I’ve seen it described as holding things in his mouth and his throat, and I suppose he throws in some sleight of hand. I believe he insists that he does swallow items, all the way down to his stomach, and then he can regurgitate them at will, selecting particular items to regurgitate. I don’t believe he does any actual regurgitating.
There are many accounts of people who can actually swallow and regurgitate items. There are many accounts of those people performing remarkable feats such as swallowing several different types of coins and regurgitating them in some selected order. I have no idea if any of those remarkable feats have ever been verified. There are disputes over whether Houdini was able to regurgitate lock picks and keys. I’m sure there are people who can regurgitate small items at will, but not in selected order if they swallowed more than one.
Here is an actual regurgitator, the great HadjiAli. At around 5:00 you can see him prepping for his most famous act. He swallows copious amounts of water followed by some kerosene. He regurgitates the kerosene first to send a small model house up in flames, and then extinguishes the flames by regurgitating the water. This is not special effects*, he really did that.
*There’s a cut early in the video to a man getting sprayed by water with Ali off screen. I don’t think that is real.
Chapkis Dance Family - What they do is really good, but what they do isn’t for me. I personally don’t like very large dance troupes. I agree with Howard, there’s too much going on and no room for outstanding individual performances. I think anything beyond 6 people just becomes messy to my eyes. Again, these guys are really good at what they do.
Metal Mulisha Fitz Army - Very cool! I’m not sure it was really different than their first performance. And that’s the problem, how do you keep this fresh and new? But so what, it was awesome!!
Daditude - They dance better than I do, but that’s not saying much. It was pretty dull. But hey they managed to set a record by being the only act to get 4 Xs on the live show.
Alicia Michilli - Great singer! I wonder is she was intentionally going for a Rosie the Riveter look or is that just me.
Gary Vider - He was quite funny. I liked him.
Mountain Faith Band - There is something about their band that just makes me smile. They have a degree of happiness and fun that is infectious.
Oz Pearlman - Man, I love magic. I don’t even want to know how he does it (as always, I find knowing the magic removes the magic).
Selected of God - Gospel music. Not my thing, but they do sing well.
Reguritator - How does this guy manage to be so entertaining? If you described to me this act, I would have predicted he got 4 Xs but here he is in Radio City Music Hall blowing my mind. He’s just so much fun.
Benjamin Yonattan - He’s a really good dancer. Not sure he’s good enough to go through.
Daniella Mass - Amazing. So beautiful. I always worry that operatic singing won’t resonate with an wide enough American audience, but I hope so I want to hear her again.
Frrelusion - Now we have some competition for Siro-A. These guys get it, multimedia dance needs to interact with their video. Amazing!
My Prediction
The Reguritator
Freelusion
Gary Vider
Oz Pearlman
Mountain Faith Band
Daniella Mass
Judge’s Pick: Selected of God or Chapkis Dance Family. They choose Selected of God.
My Prediction
The Reguritator
Freelusion
Gary Vider
Oz Pearlman
Mountain Faith Band
Daniella Mass
Judge’s Pick: Benjamin Yonattan or Alicia Michilli. They choose Alicia Michilli.
He’s been around forever. I’m pretty sure I remember him on “Real People” or “That’s Incredible!” back in the 80s. I saw him fairly recently on a BBC program that ostensibly tried to verify he was actually swallowing the objects as claimed.
Who knows if the whole thing was a sham or not, but it appeared to be a legit news reporter who genuinely wanted to see if the objects were in his stomach. They arranged for the regurgitator to go to a hospital where a gastroenterologist would watch him swallow coins, then immediately X-ray him to see if they were in his stomach. The X-ray verified that the coins were laying in his stomach, and then the guy brought them back up one at a time. Probably in some desired order, but I don’t remember.
The doctor seemed genuinely astonished, as did the reporter. (I don’t remember whether they did an X-ray before the swallowing to verify that he didn’t just arrive with coins already there. Maybe they did, because the doctor was mystified.)
I think he actually does swallow and regurgitate items, but he is also fluffing his abilities with sleight of hand. I actually caught one of the moves, and it wasn’t particularly covered well.
When he takes the ring from Heidi, he turns his back to the judges to walk back to the stage. As he does, he brings the ring up and has both hands on the microphone, and he fiddles with it. He is putting a lock on the ring, which he then loads into his mouth with the lock inside and the stone showing.
Obviously we don’t have a lot of muscles around the stomach, and he is using his belly muscles, but they aren’t exactly in the right area. The stomach is just below the diaphragm at the bottom of the rib cage. I think he swallows the lock and the key, then pretends to do the connecting, then coughs up the set. If he regurgitates a couple items, he sorts in his mouth before presenting.
