America's Got Talent: The Champions finally broke a long-running streak this week, and with it comes some hope that the contestant crowned as the "best of the best" won't be one of the usually celebrated type of talent. That's right, for the first time since the competition started, neither the golden buzzer or the super fan vote pushed a singer on to the finals round of the competition.
That was not for a lack of trying, it seemed, as the latest episode of America's Got Talent: The Champions brought out a plethora of good singers. Opera singer Jackie Evancho, Sinatra enthusiast Sal Valentinetti, and musical group Sons of Serendip made for a formidable group of competitors to topple the non-singing competition. Yet Evancho and Valentinetti performed and left the stage in hour one, and host Terry Crews had yet to use his Golden Buzzer.
The host wouldn't wait on Sons of Serendip before hitting the buzzer, and used his instant finals pass for Kseniya Simonova. The sand artist put on an impressive and emotional display not often seen on America's Got Talent, so it was nice to see Terry Crews reward someone with a talent a bit off the beaten path. Simonova won Season 1 of Ukraine's Got Talent, and after watching her do her thing, it isn't hard to see why.
Kseniya Simonova was the first Golden Buzzer rewarded to a non-singer in America's Got Talent: The Champions since Week 2 when the extreme knife throwing team Deadly Games was given the honor. Simonova's advancement balanced the scales somewhat, as the ratio of Golden Buzzers awarded to singers and non-singers is now 3 to 2. It was a good start, but the hope was still alive that another singer would push through in the super fan vote.
Sure enough, when the top three performers of the night were asked to step forward, Sons of Serendip were in the mix for advancement. With shadow theater group Attraction and magician Shin Lim on either side, it seemed as though America's Got Talent: The Champions was about to go yet another week with a singing act pushing through into the finals. Surprisingly, Sons of Serendip ended up taking third place, and Shin Lim was picked to advance.
It was a big win for the non-singing competitors, as the number of non-singing acts in the finals round increases to four. Granted, the majority are still singers, and fans of the franchise know singers tend to have the advantage in competition. That said, everyone is capable of show-stopping performances in this one, so perhaps non-singers aren't at as quite as big of a disadvantage as it may seem.
America's Got Talent: The Champions airs on NBC Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Keep tabs on all television happening in 2019 by visiting and bookmarking our midseason premiere guide.
