'America's Got Talent' Season 15: Brett Loudermilk's sword swallowing act is tough to digest for Sofia Vergara
'America's Got Talent' capped off its latest episode on Tuesday with a spectacular flourish, courtesy Brett Loudermilk, a professional sword swallower from North Carolina. The young performer with a bold mop of pink-dyed hair is a born entertainer, following in his showman grandfather's footsteps. He also mentioned his dad, who is now a cop, always dreamed of being a rock star and Brett certainly has a magnetic rock star vibe to him, full of confidence and charisma.
He started off by saying that he wanted Sofia Vergara to help him out on stage and perhaps that was the wrong choice, as the squeamish Latina found it hard to digest the fact that he would be swallowing sharp metal swords on stage. He requested her to pull out the sword once he gave her a wink, but Sofia twice had to abort the mission because she was overcome by nerves and freaked out. There were also plenty of puns and double entendres about "swallowing," "pulling out," and "putting it in" which no doubt added a welcome air of hilarity to the dangerous activity.
Ever the showman, Brett pulled the swords on his own and gave Sofia a piece of his mind, before giving her a third and final opportunity to pull the sharp implement out. This time she delivered the goods, but her anxiety was understandable, given how scary this act looked - the sharp foot-long sword certainly looked real, with no sliding props apparent under the bright lights of the AGT set.
After Sofia went back to her seat, she received a proper ribbing from Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel (Heidi Klum was unwell), who poked fun at her fearful breakdown on stage. Brett was also on point with his witty jokes, quipping that he never wanted her back to stage to help him again. However, the entertainer had more in store for the awestruck audience. He pulled out a fearsome-looking curved sword, saying he called it his "wiggly one" and proceeded to swallow it with elan.
Sofia's reticence on stage had made the male judges determined to prove they weren't soft touches and Simon promptly asked if he could pull out a sword as well. What followed next was improbable and completely unrehearsed. Brett decided to improvise and called all three judges, Simon, Howie and Sofia on stage to assist him as he swallowed an impossible three swords all in one go. The manner in which he pulled off the trick was spectacular and the audience was on the edge of their seats throughout, as each judge pulled out a sword to thunderous applause and excitement.
Later, Howie noted the fact that he had improvised such a dangerous trick on stage showed that he was a born entertainer. Simon also said that such a brilliant performance got a "100% yes" from him, while Sofia revealed she loved it but would prefer to see him do his act "without me." Naturally, Brett got three yeses after such a spectacular display.
On social media, people were loving his entertaining showstopper too. One fan said, "Anyone else see the sword swallower on @AGT just now?!? That was the the best TV I’ve seen in a long time!! So much double entendre, and they all appeared to go over the judges heads!!! Not mine, and not the entertainers!! Now to find Brett Laudermilk’s @!!" Another viewer declared, "I now want Brett to make it all the way to the finals just so Sofia has to be tortured as his assistant every round #AGT"
Make sure you tune in for more entertaining 'America's Got Talent' episodes every Tuesday night on NBC at 8 pm.