Notice he doesn’t have any front teeth. I think that is a deliberate move on his part to make it easier to swallow larger items. You have to get past the teeth to get into the mouth.
Also notice that the ball he swallows is not a standard pool ball - it is too small. Are there commercial balls that size?
Anyway, that’s my guess on what happened. Also, someone previously mentioned a rubix cube. Well, he demoed that in the video segment. It’s possible he did some quick twists going in and coming out of his mouth. Notice it wasn’t very different, just a couple twists.
He was still fascinating to watch, even though I hope he doesn’t go through, he probably will.
Chapkis Dance Family - I thought it was really good and a great start to the show. Groups like this are not trying to highlight individual dancers, just like a marching band isn’t about any one trumpet player or the tuba guy. Rather, they are all dancing in unison to create a large cohesive whole, and they did it well. There were a few focal points, but the best part is the group dynamic.
The challenge for any of these large groups is to continually change it up, to make it fresh and new each time, and to not make us feel they haven’t done any new big moves. I hope they go through.
Metal Mulisha Fitz Army - This is definitely dangerous and sure, it’s cool. They have the same problem making it fresh and new each time. On the other hand, there is already a motorcross stunt team that travels and makes a career of it - unfortunately I can’t recall the name. But this can be a big show tied to monster truck rallies and such. I’m not sure it will make it through, mostly because of the level of talent this week.
Daditude - I don’t think they were just phoning it in like Howard said, but I agree it was not up to par with other dance groups and it had a few synch issues. Not a million dollar act, not worth the full stage show.
Alicia Michilli - Great singing. I hope she’s in.
Gary Vider - He was quite funny. I get what Heidi was saying about his shtick being a little slow, but every joke was spot on, and the timing made the punchlines work. One of the better comedians on the show.
Mountain Faith Band - They are pretty good, making me tolerate bluegrass, but Mel is right, the lead singer’s voice is a bit weak. Still, they could get a show in Branson.
Oz Pearlman - I’m continually amazed by how people go gaga over magic when it’s fairly obvious how things are done. This time, I even saw a flash, nevermind the obviousness jumping out.
The written card in the envelope had a frame, that was required because the surface was pressure sensitive. After he gets the numbers from the judges, he has Nick peel the sticker off the front of the envelope. While Nick is doing that, he is writing in the number 2 digits away from Mel’s guess. You can even see his arm moving on the lower right. The glaring obviousness is the sign looks like it was drawn by a fingertip.
Now I will give him one good point - the number showing up on the receipt buried in the jar.
This is more of a guess - he has a printer rigged inside the jar/table that is keyed, possibly by an assistant, to enter the number and then print it in the jar for Nick to find.
Notice that his video he released early didn’t commit to any actual numbers. Also note that he didn’t predict that two judges would pick the same number. He was required to force one of them to change numbers so his “prediction” about them all being way off would be correct.
So I say no go on Oz, but I suspect it played well with the bulk of America. I think I’m too informed to be able to rate this the way America does.
Selected of God - Gospel music. Please, no. And yes, at least one of the soloists was screechy.
Regurgitator - Already mentioned, he is surprisingly engaging and entertaining even though I saw one fake move and the concept feels disgusting.
Benjamin Yonattan - I think Howard hit it right, while he is a great dancer, he doesn’t have anything but one person and no connection to the background, no media, etc. It just doesn’t have enough to show progression or variation. But with this there’s hope he can get a career as a dancer even while blind. Because he’s only 14 or whatever. Sheesh, I wish I was that good at anything at that age.
Daniella Mass - Spectacular. Howard poo-pooed it as too Broadway, but I don’t think that’s a sin. She probably could go down the street with this as an audition or preaudition. As Mel said, theater is a popular entertainment, there’s no reason that can’t be an America’s Got Talent act. Will America agree? We’ve previously seen similar acts make it to the finals, so I have high hopes.
Freelusion - This was remarkably good, but I have to disagree with the judges, there was something missing - the third dancer - and it was obvious. That the show worked so well without him is a testament to the engaging use of the multimedia and the skill of the two who did perform. Too bad the wire act didn’t work, I’d love to see a completed version. Still, I’d rate it near the top.
My picks:
Daniella Mass
Alicia Michilli
Freelusion
Gary Vider
Chapkis Dance Family
Regurgitator
Benjamin Yonattan
My guess for how the results will go:
Freelusion
Daniella Mass
Regurgitator
Oz Pearlman
Alicia Michilli
with
Gary Vider
Mountain Faith Band
Selected of God
vying for the remaining slots. I’m not sure how to outguess this. I’m probably underrating Selected of God, and Alicia and Gary may be switched. I’d rather not try to parse all the possible judge pick combinations. My gut feel is Mountain Faith Band will be out.
