	9	Singer; performed "Don't Worry About Me" by Frances.					Dunkin' Save
Light Balance	10	Light-Up Dance Group; urban dance employing darkness and chromatic lights on set and costumes with a video game effect.					Advanced
Angelica Hale	11	Singer; performed "Without You" by David Guetta					Advanced

^1 Merrick Hanna and Mandy Harvey were switched to perform on Week 2 although they were on the Week 1 promo.

^2 Klum's voting intention was not revealed.

Finals

The final performances took place on September 19, followed by the final results show on September 20, 2017. No acts were buzzed.

The season finale took place on September 20, 2017. During the finale results, the top 5 acts were revealed first; then they were eliminated in reverse ranking from fifth place to third place. Darci Lynne Farmer was announced the winner at the end of the finale. She won the million-dollar prize and was set to headline at the PH Showroom at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on November 2, 3, 4 and 5, 2017.

Key	Advanced to the top 5	Top 10

Act	Order	Performance Description	Result
Angelica Hale	1	Singer; performed "Symphony" by Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson.	Advanced
Chase Goehring	2	Singer-Songwriter/Guitarist; performed an original song called "Mirror".	Top 10
Sara and Hero	3	Dog Act; Hero freed Sara from a glass cube by pressing a button. Hero danced around Sara's legs before Loki ran out and performed alongside Hero. Hero balanced on Sara's feet and put his front legs in the air. Loki jumped over obstacles and ran through a tube, then Loki jumped rope, with Sara and Hero holding the ends. Hero jumped on his hind legs with Sara, then Sara made hoops with her hands for Loki to jump through. The act ended with Hero running up a ramp and jumping high through the air over a ball pit to grab a dangling bone.	Advanced
Diavolo	4	Dance/Acrobat Crew; Two acrobats danced around a door before opening it up to reveal acrobats dancing, jumping and sliding on ramps. They then transferred to a large rocking apparatus, climbing on and leaping off of it, and catching each other, with themes of fire and thunder in the background.	Top 10
Evie Clair	5	Singer; performed "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.	Top 10
Preacher Lawson	6	Stand-Up Comedian; recalled an interaction on the street with a mostly naked man who proclaimed "Black Power" despite being white. He said the man asked to borrow $75, and noted that the man would definitely use it for drugs. He then performed an energetic physical bit, imitating the man by shaking and repeating the same phrase over and over. He ended by making a meta observation that while some audience members die laughing from this joke, others say, "How long is he gonna do this for?"	Top 10
Kechi Okwuchi	7	Singer; performed "Conqueror" by Estelle.	Top 10
Darci Lynne Farmer	8	Singing Ventriloquist; puppets Oscar and Petunia bickered over who should sing for the Finals. The two puppets then told Darci to keep her mouth closed while they both performed a version of "With a Little Help from My Friends" by The Beatles.	Advanced
Mandy Harvey	9	Singer-Songwriter/Ukeleleist; performed an original song called "This Time".	Advanced
Light Balance	10	Light-Up Dance Group; urban dance with chromatic lights. At the beginning, echoing the group's past performances, a dancer in a top hat sat on a chair (Preliminary auditions), followed by a werewolf (Quarterfinals) that seemingly tore one of the android dancers in half, although its top and bottom halves soon rejoined, and ended with a person resembling a video game character (Semifinals).	Advanced

Finale

Guest performers in the finale included Kelly Clarkson, Shania Twain, James Arthur, Derek Hough and Terry Fator. Other celebrity appearances included Marlee Matlin and Jeff Dunham.

The following chart describes the acts, appearances and segments presented during the finale.

