{"id":32042,"date":"2022-06-01T13:42:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T13:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/say-cheese-americas-got-talent-singer-makes-history-with-unprecedented-judging-decision\/"},"modified":"2022-06-01T13:42:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T13:42:06","slug":"say-cheese-americas-got-talent-singer-makes-history-with-unprecedented-judging-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/say-cheese-americas-got-talent-singer-makes-history-with-unprecedented-judging-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Say cheese!  &#8216;America&#8217;s Got Talent&#8217; singer makes history with unprecedented judging decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>America&#8217;s Got Talent<\/em> returned Tuesday for its 17th season, with a noticeable absence of daredevil contestants &#8211; most likely a format retooling, after <em>AGT<\/em> veteran Jonathan Goodwin was paralyzed during a stunt-gone-wrong on this past summer&#8217;s now-canceled spinoff show <em>America&#8217;s Got Talent: Extreme<\/em>.  Really, the Season 17 premiere&#8217;s only danger act was an Austrian guy named Joe, who set himself on fire while warbling the Bangles&#8217; \u201cEternal Flame\u201d for his wife di lui.  But the flame was apparently <em>not<\/em> eternal, as Joe was rejected by the judges before fire-extinguisher-brandishing stagehands had even finished snuffing out his blaze &#8211; and his chances.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, there was another <em>AGT<\/em> reject &#8211; podcast sound engineer by day, emo singer-songwriter and granulated cheese enthusiast by night, Ben Lapidus &#8211; whose hopes had also seemingly been extinguished.  But then, Ben somehow managed to transform the judging panel&#8217;s four red X&#8217;s into three yeses, and he advanced to the next round against all odds.  After 16 years on the air, this was a historic <em>AGT<\/em> first.  \u201cI am told from producers that we don&#8217;t recall anything like this happening previously,\u201d a show source told Yahoo Entertainment.  &#8220;There has never been four X&#8217;s given, with three of them then being reversed and turned into a yes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 511px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:53%;\"><noscript><img alt=\"'America's Got Talent' judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell all X'd-out contestant Ben Lapidus, but three of them were surprisingly persuaded to change in their minds.  (Photo: NBC)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/eM4j7Sq7wAZNegRGu2XrUQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUxMQ--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-06\/78337330-e14a-11ec-bf5f-5d44a1649f5d\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">&#8216;America&#8217;s Got Talent&#8217; judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell all X&#8217;d-out contestant Ben Lapidus, but three of them were surprisingly persuaded to change in their minds.  (Photo: NBC)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When 29-year-old Ben first showed up a toting an acoustic guitar, telling the sad story of suddenly losing his father at age 6 and turning to the &#8220;lifeline&#8221; of music for comfort, viewers were no doubt expecting some sort of sensitive coffeehouse troubadour.  &#8220;I&#8217;m going to be doing an original song, and I hope it resonates with the judges,&#8221; he earnestly told <em>AGT <\/em>host Terry Crews.  However, Ben&#8217;s bizarre (but definitely original!) Song was actually more suited to an Italian bistro than a coffeehouse, as he sang of his internal moral struggle di lui when trying to request extra Parmesan cheese on his pasta without seeming too needy or greedy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always want more Parmesan, but I&#8217;m embarrassed,\u201d Ben belted, becoming increasingly desperate and agitated as the tune went on.  &#8220;Why are they so stingy? \/ Is there a shortage of Parmesan? \/ Is it really that expensive? \/ I just want more cheese, it that so wrong?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"link caas-button collapse-button\" aria-label=\"\" title=\"\" data-ylk=\"elm:readmore;slk:Story continues\">Story continues<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-iframe-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"caas-iframe default\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%;\">\n<blockquote data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/2lbv4goST4w?rel=0\" scrolling=\"no\"><p><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/2lbv4goST4w?rel=0\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While Ben&#8217;s spicy protest song against Italian restaurant servers and \u201cBig Parma\u201d seemed to resonate with European judge Heidi Klum, her co-stars quickly became agitated themselves, with Simon Cowell being first to pound his red X button.  (&#8220;I hate bloody Parmesan. It&#8217;s disgusting,&#8221; Simon later grumbled.) Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara followed Simon&#8217;s lead, and once Ben got into full screamo mode and really let it rip, Heidi also appeared to no longer connect to Ben&#8217;s zesty message , so she too buzzed him.<\/p>\n<p>But Heidi is a woman of the people.  So, when the apparently quite lactose-tolerant live audience started enthusiastically chanting, \u201cParmesan, Parmesan, Parmesan,\u201d she made the executive decision that Ben didn&#8217;t just deserve another dusting of Parmesan on his penne, but also another chance at <em>AGT<\/em> glory.  &#8220;I will not remain silent, I will not give in \/ I will die before I let Big Parma win,&#8221; a not-at-all-embarrassed Ben howled, after he was granted a do-over audition.  \u201cThe people want more Parmesan! <em>Give it to them<\/em>! &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You know what?  I want to kill you right now, because I can&#8217;t get that [chorus] out of my brain, \u201dSimon blurted.  \u201cTake the X away.  I am giving you a <em>yes<\/em>. &#8221;  Howie remained firm, so his X di lui remained as bright and red as a bowl of fresh marinara, but Heidi and Sofia also changed their minds &#8211; and changed their no&#8217;s to yeses.  &#8220;It&#8217;s the power of the people!