Results: First off, I was dismayed Daniella Mass was in the bubble group. I was going to shit a brick if Selected of God was safe and she was in the voting pool. Fortunately, America dropped them and advanced Benjamin Yonattan to the bubble group.
I don’t know why America put her so low, but maybe Howard was right, it was song selection.
Anyway, from my calls, Chapkis Dance Family was out and Mountain Faith Band was in. I can live with that.
They definitely had me on the edge of my seat when they put the Regurgitator up against Oz. Then it was both in.
America saved Gary Vider - I wasn’t sure which they’d go with, him or Daniella. The numbers bounced between those two, so it was fairly close.
Heidi voted for Benjamin, but the other three voted for who has a better shot of winning, and that’s Daniella.
Next week is Semifinals group 1, including a couple of Wild Cards.
I skimmed back through the Judge Cuts, and one of the acts that was picked that didn’t perform was Silvia Silvia, the lady crossbow shooter (week 1). I think the other act was Duo Volta, the acrobatic dance pair that used to be a couple(week 4). If you want to check me, you can look at the recaps and the last paragraph lists their picks. Don’t know what happened to those two groups, but that’s how DADitude and Alondra Santos (girl Mariachi singer) got back in.
Now for Wild Cards: any guesses?
I’m not sure what the pool is - any act this season? Anyway, I have a hope out for Freckled Sky.
From what I heard, Silvia Silvia makes a living at her talent and she had some scheduling conflicts.
Duo Volta’s act broke up. Remember they used to be a couple and he dumped her? It probably caused too much tension.
I wonder why call back Daditude and Alondra Santos when the act that was similar Duo Vladimir, the two men balancing act with knives didn’t get called back. Remember during judging they were let go because the judges picked the other duo. Doesn’t seem fair.
I thought that might be the case. Do you give up your steady carny gigs for a long shot at winning? Does staying in longer but ultimately losing get you more publicity to up your crowds, and up your pay? Tough call.
I thought that might be the case. Didn’t help the judges poking them pretty hard every time. Where did you hear it?
What is fair? Why is it not fair? I presume the judges made the decision, they got to pick from all the acts, not just the most similar. Alondra Santos was very close to getting in and would likely have been a wild card if the opening hadn’t occurred.
The question is, why DADitude over all the other acts? Perhaps because it was different, and was good up to that point?
They had judged Duo Vladimir to be weaker as an act than Duo Volta, so maybe they didn’t think there was as good a chance to win.
Siro-A - It was like an awesome music video. And it was way better than their last performance. Although I put them up there with pizza and sex. Even when they’re bad, they’re good.
Arielle Baril - Yes, I don’t listen to opera, so I can’t critique with any knowledge or experience, but I know what I like, and I loved this performance. The strength and beauty of her voice were fantastic.
The Craiglewis Band - Wonderful performance. Much better (to me) than there last. I think they really stepped it up.
Mountain Faith Band - They could have been a little… Let’s say more grand… But I enjoyed their performance anyway.
Samantha Johnson - I was hoping for better, but compared to the rest of the acts I like her enough to make her my 5th pick.
And as for the rest:
Benton Blount - I think his emotions got the better of him, and when that happens to a musician it usually doesn’t end well. But maybe he’ll go through. I’d be OK with that.
Derek Hughes - Pretty good trick. But the slow pacing put me off.
Drew Lynch - I’m glad he’s overcoming his stuttering problem, but it’s hard for me to listen to jokes like that. I just can’t enjoy his performances.
IRA - Not only did he do the same thing that got him (them) in the bottom the last time, but it was even worse. I was hoping he’d (they) get buzzed, and I’m glad when Howard did. I hope he and all the other Muppet™ wannabes go home this time.
Metal Mulisha Fitz Army - Hey, it’s more of the same. But this time, with fire! OK, they are a real danger act, I’ll give them that. And it wouldn’t bother me too much if they went through, but it also wouldn’t bother me if they went home either.
Oz Pearlman - He’s good, but his act tonight did nothing for me.
I thought it started slow, but then it got good, and it’s going to be tough to whittle down to five.
Siro-A: Even though I spotted a couple things that were off, it was still amazing. Hard to tell real and video, great mix of visuals and action. One panel up front the light was a bit bright and didn’t match the color of the projection. Also, the opening squares cut off their heads when they jumped. On replay, sometimes the projection light illuminates a bit more of them waiting for their entry and such.
