America's Got Talent 9 Results for 08/20/2014 (Recap + Video)
Welcome to the live blog and recap of America's Got Talent 2014, "Quarter Final Results #4" on Wednesday, August 20, 2014! Last night's show was perhaps the most underwhelming of the four quarter final rounds, with very few of the 12 acts standing out. However, five acts will advance to round out our group of semifinalists, so which of the twelve will it be? And will there be Wild Cards? We find out tonight!
As a reminder, here are the 12 performers vying for the 5 spots tonight:
Bad Boys of Ballet
Kelli Glover
Dom the Bomb's Triple Threat
Emil and Dariel
Nina Burri
Quintavious Johnson
Extreme
Jonah Smith
Mothman Dance
Jonatan Riquelme
Smoothini
One Voice Children's Choir
Which five acts do you want to advance? And are they the same five acts you think actually WILL advance? Let us know who your five are in the comments! And keep it locked right here, as I'll be updating with my live, running commentary!
Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Let's get this show on the road!
RECAP
-We open with a recap of last night's show, followed by introductions and a promise that we'll find out which five acts will round out the group of Semifinalists. Also, Taylor Williamson will actually perform this week, along with former finalists The Illustionists!
-We then throw to a video package detailing the backstage happenings of the show. Among the highlights: Jonah Smith is over-the-moon about Heidi singing to him, while Emil and Dariel's grandfather remains proud of his grandsons (is it strange that I hope he does actually get to perform onstage with them at some point?). Howie feels awful about making Dom the Bom's sister cry, while Smoothini worries he may not have done enough to advance to the semifinals (although the contestants backstage seemed floored, watching it on the TV monitor).
The kids from One Voice Children's Choir seem to be impressed by Mothmen Dance on the monitor in the dressing room. In fact, it was a pretty good night for the kids, actually, as they got Mel B singing "Let It Go" all over again backstage. Quintavious Johnson, meanwhile, has some huge fans backstage, as some of the girls think he's "adorable". Lastly, we conclude with Mel B taking the ice bucket challenge and nominating Heidi Klum, Nick Cannon...and Victoria Beckham?! NICE! And poor Mel B gets iced dumped all over her. I swear, there was practically no water in the damn thing!
-Even Nick Cannon notes the strangeness of Mel B's all-ice bucket after the video ends. Mel B asks Nick if he's going to accept her ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and he says he'll do it naked. Heidi, meanwhile, says she'll be donating money instead. However, Mel B is disappointed, so Nick says he'll do both since it's for charity, prompting Heidi to agree to do the same. So they both have 24 hours to dump the ice and donate to ALS research. It's on!
REDDI-WHIP AFTER PARTY
-Back from break with Nick in the back with Taylor Williamson, as they joke about Taylor's "relationship" with Heidi Klum, among other things. Then, we get footage of Julie from Extreme getting engaged at dress rehearsals for the show. It's a cute proposal, and one of the few times these backstage segments have borne fruit.
-We then cut to the Reddi-Whip After Party, which basically amounts to a scene in which Nick asks Quintavious where he got his insane singing voice from, prompting the youngster to go on a monster vocal run. Really raw talent, but really freakin' impressive. If I had to guess, I'd predict he's the big vote-getter of last night, although it's not like we're going to know one way or the other (well, unless he's one of the two acts the judges must choose between, then we'll know he was at the bottom end of the Top 5 voting. At least, I think that's how it goes, no?).
RESULTS, PT. 1
-Emil and Dariel, Dom the Bom's Triple Threat, and Extreme are called forward. Only one of these three acts will advance. Nick reads the results...
EMIL AND DARIEL advance to the Semifinals!
DOM THE BOM'S TRIPLE THREAT and EXTREME are eliminated from AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 2014!
-Emil and Dariel are stunned to have advanced, but Mel B isn't surprised. She says they're brilliant, and she looks forward to seeing them in the Semifinals. Yeah, of those three acts, this was definitely the right call. They were among the five best of the night, in my opinion.
