Illusionist asked Mel B to pick a photo — her next move had the ‘AGT’ judges backing away in fear
'America's Got Talent' is a really dynamic stage, with all talents allowed, no one barred. Over the years, very surreal performers have graced the stage of 'AGT', ranging from side-splittingly hilarious to spine-tinglingly scary. Sacred Riana is widely regarded as one of the scariest performers to ever grace the 'world’s biggest stage' and she even returned for 'America’s Got Talent: All-Stars', as reported by Gold Derby. While many acts on 'AGT' claim to be terrifying, they often fall short, leaning more toward creepy or disturbing, much like the Forest of Haunts.
This often makes for an entertaining performance, as pulling off a truly scary scene is tricky. The performer needs to build the right atmosphere and add a gimmick to keep the audience engaged, since horror alone can only go so far. That said, Sacred Riana did exactly that in the season 13 auditions of 'AGT'. From the moment she set foot on stage, she was Sacred Riana. With a weird twitch in her neck, Riana walked on stage with a vintage-style, white-collared maroon dress and a doll that had the exact same outfit as her. Her demeanor made it seem as if she came right out of 'The Ring'. As Mel B tried to talk to Riana, there was no response.
As everyone waited for an answer, there was a weird, unsettling silence, and just as Mel started speaking again, Riana dropped the doll on the stage and started walking towards the judges' table. The judges cowered in fear and held up their hands, forming a crucifix as Riana walked around the table. She then walked up to Mel and held up a folded newspaper parchment that read, "12 people die in building blaze: suicide victim to blame."
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She then scattered a bunch of black and white photographs of different people with names written on them. Finally, with her finger pointed at Mel, Riana uttered her first words: "Who caused the fire?" Clearly, she was asking Mel to choose from the pictures she had scattered on the table. On a whim, Mel chose a picture with 'Bob' written on it. As tension in the room thickened, Cowell, surprisingly in a playful mood, hit his red buzzer, jolting the audience and judges alike and briefly cutting through the eerie atmosphere with a moment of comic relief. However, what followed was even scarier. As Mel chose the picture, Riana took a picture of Mel with a Polaroid camera and put the picture upside down on her palm.
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She then proceeded to unfold the newspaper parchment, and to everyone's surprise, there was a picture of Bob on it, the very same person Mel chose. In that moment, the performance blurred the line between horror and magic. But the real twist was yet to come. With the Polaroid picture still in Mel's palm, Riana pointed at it and said, "He is here." As Mel flipped the picture, she screamed and let go of the picture as there stood Bob, eerily visible behind her. While the horror illusionist didn't win the show, she made a name for herself with a TV show under her belt. "Sacred Riana: Bedtime Stories is an English-language, Asian horror anthology series set around the continent and inspired by folklore and urban legends," as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.