Samantha Johnson: First act of the night I felt was really a contender, I’m rooting for her. She started soft and built, and she made the song dynamic and entertaining. I hope she doesn’t get lost in the early half the show and overlooked after later competitors go.
Arielle Baril: A 12 year old girl singing that well, in Italian - wow. I hope she goes through.
Drew Lynch: Very funny. Great delivery. I agree his laughing at himself gets a bit much, but I would likely make myself laugh, too. Takes a lot of work to deliver without amusing yourself, with the joke, with the audience reaction. Also, he had a couple great improv lines, too, with the judge comments.
Derek Hughes: It started slow and a bit weak, with the hanky gag. I was thinking, is this a magic act or a story? I should have anticipated the tear and restore. Anyway, then he started the tear and restore, and it was ho hum, and he fumbled the paper bits a couple times. Then he dropped one and it looked like he didn’t see it. Then came the restore and reveal, with the missing piece, and it was suddenly an amazing trick.
I admit I was rewinding and slo-moing to follow the actions. Yes, I see how he did it all, and he could have been slightly cleaner - I saw peeks of the gimmick. But I do have to say, he wrote the poem and had someone spend nearly a year doing the artwork. That’s impressive. And the twist on the reveal made it something special to me. (The hardest part of his act - dropping the piece without looking at it at all.) So while it was a little slow to start, the overall result was great to me. I hope America sees it the same way. Unfortunately, I have no idea how they will take it, because I’m voting on something other than the wow factor.
I do love that he explained that he’s working for the whole night’s show, and having range and time to build. In that context, I think it would work a lot better. Here, in the time limit factor, it may miss a beat. I hope not, I love it, better than Oz.
Tear and restore is fairly well known, you need two copies, one folded and smuggled in for the restore, and a way to smuggle the torn bits out. I saw the restore folded block when he was tearing, and I saw it in particular as he wrapped it around the torn bits. I’m fairly certain he had a duplicate page that the pieces go into in a pouch, so when he turns the second restored page and he takes just that extra bit longer to turn the page, that’s swapping the extra page and the pieces. Unwrapping the restore, he had the special drop piece prepped to fall. Smooth as silk in not noticing. Kudos there.
Oz Pearlman: Okay, I will admit that a few months ago I didn’t know how that trick with the drinks was done, but now I have a pretty good idea, which detracts IMO. I’m sure if you don’t know, it’s pretty impressive he can tell what Howard is doing without seeing or having an earphone.
He’s got a device that’s called a “thumper”. It uses several small RFID tags and a device in his pocket that senses the motion and vibrates a signal to tell him the tags as they move. There’s a tag on each cup, and that’s why Howard moves one at a time. Different vibe patterns indicate different items.
As for Mel and Howie’s drinks, I’m going to go out on a limb:
I’m going to assume this is a “hot reading”, he’s bribed craft services to find out what they drink or something.
Nice delivery, nice showmanship, definitely tricky if you don’t know the tools. I suspect America will vote him higher than Derek Hughes, but I liked the way Derek manipulated the end of his.
Benton Blount: Nice enough guy, he’s been good in the past, but this song and delivery just wasn’t right for some reason. He started weak, and even though he got better, I got a bit distracted during the song. That’s not good. I wish him well, but not enough to get into the finals.
CraigLewis Band: For me, this wasn’t great. Sure, they’re great singers, I just don’t care for their style or song choice or embellishments. But the audience and judges loved them, so I suspect America will like them better than I do, and that may affect who makes it in. :mad:
Metal Mulisha Fitz Army: Big dangerous stunt show, still the same stunts. And fire. Don’t get me wrong, they could join the monster truck circuit, but they just aren’t doing much for me to continue. This was the judge’s 1 collective wild card for the semifinals, I guess. Good for them, but it doesn’t convey over TV.
Mountain Faith Band: She’s got a weak voice, and it didn’t mesh well with these notes. And then she couldn’t hit the high parts. Not their best, not that good. Better than Ira.
Ira et al: Sigh More of this. The intro package was weak, and it was their best stuff. Howard read my mind - I was thinking, “time to buzz this” and then he did. Not very entertaining, and too many good acts to follow.
So that’s my order, but I expect CraigLewis and Oz to rank higher, and Mountain Faith Band got a lot of audience support. Let’s guess:
Siro-A
CraigLewis Band
Oz Pearlman
Arielle Baril
Drew, Derek, and Samantha on the bubble. Or will it be 3 and 3 on the bubble? Um, yeah. Anyway, I suspect those will be the ones in the running.
Interesting you say that. What was it for you? Pacing and delivery, or something technical?
