The seventh season of American

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

competition series ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' was broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from May 14 to September 13, 2012. Following the previous season,

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; né O'Meara; born 30 March 1965) is a British broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality. He began his Fleet Street career in 1988 at '' The Sun''. In 1994, aged 29, he was appointed editor of the ...

left the program due to other commitments, and was replaced by the producers with

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

. However, this change involved moving the venue for the live rounds of the competition from Los Angeles to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. The seventh season was won by dog tricks act Olate Dogs, with stand-up comedian Tom Cotter finishing in second, and earth harpist William Close placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around over 10 million viewers, but drew controversy for a participant who made claims that were later refuted after the broadcast of their audition.

Season overview

Auditions for the seventh season's competition took place during Winter until mid-Spring 2012, with the main auditions being filmed in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay,

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, St. Louis and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Additional auditions were held in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, but were not filmed. Following the conclusion of the sixth season's broadcast,

began contemplating his involvement with ''America's Got Talent'', due to his increasing work schedule on other projects by that time. In November 2011, despite having signed a three-year contract the previous year, Morgan quit the show in order to focus on his commitment to producing '' Piers Morgan Tonight'' for

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. Due to his Morgan's departure, radio personality

was chosen to replace him in December. Since Stern had commitments to his SiriusXM radio show in New York that he could not abandon, filming of the live rounds moved from Los Angeles, opting for using the

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors (i ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Simon Cowell to have the program undergo a significant "top-to-bottom makeover" of its presentation. Among these included new graphics, a new intro and a new theme song for ''America's Got Talent'', along with an update to set pieces. A significant change was the appearance of the judges' desk, which was re-modeled to appear similar in design to that used on '' Britain's Got Talent''. In addition to these changes, the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

was taken into consideration, since the sporting event would receive live coverage from the network. Episode scheduling had to include a two-week hiatus between July 27 until August 12, as to avoid ''America's Got Talent'' clashing with its live broadcast. Of the participants who auditioned for this season, sixty-two secured a place in the six live quarter-finals, with twelve in each round. The sixth quarter-final consisted of two participants selected from those that failed to reach the live rounds, along with ten quarter-finalists that had been eliminated in their respective rounds. About twenty-three quarter-finalists advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, with an additional semi-finalist being added in at the last minute. Six semi-finalists secured a place in the finals, which consisted of a single stage and not multiple rounds as in previous seasons. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season: : , , , , : , playing card club A

Wildcard Quarter-finalist * Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season. * These participants were entered into the Wildcard quarter-final after losing their initial quarter-final.

Quarter-finals summary

Buzzed Out , Crystal Clear app clean

Judges' choice , : ,

Quarter-final 1 (July 2)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Cast of Cirque du Soleil: Zarkana, and

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

Quarter-final 2 (July 10)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album '' Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB drama series ''One Tree ...

, and TRACES

Quarter-final 3 (July 17)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Ashleigh and Pudsey Ashleigh and Pudsey was a British dog trick act, comprising trainer Ashleigh Jade Butler (born 7 February 1995) and Pudsey (28 December 2005 – 20 July 2017), a male Border Collie, Bichon Frise, and Chinese Crested powderpuff cross. They achie ...

, and

Havana Brown The Havana Brown was the result of a planned breeding between Siamese and domestic black cats, by a group of cat fanciers in England, in the 1950s. Early breeders introduced a Siamese type Russian Blue into their breeding. However, using curren ...

Quarter-final 4 (July 24)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Cher Lloyd, and the cast of ''

Once Once means a one-time occurrence. Once may refer to: Music * ''Once'' (Pearl Jam song), a 1991 song from the album ''Ten'' * ''Once'' (Roy Harper album), a 1990 album by Roy Harper * ''Once'' (The Tyde album), a 2001 debut album by The Tyd ...

'' * For health & safety reasons, David Smith had to perform outside the studio; the judges were required to view the performance in person, and used hand-carried signs in place of their buzzers.

Quarter-final 5 - YouTube Round (August 14)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Champi ...

Karmin Karmin was an American pop duo consisting of Amy Renee Noonan and Nick Noonan. Starting as a novelty act that released covers on YouTube, they signed in 2011 with Epic Records. In May 2012, Karmin released their debut EP ''Hello'', which spa ...

The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger ''The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger'' is a YouTube viral video and Internet meme that first appeared on the Internet in January 2011. The video features commentary by a narrator identified only as "Randall", dubbed over pre-existing Nat Geo Wild foo ...

* Due to complications, Cast In Bronze had to perform outside the studio; the judges were required to be in person to view the performance, and used hand-carried signs in place of their buzzers.

Quarter-final 6 Wild Card Round (August 21)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Owl City &

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

, and cast of ''

Bring It On Bring It On may refer to: Books * ''Bring It On'' (book), by Pat Robertson * ''Bring It On!'' (manhwa), a romance manhwa by Baek Hye-Kyung Film and stage * ''Bring It On'' (film series), an American series of teen comedy cheerleading films capit ...

Semi-finals summary

Buzzed Out , Crystal Clear app clean

Judges' choice , : ,

Semi-final 1 (August 28)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Neon Trees, and Steve Harvey

Semi-final 2 (September 4)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

, Nathan Burton, and Haunted by Heroes with

Dee Snider Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955)Tayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> is an American singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor. He w ...

* Due to live coverage of the NFL game between the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

and the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, the results episode was aired the day after to avoid conflicting with it.

Finals (September 12)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellis ...

, Ne-Yo,

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

Frankie J Francisco Javier Bautista Jr. (born December 7, 1975), better known by his stage name Frankie J, is a Mexican-American singer and former member of the musical group Kumbia Kings. Born in Mexico, he grew up in San Diego and became a freestyle ar ...

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

, and Burton Crane : , ,

Ratings

The following ratings are based upon those published by Nielsen Media Research after this season's broadcast:

Controversy

''America's Got Talent'' faced controversy during its seventh season when it emerged that one of its participants had made a false claim that hadn't been properly checked. Minnesota National Guard sergeant Tim Poe, who made an audition for the season, claimed that an audible stutter he had was the result of an injury he sustained while operating with a military unit serving the War in Afghanistan. Although he provided evidence to back his claim, both the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and Minnesota National Guard refuted the documentation he provided, making clear that his condition could not be verified as occurring during his service in Afghanistan. Although Poe advanced no further, production staff would have had to face the question of disqualifying him from advancing into later stages for submitting a lie that had been broadcast on national television.

References

{{America's Got Talent, state=expanded 2012 American television seasons America's Got Talent seasons