By Brooke Brinker, Social Media Manager
The “America’s Got Talent” (AGT) 2026 winner was announced live on Sep. 26. Season 21 showcased amazingly talented, never-before-seen acts that left the audience and judges in awe. Let’s walk through this amazing season together!
Each judge gets to press the “golden buzzer” twice during the season. Host of AGT, Terry Crew’s golden buzzer was Acro Canine Crew, a performance group with young dancers, acrobats, and highly trained dogs founded by Jennifer Fraser.
The audience, judges, and, of course, Crew loved them, and everyone was truly astonished. Their act was full of happiness, energy, and true talent as they danced, jumped, and did tricks across the stage!
Simon Cowell pressed the golden buzzer for a young girl named Lai Noelle. When she started singing, everyone was shocked. Her singing voice sounds nothing like her talking voice. Noelle sang “Die On This Hill” by Sienna Spiro. She is only 14 years old, with talent that will take her far.
Sophia Vergara’s golden buzzer was Veronika Goroshkova, an aerialist from Ukraine. Goroshkova did tricks that were impressive, risky, and dangerous, leaving the judges and audience grasping their seats. Goroshkova stepped it up every single time she was on stage and made her performance look easy.
Mel B’s golden buzzer was Mackenzie Sol, a 25-year-old singer from the United Kingdom. He sang “Back to Friends” by Sombr. He sang passionately and was loved by the judges and the audience.
Howie Mandell’s golden buzzer was Hundred Fingers, an incredible magic act. Yu Hojin was a finalist on AGT in season 17. He really wanted to win AGT, so he formed a group of ten members. Hundred Fingers do magic routines that make you wonder how their performance is even possible. They were featured again in the finale of season 21.
The rest of the golden buzzers included rapper, Luke Taleno; singer, Lara D; one-legged parkour act, Rubén Roldán Bustos; a dance group that uses technology, Royal Lazers; and an Army Seargeant singer, Issac Atkins.
“America’s Got Talent” was set up to first watch and judge all the auditions. Then, the auditioners they were unsure about had to come back for a callback at the judge’s houses. The judges would have the contestants re-audition and decide whether they would go to the live shows.
During the live shows, fans decide who they want to continue the show by voting online. The contestants who got golden buzzers during the live show automatically go to the quarterfinals. The contestants were Nene Royal, a 16-year-old rockstar; Unitree, a dancing robot act; Hundred Fingers; and Lai Noelle. All of them went straight to the finals of AGT, skipping the semi-finals.
“America’s Got Talent” is a very popular show with so much talent. Each category on the show has gotten better and better every year, from singing, magic acts, dancing, comedy, etc.
Richard Judd, an avid watcher of “America’s Got Talent” and a fan of the show, says, “I love the show. But I do wish they had different categories so the contestants can compete against each other in their categories.”
Some fan favorites this year were Nene Royal. She gained a huge fanbase because of “America’s Got Talent.”
As well as Olivia Befus, an 18-year-old who taught herself how to train her pups. Befus had different themed dances every time she was on stage, and brought smiles and warmth to people’shearts.
Many people loved Geno Ploeger, a 21-year-old magician, who brought his own unique, personal twists to his acts.
Some other fan favorites included Daniel Alvarez, a comedian in a wheelchair who was a comedic genius and always had the crowd laughing
Come Here, a dance group who danced perfectly in sync, and Pink Beard, a singer and songwriter with his own band. A fun fact is Pink Beard wrote “Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara.
After the quarterfinals comes the semi-finals! The 12 contestants who were in the semis were Acro Canine Crew, Olivia Befus, Geno Ploeger, Veronika Goroshkova, Come Here, Royal Lazers, Kameron Marshall, Daniel Alvarez, Cesar Dias, Luke Taleno, Young & Strange, and Travis Garland.
After fans voted, ten contestants made it to the finals. But only two remained: Geno Ploeger and Nene Royal. The winner of “America’s Got Talent” 2026 was Nene Royal! She is hardworking, talented, and the judges and audience absolutely loved her. She is young, has so much potential, and has a bright future ahead. A huge congratulations to Nene Royal!
