The eleventh season of American

talent show A talent show or talent contest 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 p ...

competition series ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is an 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 distributed by) and ...

'' was broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from May 31 to September 14, 2016. After the previous season,

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

was replaced as a judge by the ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

'' creator,

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

. Stern's departure removed the contractual condition he had imposed for his involvement, leading to moving live round productions to the

Dolby Theatre The Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre) is a live-performance auditorium in the Ovation Hollywood shopping mall and entertainment complex, on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue (Los Angeles), Highland Avenue, in the Holly ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. While open auditions were held in multiple cities, the judges' auditions were filmed within the

Pasadena Civic Auditorium The Pasadena Convention Center is a convention center in Pasadena, California, United States. It consists of three buildings. Pasadena Civic Auditorium The Civic Auditorium, one of the major structures in the Pasadena Civic Center District, was ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

, an arrangement that would persist in future seasons. Along with those changes, the "Golden Buzzer" format was adjusted, and a planned break was made in the season's broadcast schedule between August 2–23 to avoid clashing with the network's live coverage of the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. The guest judges for the season's Judge Cuts stage included

George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is most known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom '' George Lopez''. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican ...

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

and

Louis Tomlinson Louis William Tomlinson ( ; born 24 December 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Doncaster, England, Tomlinson auditioned for British singing competition ''The X Factor'' as a solo artist in 2010, w ...

. The eleventh season was won by singer and ukuleleist

Grace VanderWaal Grace Avery VanderWaal (born January 15, 2004) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She is known for her distinctive voice and has often accompanied herself on the ukulele. VanderWaal began her musical career by posting videos of her o ...

, with mentalist duo The Clairvoyants finishing second, and magician Jon Dorenbos placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 11.44 million viewers per episode. The eleventh season became prominent in the program's history for broadcasting a stunt on live television which went wrong nearly resulted in the death of its performer.

Season overview

Open auditions for the eleventh season began in late 2015 and were held in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, New York City, Phoenix,

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, San Jose,

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, Los Angeles,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, and

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Online auditions were also accepted. Unlike previous years which had used multiple venues, sessions of the judges' auditions were held at a fixed venue, taking place around March 2016 at the

. This arrangement for auditions was continued in later seasons of the show. Actor

, singer and actress

, singer

and singer

were guest judges in the Judge Cuts stage of the competition. Before the tenth season aired,

announced it would be his last season on ''AGT'' during his radio show, as his work schedule in the coming year would make him unable to remain committed to performing as a judge. His announcement led to a replacement for the next season, after NBC renewed the program for another year. ''AGT'' creator,

, replaced Stern for the upcoming season. Cowell continued with his role of ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global '' Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquial ...

'' in the same year. Due to Stern's departure, the live rounds were no longer restricted to being held within New York at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

. The live rounds for the new season were brought back to Los Angeles and held in the

. Other than the change in venue, the "Golden Buzzer" could be used by the host, although only in the first stage of auditions (not during the Judge Cuts). Taking the

into account (which received coverage by the network), the season included not only a break between August 9–17, but it included two episodes of the Judge Cuts in a span of two weeks to ensure the hiatus happened. Of the participants who auditioned for the season, thirty-six secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. Among these were opera singer Laura Bretan, singer and ukuleleist

, jazz singer Sal Valentinetti, singer Calysta Bevier and burlesque dancer Dorothy Williams, who had each received a golden buzzer from the main judges and host; magician Jon Dorenbos, contortionist and aerialist

Sofie Dossi Sofie Clarice Dossi (born June 21, 2001) is an American YouTuber, singer, actress, contortionist, aerialist, dancer and internet personality. In 2016, she rose to fame on the eleventh season of ''America's Got Talent''. , her YouTube channel ha ...

, malambo group Malevo and singer Jayna Brown, who had each received a golden buzzer from the guest judges; dance group Flip, video-mapping dance duo Sila Sveta and magician Steven Brundage who were chosen as Wildcard quarter-finalists. About twenty-two quarter-finalists advanced and split between the two semi-finals, including juggling duo The Passing Zone (chosen as the Wildcard semi-finalist), with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. Here are the results of each participant's overall performance during the season: : , , , , : , Playing card club A

Wildcard Quarter-finalist , Playing card heart A

Wildcard Semi-finalist : Yellow ffff00 pog

Golden Buzzer - Auditions , Crystal Clear action bookmark

Golden Buzzer - Judge Cuts * Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season.

Quarter-finals summary

Buzzed Out , Crystal Clear app clean

Judges' choice , : , ,

Quarter-final 1 (July 26)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Mat Franco, and Paul Zerdin * During the Results show, Deadly Games' picture was portrayed as Daniel Joyner during the Online Public Vote segment; it was later corrected.

Quarter-final 2 (August 2)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Fitz and the Tantrums featuring Team iLuminate

Quarter-final 3 (August 23)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Recycled Percussion, and

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

* The Passing Zone were later appointed as the judges' WildCard semi-finalists.

Semi-finals summary

Buzzed Out , Crystal Clear app clean

Judges' choice , : , ,

Semi-final 1 (August 30)

Guest Performers, Results Show: The Illusionists

Semi-final 2 (September 6)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Andra Day Cassandra Monique Batie (born December 30, 1984), known professionally as Andra Day, is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Children's and Family Emmy ...

, and Blue Journey

Finals (September 13–14)

Guest Performers, Finale: Pitbull,

LunchMoney Lewis Gamal Kosh Lewis (born January 11, 1988), better known as LunchMoney Lewis, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his 2015 single " Bills", which topped the charts in Australia and peaked within t ...

: , , , * Sofie Dossi, Laura Bretan and Viktor Kee conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers. * The Clairvoyants and Jon Dorenbos conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers. * Tape Face also involved a number of the other finalists as part of his second performance.

Ratings

The following ratings are based upon those published by

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

after this season's broadcast: Specials

Incidents

Accidents are uncommon across the ''

'' franchise, but most are usually attributed towards performances that involve highly dangerous stunts and routines. As a matter of principle, production staff often engage a set of necessary precautions for any such routine that will be shown on live television, which can include having paramedics on standby, conducting the performance at another venue, or pre-recording the routine before it is due to be aired for an episode. However, staff on the eleventh season opted to allow for a dangerous stunt to be broadcast live to American viewers, performed by carnival daredevil Ryan Stock, which nearly became a fatal accident when a piece of equipment malfunctioned and nearly impaled the performer's throat with a crossbow bolt. Although he suffered no injuries, production staff were left to question why the performance had been allowed to take place, and altered all footage of the scene for online viewing as a direct result.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:America's Got Talent (Season 11) 2016 American television seasons America's Got Talent seasons