Act(s)	Performance Description
Angelica Hale & Kechi Okwuchi	Singers; Guest performer Kelly Clarkson sang, with the two contestants, a trio of her song "Stronger".
Chase Goehring	Singer-Songwriter/Guitarist; Guest performer James Arthur sang a duet with Goehring of his song "Say You Won't Let Go".
Sara and Hero	Dog Act; Instead of performing an act, Sara worked to train the Judges' dogs to perform several tricks.
Diavolo	Dance/Acrobat Crew; performed in a space-like setting with asteroids crashing into each other in the background and the dancers jumping off of a moon-like structure.
Evie Clair	Singer; Guest performer James Arthur performed a duet with Clair of her song "Okay Day".
Preacher Lawson	Comedian; Clips were shown of Lawson performing at the Laugh Factory with Judge Howie Mandel and Kevin Nealon.
Darci Lynne Farmer	Singing Ventriloquist; Guest performer Terry Fator, with his turtle puppet, Winston, joked around with Farmer and her bunny, Petunia. The two puppets then performed the comic song "Anything You Can Do".
Mandy Harvey	Singer-Songwriter/Ukeleleist; Guest performer Shania Twain sang a duet with Harvey of Twain's song "You're Still The One".
Light Balance	Light-Up Dance Group; Guest performer Derek Hough led the group in a dance routine similar to the group's preliminary auditions routine.

Key	1st place (Winner)	2nd place (Runner-up)	3rd place	4th place	5th place

Act	Result
Darci Lynne Farmer	Winner
Angelica Hale	Runner-Up
Light Balance	3rd place
Mandy Harvey	4th place
Sara and Hero	5th place

Top 36 acts

Key	Winner	Runner-up	Third Place	Top 5	Finalist	Semifinalist (lost judges' vote)	Semifinalist (lost audience vote)	Quarterfinalist (lost judges' vote)	Quarterfinalist (lost audience vote)	Golden buzzer (Auditions)	Golden buzzer (Judge Cuts)	Judges' wild card (quarterfinals)	Judges' wild card (semifinals)

Name of Act	Age(s)	Genre	Act	Hometown	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Result
Darci Lynne Farmer	12	Comedy & Singing	Singing Ventriloquist	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	1	1	Winner
Angelica Hale	9	Singing	Singer	Atlanta, Georgia	1	2	Runner-Up
Light Balance	22-36	Dance	Light-Up Dance Group	Dnipro, Ukraine	2	2	3rd Place
Mandy Harvey	29	Singing	Singer-Songwriter/Ukulelist	St. Cloud, Florida	2	2	4th Place
Sara and Hero	22 & 5	Animal	Dog Act	North Bay, Ontario, Canada	3	1	5th Place
Chase Goehring	21	Singing	Singer-Songwriter/Guitarist	Nolensville, Tennessee	3	1	Finalist (Won Judges' Vote)
Diavolo	21-39	Acrobatics	Acrobatic Dance Group	Los Angeles, California	3	2	Finalist (Won Judges' Vote)
Evie Clair	13	Singing	Singer	Florence, Arizona	2	1	Finalist (Won Dunkin' Save Vote)
Kechi Okwuchi	27	Singing	Singer	Houston, Texas	3	2	Finalist (Won Dunkin' Save Vote)
Preacher Lawson	25	Comedy	Stand-up Comedian	Memphis, Tennessee	1	1	Finalist (Won Public Vote)
Colin Cloud	30	Magic	Mentalist	Edinburgh, Scotland	3	2	Semifinalist (Lost Judges' Vote)
Eric Jones	36	Magic	Close-up Magician	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2	1	Semifinalist (Lost Judges' Vote)
Billy & Emily England	30, 27	Danger	Extreme Rollerskating Duo	Las Vegas, Nevada	1	1	Eliminated
Celine Tam	9	Singing	Singer	Hong Kong	2	2	Eliminated
Christian Guardino	16	Singing	Singer	Patchogue, New York	1	2	Eliminated
DaNell Daymon & Greater Works	24-59	Singing	Gospel Choir	Various	3	1	Eliminated
In The Stairwell	18-22	Singing	A Cappella Group	Colorado Springs, Colorado	1	2	Eliminated
Johnny Manuel	32	Singing	Singer	Flint, Michigan	2	1	Eliminated
Merrick Hanna	12	Dance	Dancer	Encinitas, California	2	2	Eliminated
Mike Yung	56	Singing	Singer	New York, New York	3	1	Eliminated
Pompeyo Family Dogs	7-35	Animal	Dog Act	Sarasota, Florida	2	2	Eliminated
Yoli Mayor	21	Singing	Singer	Miami, Florida	1	1	Eliminated
Angelina Green	13	Singing	Singer	Miami, Florida	3	—	Quarterfinalist (lost judges' vote)
Just Jerk	18-27	Dance	Hip-Hop Dance Group	Seoul, South Korea	1	—	Quarterfinalist (lost judges' vote)
The Masqueraders	72-74	Singing	Vocal Group	Nashville, Tennessee	2	—	Quarterfinalist (lost judges' vote)
Artyon & Paige	9 & 8	Dance	Dancing Duo	Murrieta, California	1	—	Eliminated
Bello Nock	47	Danger	Comedic Daredevil	Sarasota, Florida	1	—	Eliminated
Brobots & Mandroidz	16-24	Dance	Hip-Hop Dance Group	Torrance, California	2	—	Eliminated
Demian Aditya	36	Magic	Escape Artist	Jakarta, Indonesia	2	—	Eliminated
Final Draft	22-26	Singing	Vocal Group	Atlanta, Georgia	3	—	Eliminated
Junior and Emily	31 & 27	Dance	Salsa Dance Duo	Los Angeles, California	3	—	Eliminated
Mirror Image	16	Singing & Dance	Vocal Dance Duo	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	2	—	Eliminated
Oscar Hernandez	34	Dance	Dancer	Orange County, California	3	—	Eliminated
Oskar and Gaspar	Unknown	Variety	Videomapping Act	Lisbon, Portugal	3	—	Eliminated
Puddles Pity Party	52	Singing	Singing Clown	Atlanta, Georgia	1	—	Eliminated
The Singing Trump	56	Comedy & Singing	Singing Trump Impersonator	Palm Springs, California	1	—	Eliminated

