'AGT' Season 17 on NBC: Who is Dino Don? Former 'Shark Tank' contestant auditions for talent-hunt show

Will Dino Don manage to impress Mark Cuban's equally critical peer Simon Cowell on 'AGT'? We will just have to wait and watch
Dino Don on 'America's Got Talent' Season 17 (Scott Casey Durkin/NBC)
Dino Don on 'America's Got Talent' Season 17 (Scott Casey Durkin/NBC)

A stint on 'America's Got Talent' can be life-changing, no matter the outcome. While the winner gets to take home a million dollars and an opportunity to perform a headliner act in Las Vegas, the other contestants manage to get free publicity and a platform to showcase their talents to the world. In order to win the coveted prize, the performer needs to impress the judges - Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara, and the show's audience.

As the talent hunt show is all set to make a comeback with an all-new audition episode of Season 17, get ready to watch some very exciting and wild acts that will blow your mind away. One of the performers hoping to sweep off the judges' and audiences' feet is Dino Don aka Don Lessem with his life-sized dinosaurs. 'Shark Tank' fans may recognize Dino Don as one of the pitchers on the hit ABC show, who managed to impress Mark Cuban and closed a deal with the billionaire Shark. Will Dino Don manage to impress Mark's equally critical peer judge- Simon on 'AGT'? We will just have to wait and watch. In the meanwhile, you can read up all about Dino Don here.

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'AGT' judges Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell with a 'Dino Don's dinosaur model (Scott Casey Durkin/NBC)
'AGT' judges Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell with a 'Dino Don's dinosaur model (Scott Casey Durkin/NBC)

Who is Dino Don?

Dino Don, Inc is the product of Don Lessem's love for dinosaurs. He is one of the world's leading dinosaur experts and has created the world's largest dinosaur exhibits since 1993 in North America, Asia, and Europe. His love affair with dinosaurs began in 1988 while he was reporting for The Boston Globe. 

The former journalist fell hard for the big beasts. Since then, he has gone on to be an advisor for the 'Jurrasic Park' movie, host to NOVA documentaries for Discovery Channel, and been involved in Disney movie and theme park collaborations. He educated people about these extinct reptiles through his exhibitions, philanthropies, and 52 books on natural history. 

Dino Don, Inc. is essentially a company that creates realistic and life-size dinosaurs, which they both sell and rent to zoos, aquariums, and museums worldwide. When we say life-size we really mean lifesize, as one of their Argentinosaurus is a whopping 120-foot-long! 

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Dino Don's founder Don Lessem on 'AGT' Season 17 (Scott Casey Durkin/NBC)
Dino Don's founder Don Lessem on 'AGT' Season 17 (Scott Casey Durkin/NBC)

Dino Don. appeared on 'Shark Tank' Season 12 and wowed Mark Cuban with his life-sized dinosaur models. He left the ABC show with a whopping $500,000 from Mark Cuban. We can't wait to see Dino Don's act on 'AGT'.

America's Got Talent' Season 17 airs Tuesdays, at 8 pm on NBC. Following the show's premiere, you can catch all-new episodes every Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. ET/PT. For viewers who wish to tune in to the show without cable, they can do so using any of the following streaming services: Sling TV, fuboTV, Hulu With Live TV, AT&T TV, or YouTube TV.

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