&#8221;  declared Heidi, as the studio audience continued their &#8220;&#8221; Parmesan &#8220;chant.&#8221; Sometimes, you&#8217;ve gotta listen to the public, &#8220;Simon explained. A triumphant Ben and Terry then celebrated this surprising, historic, last-minute victory backstage with a gooey Italian meal, Ben&#8217;s need for extra cheese at long last satiated.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div style=\"\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader noheight\"><img class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"'America's Got Talent' judges Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell agonize over their decision to keep or reject novelty singer-songwriter Ben Lapidus.  (Photo: NBC)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/42IYjtz4z8c3P2AgtI6RPg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-06\/c0a326b0-e14a-11ec-af79-1e8880be3b95\"\/><noscript><img alt=\"'America's Got Talent' judges Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell agonize over their decision to keep or reject novelty singer-songwriter Ben Lapidus.  (Photo: NBC)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/42IYjtz4z8c3P2AgtI6RPg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-06\/c0a326b0-e14a-11ec-af79-1e8880be3b95\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">&#8216;America&#8217;s Got Talent&#8217; judges Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell agonize over their decision to keep or reject novelty singer-songwriter Ben Lapidus.  (Photo: NBC)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>While it should be noted that Simon is a savvy A&#038;R man who&#8217;s been instrumental in the pop careers of international reality stars like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, One Direction, Susan Boyle, Fifth Harmony, Leona Lewis, Little Mix, and Jackie Evancho, it remains to be seen if his pop instincts, and Heidi&#8217;s pay off with Ben.  Even though Heidi and Simon pressured Sofia into reversing her decision di lei, she still seemed unconvinced, telling them, &#8220;You guys are <em>crazy<\/em>.  \u2026 It was a horrific song, and <em>now<\/em> we are going to have to hear this guy <em>again<\/em>! &#8221;  I don&#8217;t know if Ben has what it takes to be more than a cheesy one-hit-wonder on <em>America&#8217;s Got Talent<\/em>but he might have a lucrative endorsement deal with Kraft or Progresso in his future.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Tuesday&#8217;s two-hour <em>AGT<\/em> premiere featured some perhaps more serious contenders, like incredibly charismatic stand-up comedian Mike E. Winfield, XOMG Pop (a rainbow-bright tween girl group created by JoJo and Jessalynn Siwa), and sensitive saxophonist Avery Dickson, who received Terry&#8217;s Golden Buzzer at the of the night.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-iframe-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"caas-iframe default\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%;\">\n<blockquote data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/MGMPcGmjueY?rel=0\" scrolling=\"no\"><p><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/MGMPcGmjueY?rel=0\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"caas-iframe-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"caas-iframe default\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%;\">\n<blockquote data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/WX3QYkTzfyg?rel=0&amp;start=5\" scrolling=\"no\"><p><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/WX3QYkTzfyg?rel=0&amp;start=5\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"caas-iframe-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"caas-iframe default\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%;\">\n<blockquote data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/7TOysi_1INs?rel=0\" scrolling=\"no\"><p><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/7TOysi_1INs?rel=0\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>And of course, there were the requisite goat yoga and jump-roping poodle acts, and online spoilers indicate that we might see a <em>cat<\/em> act on an upcoming <em>AGT<\/em> episode!  So, tune in next Tuesday, as America&#8217;s literally and figuratively cheesiest talent search continues.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Lyndsey on <\/em><em>Facebook<\/em><em>, <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/lyndseyparker\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Twitter\" class=\"link \"><em>Twitter<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><em>Instagram<\/em><em>, <\/em><em>Amazon<\/em><\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div style=\"\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader noheight\"><img class=\"caas-img caas-lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/uLJsvJmvjwbkrH8ZfzxTQQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2020-11\/be3956a0-1d75-11eb-bd6d-e851a9ecf5a0\"\/><noscript><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/uLJsvJmvjwbkrH8ZfzxTQQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2020-11\/be3956a0-1d75-11eb-bd6d-e851a9ecf5a0\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America&#8217;s Got Talent returned Tuesday for its 17th season, with a noticeable absence of daredevil contestants &#8211; most likely a format retooling, after AGT veteran Jonathan Goodwin was paralyzed during a stunt-gone-wrong on this past summer&#8217;s now-canceled spinoff show America&#8217;s Got Talent: Extreme. Really, the Season 17 premiere&#8217;s only danger act was an Austrian guy &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/say-cheese-americas-got-talent-singer-makes-history-with-unprecedented-judging-decision\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Say cheese!  &#8216;America&#8217;s Got Talent&#8217; singer makes history with unprecedented judging decision<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/mdRRVrqF9rH_5d8R44rgQA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02Mzk-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-06\/78337330-e14a-11ec-bf5f-5d44a1649f5d","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/mdRRVrqF9rH_5d8R44rgQA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02Mzk-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-06\/78337330-e14a-11ec-bf5f-5d44a1649f5d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}