Ratings

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Show	Episode title	First air date	Timeslot (EDT)	Rating (18–49)	Share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	Nightly Rank	Weekly Rank
1	Auditions Week 1	May 30, 2017	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	2.7	11	12.32	1	3
2	Auditions Week 2	June 6, 2017		2.7	11	12.53		3
3	Auditions Week 3	June 13, 2017		2.6	11	12.70		2
4	Auditions Week 4	June 20, 2017		2.6	11	12.74		1
5	Auditions Week 5	June 27, 2017		2.5	10	12.36		1
6	Auditions Week 6	July 11, 2017		2.5	10	12.59		1
7	Judge Cuts 1	July 18, 2017		2.5	11	12.57		1
8	Judge Cuts 2	July 25, 2017		2.6	11	13.08		1
9	Judge Cuts 3	August 1, 2017		2.8	12	13.33		1
10	Judge Cuts 4	August 8, 2017		2.7	11	13.32		1
11	Quarterfinals, Week 1 (Performances)	August 15, 2017		2.8	11	13.44		1
12	Quarterfinals, Week 1 (Results)	August 16, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	2.1	9	10.89		2
13	Quarterfinals, Week 2 (Performances)	August 22, 2017	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	2.6	10	12.76		1
14	Quarterfinals, Week 2 (Results)	August 23, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	2.0	9	10.84		2
15	Quarterfinals, Week 3 (Performances)	August 29, 2017	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	2.6	11	13.13		2
16	Quarterfinals, Week 3 (Results)	August 30, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	1.9	8	11.07		3
17	Semifinals, Week 1 (Performances)	September 5, 2017	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	2.6	10	13.29		3
18	Semifinals, Week 1 (Results)	September 6, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	2.1	8	11.99		6
19	Semifinals, Week 2 (Performances)	September 12, 2017	Tuesday 9:00 p.m.	2.3	9	11.57		3
20	Semifinals, Week 2 (Results)	September 13, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	2.1	8	11.59		2
21	The Finals	September 19, 2017	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	3.0	12	14.70		4
22	Season Finale	September 20, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	3.0	11	15.64		2

