'America's Got Talent' Season 15: Venezuela's card magician Winston wows with his wonderful tricks
'America's Got Talent' just kicked off with another brand-new episode on Tuesday night and once again we were treated to an amazing array of talent from all over the globe. There were more scintillating acts this time around, from dancers and singers to comedians and magicians. Unfortunately, Heidi Klum was feeling a bit under the weather, so she couldn't be present on the judging panel this time around. However, new judge Sofia Vergara pulled a favor by roping in her former co-star from 'Modern Family', Eric Stonestreet, who made a special appearance on the talent show to replace Heidi on a temporary basis.
One of Stonestreet's first tasks in the hot seat was to put through a dance crew called Xtreme Dance Force into the next round. Since they dubbed themselves the X Men, we hope they stuck around to catch the magician Winston Fuenmayor, who seemed to possess his own special brand of mutant powers. Winston was a 21-year-old illusionist from Venezuela who combined his marvelous sleight of hand and card tricks into a dazzling and stunning performance.
Winston revealed that he was a shy kid growing up and that magic had helped him become more confident and to realize his dreams. As the first magician in his family, he had come to America to follow his dreams and was performing for the first time on American television in the hope of securing a better future for himself.
His magic trick itself was both simple yet incredibly powerful. Sitting on a chair, Winston seemed to be developing powers beyond his control. Cards started sprouting out his hands uncontrollably, and every time he discarded them, more sprung up in their place, much to the wonder of the audience. It didn't matter how many cards he threw away, a whole bunch more seemed to magically materialize in their place, whether they were from his hands or his hair. At one point he actually managed to look like Wolverine from 'X-Men' with cards instead of claws, and later alluded to another superhero franchise when he fashioned a gauntlet made out of cards out of thin air, much to everyone's surprise.
The fact that Winston seemed completely surprised and flummoxed throughout his thrilling performance completely sold the trick. Sophia noted that it was incredible, fantastic and extremely creative, even though Winston was from Venezuela, a country the Colombian judge enjoyed a friendly rivalry with. Howie absolutely loved his dramatic presentation and Eric noted that the previous magicians who had appeared on the show would certainly have been impressed by that spellbinding performance. Meanwhile, Simon declared that he was clearly born to do this and said that he could see him headlining a show in Las Vegas someday. Naturally, Winston got four big yeses from the judges.
On social media, fans were just as enthralled. One fan said, "Winston was sooo good! Can’t wait to see what’s next!" Another declared, "Winston deserved a golden buzzer," while another viewer exclaimed, "Winston is my pick to win #AGT."
Make sure you tune in for more exciting performances on 'America's Got Talent' every Tuesday night at 8 pm ET on NBC.