-We then return from break with...
RESULTS, PT. 2
-Nick calls Jonah Smith and Bad Boys of Ballet to the stage, revealing that one of these acts will be going through. Jonah takes the stage supported by his band members, as both acts await the results...
JONAH SMITH advances to the Semifinals!
BAD BOYS OF BALLET are eliminated from AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 2014!
-Jonah is thrilled to have advanced, and Howard notes that America made the right choice, since Jonah is the real deal. I agree, as he was one of my favorite acts of the night. But we barely have time to dwell on that, as we're onto the next result.
RESULTS, PT. 3
-Nick calls Quintavious Johnson and Mothmen Dance to the stage. He reveals the result...
QUINTAVIOUS JOHNSON advances to the Semifinals!
MOTHMEN DANCE is eliminated from AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 2014!
-Quintavious struggles to put his excitement into words, and simply says, "Yes, I'm excited! Very, very excited!" Adorable. Heidi, however, has no trouble expressing what she thinks about Quintavious, saying she thinks he has what it takes to actually win this entire competition, drawing sounds of agreement from the other judges. And from me. Dude is a raw talent, but there's no doubting the immensity of that talent.
TAYLOR WILLIAMSON performs live!
-Taylor comes out to "Best Song Ever" by One Direction for some reason, and it actually adds to the humor of the entrance. is introduced as one of the most popular runners-up the show has ever had, and he wraps this into his act, calling himself "The second-most talented man in America." He says he was "One Japanese dancer away from One Million Dollars," and says he plans on getting revenge by signing up for Japan's Got Talent. "Hopefully, I'll win a million yen. Then I can buy a bagel." He then throws in, "I wish Godzilla was real." Taylor then goes after Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe by noting, "I'm a loser on a reality show. I'm basically a Kardashian!"
Taylor then goes off on the laziness of the name "Ohio," and the lack of cursive taught in schools. He then recalls that the last time he was on this stage, he was feeling sad about coming in second place. However, he notes that he received a kiss on the mouth from one of the most beautiful women in the world, Heidi Klum. "I'd rather have gotten the million dollars," he says, with wonderful, deadpan delivery, prompting an adorable mock offended face from Heidi.
Taylor concludes his act, but not before shouting out all the people he ripped on, saying he loves Heidi, he loves One Direction, and he loves Japanese dancers. "Kenichi, can I borrow some money?" This was pretty fantastic, and he keeps things going by tricking everyone into thinking NBC is giving him a sitcom. I wouldn't be surprised if NBC eventually does. Can't possibly perform worse than any other new comedy they've tried out in recent years, short of Animal Hospital.
-After the break, we learn of the first Semifinal acts performing on next week's show, although it's not all 12, leading me to believe that some of the acts advancing tonight will be added to the grouping next week. Might be a bit of a disadvantage if their fans don't know they're performing ahead of time, but I suppose if you're into the show enough to vote on it, you're probably watching every week anyway. The acts confirmed to be performing next week in the first Semifinal show are...
Aerial Animation
David and Leeman
Andrey Moraru
Sons of Serendip
Miguel Dakota
Paul Ieti
Dan Naturman
Emily West
Mara Justine
-Looks like a wild lineup that will pit the best singers against each other in an all-out bloodbath. Seriously, this is all-out, since you not only have to deal with competition from other singers, but also from killer acts like Andrey Moraru and Aerial Animation. This should be INTENSE.
-Nick then reveals a new voting twist for next week's Semifinals: not only will you be able to vote on the live Semifinal performance show, but you'll also be able to vote during the live results show to save one act from elimination. I guess The Voice really got NBC pumped about the notion of Live Saves. Gotta get that social media mojo runnin'.
THE ILLUSIONISTS perform live!