Footnotes

Specials

Show	Episode title	First air date	Timeslot (EDT)	Rating (18–49)	Share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	Nightly Rank	Weekly Rank
S1	Best of Season 12 Auditions	July 13, 2017	Thursday 8:00 p.m.	1.3	6	7.10	2	10
S2	Road to Finals	August 9, 2017	Wednesday 8:00 p.m.	1.3	6	7.01	2	8

Contestants who appeared on other seasons or competition shows

• Demian Aditya appeared as a guest performer on Indonesia's Got Talent.
• German Cornejo & Gisela Galeassi ("German Cornejo Dance Company") were the tango dancer winners of ¡Q'Viva! The Chosen in 2012.
• Ezequiel Lopez ("German Cornejo Dance Company") was one of the malambo dancer winners of ¡Q'Viva! The Chosen in 2012.
• Canion Shijirbat was the runner-up of Mongolia's Got Talent in 2016. He appeared on Asia's Got Talent a few months after America’s Got Talent and was given a Golden Buzzer by the hosts.
• Nick Uhas was the second houseguest evicted on Big Brother 15.
• Merrick Hanna auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation. He made it into the top 40 at Dance Academy, but was eliminated before reaching the top 30. He has also appeared as a lip sync battler on Nickelodeon's Lip Sync Battle Shorties.
• Artyon, half of the dancing duo Artyon and Paige, appeared as a lip sync battler on Nickelodeon's Lip Sync Battle Shorties.
• Darci Lynne Farmer appeared on Little Big Shots in 2016 and on Little Big Shots (UK TV series) in 2017.
• Billy and Emily England reached the Semifinalson Britain's Got Talent (series 9). In 2008, Emily was the runner-up on Big Brother UK: Celebrity Hijack, competing under the name "Emilia."
• Tony and Jordan ("The French Twins") appeared on series 11 of La France a un incroyable talent (the French version of Got Talent) in 2016.
• Chase Goehring appeared on The X Factor (U.S. season 3).
• Christian Guardino appeared on Showtime at the Apollo in 2016.
• Light Balance reached the Semifinalson Britain's Got Talent (series 8).
• Junior and Emily appeared on Season 3 of America's Got Talent, and were eliminated before the live shows.
• Shemika Charles appeared on Season 6 of America's Got Talent, and was eliminated during Vegas week.
• Celine Tam appeared on Little Big Shots in 2016 and Britain's Got Talent (series 10) but dropped out due to a visa issue.
• Vinny Grosso ("The Naked Magician") appeared on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, performing the same routine as his AGT Audition, successfully fooling the magic duo.
• The Quiddlers participated in the third season and appeared on I Can Do That, performing with Ciara and Nicole Scherzinger during their time on the show.
• Eric Jones appeared on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, and he fooled them. Kyle Eschen & Xavier Mortimer also appeared on Fool Us (Mortimer twice), failing to fool Penn & Teller.
• Xavier Mortimer auditioned in Season 10 and was eliminated at the judge cuts after receiving four buzzers.
• Pelican 212 appeared on Little Big Shots in 2016.
• Kyle Eschen appeared on Season 3, episode 2 of Penn and Teller: Fool Us and Masters of Illusion.
• Colin Cloud appeared on Britain's Got Talent in 2012, but he did not make it to the live semifinals. He also appeared on Season 1 of Penn and Teller: Fool Us but did not fool Penn and Teller. At both BGT and Penn and Teller: Fool Us, he performed under his real name, Colin McLeod.
• Jeki Yoo and his wife, Ellie later appeared on Britain's Got Talent (series 12).

External links

• Official website
• IMDB America's Got Talent website