Watch the 'AGT: All-Stars' Golden Buzzer Winner That Simon Cowell Says Is 'The Best Performance I've Seen All Series'
'Britain's Got Talent' finalist Tom Ball gets the group Golden Buzzer on 'AGT: All-Stars.'
Monday night was the fifth night of auditions for America’s Got Talent: All-Stars and there was just one Golden Buzzer left to be awarded, the group Golden Buzzer, which meant that judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and host Terry Crews all had to be in accord as to who to bestow it on.
They expressed some concern at the head of the show that that might be a problem, but after Britain’s Got Talent finalist Tom Ball performed his unique rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence,” and with the AGT audience chanting “Golden Buzzer, Golden Buzzer,” there was no doubt that the 24-year-old secondary school teacher (in the U.S. that means high school) from West Sussex, U.K., was the act that deserved it.
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“Tom, I’m actually angry about something,” Simon said. “I wish this was the first time I had heard you in a weird way. You are like Susan Boyle’s grandson because what you do is not what we expect. For me, this is the best performance I’ve seen all series.”
Howie chimed in, saying, “You’re surprising in so many ways. You’re only 24 years old and Simon and Garfunkel are a lot older than that, but you do it so right. You’re really amazing.”
And Heidi agreed saying, “It was outstanding. It was larger than life. You can hit all the notes. You have the pipes for it.”
Then Simon added, “Tom, this song, if you had done it on the show, I think you could have won the show that year. This was incredible.”
Instead, Tom finished third on his season of Britain’s Got Talent, losing to Axel Blake, who also performed on Monday night’s All-Stars, but who didn’t make it into the finale.
In his video package, Tom said, “I have always wanted to be a singer but I decided to become a teacher. It was something I was passionate about. A lot of the job is to inspire kids to give them a good role model, so going on Britain’s Got Talent was an opportunity to inspire them. Walking into school after the audition was the craziest day. I suddenly became the most popular teacher at school.”
Tom may have lost to Axel on BGT, but he is still in the running for All-Stars, so he’s getting a second chance.
“I want to win this,” he said. “Going up against winners is nerve wracking, of course, but it does push me further. It makes me want to win it as well. I want to do this for me, for my fiancée Hannah. We’re getting married in 5 days. The reason I wanted to come to America’s Got Talent: All-Stars is it’s another opportunity to inspire. To show my students, I’ve achieved this dream, but I can reach higher heights. I would really, really love to win. It would be an honor.”
America’s Got Talent: All Stars airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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