-This is an AMAZING act! It's basically a body-horror illusion routine, as they saw one of their own members in half on a morgue table, and then send his body and legs away in two separate directions. They then bring Nick onstage and shock him by bringing the supposedly dead top part of the body to life. They eventually suture the bisected body back together, and I'm just absolutely floored by all this. An amazing act, worthy of the standing ovation it receives. Howard has no idea how this act didn't win its season.
-Nick interviews the group after the performance, and they announce they're headed to Broadway! Should be a hell of a show.
RESULTS, PT. 4
-Nick calls Jonatan Riquelme and Smoothini onstage, and then asks Howard what he thinks about this pairing. He tells Smoothini that if he goes through, he needs to think about the camera angles and the staging, saying he's not in a bar anymore. He then tells Jonatan that he can't keep doing the same thing each week, and needs to mix it up. However, he says he thinks both acts are extremely talented, and he wishes them both the best of luck. Nick reads the result...
SMOOTHINI advances to the Semifinals!
JONATAN RIQUELME is eliminated from AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 2014!
-Nick congratulates Smoothini, and asks him how he's feeling. Smoothini says, "I really need to bring it next time. It happens, but it shouldn't happen at this level. So let's do this." Howie says that while the other judges may not have been crazy about Smoothini, he thinks the act was amazing and feels America saw what he saw in the act. He congratulates Smoothini, who says he now has to focus on his next act. I didn't hate Smoothini last night, but I did feel his act was WAY too small for Radio City Music Hall, and didn't fill the room the way other magicians could have. It was definitely a disappointment, but I like the guy and hope he's able to bounce back.
RESULTS, PT. 5
-Nick calls One Voice Children's Choir, Nina Burri, and Kelli Glover to the stage, revealing that one act will go home right now, while the fate of the other two acts will be decided by the judges. Nick reads the result...
NINA BURRI is eliminated from AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 2014!
This was REALLY surprising to me, less because Nina was eliminated and more because One Voice Children's Choir finished so high in the voting, as they're either fifth or sixth right now. But I guess having the families of each of these kids voting like crazy adds up. If it were up to me, however, I'd actually put the kids through. Kelli Glover is a damn good singer, but she isn't all that interesting, really. At least with One Voice Children's Choir, it's something different. Maybe it's not a million dollar act, but it's not the same thing I get from every other talent show, at least.
FINAL RESULTS
-Time for the judges to reveal their choices after what probably feels like YEARS of deliberation to the contestants.
Mel B says this is the hardest part of the competition. She says that One Voice Children's Choir made it through "by the skin of their teeth" from the last round, but feels they're still really talented. Meanwhile, she loves Kelli but feels she gave a really nervous performance.
Mel B votes for Kelli Glover!
Howard then says he's voting for the act he thinks has the biggest ability to come back and really nail it with the audience in the studio and at home.
Howard Stern votes for Kelli Glover!
Howie says that Kelli's message about never giving up is inspiring, and he hopes she takes that message as well. However, he disagrees with Howard that "Let It Go" didn't take One Voice Children's Choir to another level. He's conflicted, but he makes Kelli Glover promise him she's never going to give up. He then reveals that she won't have to give up just yet since he's voting for her.
Howie Mandel votes for Kelli Glover!
KELLI GLOVER advances to the Semifinals!
ONE VOICE CHILDREN'S CHOIR is eliminated from AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 2014!
-Eh, maybe Kelli will bounce back, maybe she won't. I'm not sure either act could win this thing, so I don't have that big an issue with the decisions made here. That said, I suppose if one of these two acts has a chance of rallying and making a big comeback, it probably would be Kelli. So I definitely see the logic in this choice.
-To recap, the five acts advancing to the Semifinals are...
Emil and Dariel
Jonah Smith
Quintavious Johnson
Smoothini
Kelli Glover
What do you think of the five acts that advanced? Did the right five get through? If not, which acts do you think should have gone through? Sound off in the comments! Until next week, thanks for joining me for the results!