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'AGT' Season 18: Who is Ryland Petty? Simon Cowell was left ‘speechless’ by prodigy magician's act on 'BGT'

Ryland Petty received a standing ovation from all four judges as well as the entire crowd during his audition for 'Britain's Got Talent' Series 15

STAFFORDSHIRE, UK: Ryland Petty aka Ryland The Kid Magician, is a performer who made it to the semi-finals of 'Britain's Got Talent' Series 15. The then-9-year-old schoolboy hailing from Staffordshire is set to make another TV appearance on 'America's Got Talent' Season 18 during the fifth week of auditions beginning on Tuesday, June 27.

This fifth group of hopefuls includes the typical mix of viral acts, comedians, acrobats, and young performers, as well as alums from 'Got Talent' competitions throughout the world. Terry Crews is the host, while the judges are Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Simon Cowell, and Sofia Vergara. Let's get to know Ryland a little more before he makes his 'AGT' debut.

Who is Ryland Petty?

Ryland is reportedly the world's youngest professional magician who began practicing magic at the age of two and could make a penny vanish before he could even talk. His first show was when he was four years old, and by then, he had fallen in love with magic and enjoyed performing in front of an audience. He auditioned for 'BGT' at the age of 10, where all four judges, as well as the entire crowd, gave him a standing ovation, with Simon famously declaring that Ryland was one of the finest magic acts to come on the show in 2022. Moreover, Alisha Dixon dubbed Ryland "the King of cubes" following this performance.

By the age of 10, Ryland had already performed on the stages of The Hammersmith Apollo, The London Palladium, The Winter Gardens in Blackpool, The Excel in London, and other smaller venues around the UK. He debuted his first solo play at The Rugeley Rose Theatre in January 2020. His fantastic performance left everyone speechless, and all earnings went to Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Apart from his offline presence,  Ryland also gets millions of views on social media on the videos that he uploads on YouTube and Instagram almost every day. He is also a co-host of 'Magic TV,' one of the most popular shows for magic reviews on YouTube. Ryland has accomplished more than most professional magicians achieve in their whole career at the mere age of 10, and he is only getting started. Ryland is not only a superb magician but also a representative of Marvin's Magic, the world's number-one brand selling items related to magic.

He had just finished a stint at The House Of Secrets in Blackpool when he was invited to perform with Oliver Tabor at The IBM Convention 2022. Furthermore, the young magician got the opportunity to perform on The Gala Show at The Blackpool Magic event, the world's largest magic event. He even performed at the famed Russ Brown's House Of Secrets in August 2022. This is regarded as Blackpool's most distinctive pub and entertainment facility, and he was the youngest person ever chosen to perform at the gala event. 

Moreover, he participated in the London Close Up Magician Of The Year category at the London Magic Convention in November 2022. Although he did not win, his performance was well-received by those who attended. Ryland returned to Russ Brown's House Of Secrets in November 2022 for another special performance and appeared in Magic Sam & Buddies, a very festive family performance in December 2022, with Sam's highly talented buddies. The talented young magician even returned to The Rugeley Rose Theatre as the show's closing act in February 2023.

Ryland Petty on 'Britain's Got Talent'

Ryland quickly grabbed the 'BGT' stage and even persuaded Amanda Holden to join him during his audition. The child invited Holden to choose a piece of paper from a box, explaining that each piece of paper within the box had a different emotion inscribed on it. The young magician handed Holden a Rubik's Cube and urged her to play with it as he summoned his mates from The Magic Circle Young Magicians' Club onto the stage with their own Rubik's Cubes.

As each participant arranged their cubes in a framework, Ryland, nine, waited until the end to ask Amanda to do the same before asking her to confirm whatever word was written on the piece of paper she had chosen. He turned the framework around as Holden answered, "Love," to discover all the Rubik's cubes had matched up as a red heart against a white background.

He then gathered some smoke on the table where he and Holden were seated and drew away a tablecloth to expose the word "LOVE," scrawled in black. "How on earth did he do that?" host Ant McPartlin questioned, while Simon Cowell said, "I am speechless!" before comparing Ryland to Harry Potter. However, several 'BGT' fans were left unimpressed by the magic trick and questioned it.

Ryland Petty on 'AGT'

Ryland is making yet another appearance in front of Cowell, this time on 'AGT'. On June 22, Ryland took to Instagram to share the news, as he wrote, "Eeeeeek…so excited to share this cool news with you all! 😮 Can't wait to tell you more details soon…" Later, he added, "I've been keeping this a secret but now I want to tell you about it. Next week you'll be able to watch my AGT audition 😮."

The young magician shared his experience from his time at the audition, "It was so amazing to meet everyone @agtauditions @terrycrews @simoncowell @sofiavergara @heidiklum @howiemandel," teasing his followers with a little note, "There are no cubes in my new act but it didn't stop me from doing magic with cubes backstage!!"

New episodes of 'America's Got Talent' Season 18 air every Tuesday at 8 pm ET on NBC.