Ira - I like it. It was fun. I don’t think it is good enough to move on.
Mountain Faith Band - I really enjoyed them and I’m not a fan of Bluegrass.
Metal Mulisha Fitz Army - Man, that’s just so awesome to watch. It seemed to me though that those were the same tricks except done at night with fireballs. Except the guy on fire at the end. Not going to be enough.
Samantha Johnson - She’s a good singer. Not a fan of the song choice (just not my taste).
Derek Hughes - I was very underwhelmed. Too bad I really like this guy. His reasoning was interesting, but this isn’t about proving you can do an entire show. This is about getting America to vote for you. Not sure.
Drew Lynch - That guy is funny. Love it!
The CraigLewis Band - They can sing, but they aren’t for me.
Oz Pearlman - Ok, that was awesome! I don’t know how he did it, I don’t want to know, just fantastic.
Benton Blunt - He’s a good singer too. Tough call between him and Samantha. I don’t think both singers will go through and he seemed a weaker.
Siro-A - Unreal. Their ability to synchronize is amazing both with each other and their media. These guys have won. Just give them the money.
Arielle Baril - I think she’s amazing, but I still don’t know if the opera will appeal to the average voter. She might have knocked out Samantha.
Predictions
Siro-A
Oz Pearlman
Drew Lynch
Arielle Baril
The CraigLewis Band or Samantha Johnson
Funny, I was thinking along the same lines. I never heard the technical name until now, but I was guessing that’s how he did it.
I guess it’s because I figured he was doing something like what you mentioned, and if so then I think using technology like that cheapens the trick for me.
Wow, big shocker on Siro-A not being in the finale. I thought’ they’d be in. I was stunned Drew was in and they were out.
My guess - two possibles. First off, last night’s show was entertaining with the visuals, but there were a couple points slightly off (I think a back panel got moved, allowing a bright spot for a few moments on one panel), and overall, while entertaining, it was missing something in story or connection. Second, we have them against Freelusion doing visual media dance, and they came up short for the reasons I outlined. Otherwise, I’m stumped, unless people just assumed and so didn’t bother voting.
As for my picks, if you take my three top picks off the list (Siro-A, Samantha Johnson, Arielle Baril), then the rest of my order is exactly right.
Drew, Derek, Oz, Benton, CraigLewis.
For Benton, I think last night was an off night, he’s been great before, so I’m okay he’s going forward. It was close on CraigLewis vs Samantha. I prefer Samantha, and for a moment there was hope when Heidi went Samantha, as I figured Mel would off the performances last night. Howard wasn’t a surprise, so that left Howie with the decision. He leaned CraigLewis, which spelled Samantha’s doom. Yes, I know it went to America, but I called that for some reason America was going with the guys, and so it was.
Couple other notes. First off, 11 acts, not 12. ? Looking at the list, next week is also 11 acts. Hmm. That puts 10 acts into the finals. No more Wild Cards?
Second, the entertainment tonight from The Illusionists. The opening shadow puppets were good but not great. The big flashy production after that was way too bombastic, too frenetic, disorganized mess. And the magic was not given showmanship, just guy on a brace balanced on a sword, falls through, he’s okay. Meh.
The second round with the prediction - something had to be up with the oversized box.
I was wondering if it was going to be a swapped answer or a forced guess. Forced guess. I assume the latch triggered the rat release in the box. As for the force, I don’t think he swapped the card on her. He could have, he told her to touch the card and then meant her to pull it, but that’s a risky way to do it. Far cleaner to rig part of the deck. He shows the cards at the bottom, does a partial order shuffle, but then the cards at the top of the deck haven’t been touched. Those could all be Rats for the first dozen cards, when he does the spread, it’s that end of the deck and not the lower half that are actually different.
Nice surprise result.
The part with Howie was mean and not funny. How long did he practice to learn, and just how good did he get in one afternoon? Could he even do 20 seconds before they brought him on stage? Meh, it was mean.
Oh, the fire and escape. First off, just because he says it’s a regulation straight jacket doesn’t mean it actually is. Second, there’s no guarantee the one he put Howie in was the same one he used. But even more,
It doesn’t look laced tight in back. It’s loose around the neck, and there’s gapping in the back. So plenty of room to wiggle around inside and slide easily over his head. I’m thinking the stuff smeared on his head was burn gel - stuff so he won’t catch fire.
So not much risk, and over quick, so not much tension, and really not that entertaining for me.
Contrast it with last week’s performance with the big acrobatic show. That was great. The costumes in the audience, the three ladies doing suspension, then the acrobatics in the water. That was a great show.
