A 2-year-old solving complex math problems on 'AGT' had judges saying the same thing: 'You are...'
'America's Got Talent' judges had a jaw-dropping moment as pint-sized Devan Defreitas appeared on the stage with his father, Duane, who asked the judges, "Could you give me a one-digit number?" Howie Mandel replied, "7," and then he asked for another. Mandel threw out "9." Duane wrote on the whiteboard 7X9 quickly. The judges and audience watched in anticipation when the 2-year-old took the marker in his hand and wrote 63. The audience and the judges took a minute before Simon Cowell said, "That's right." For his next math problem, Duane asked Heidi Klum to give a double-digit number, raising the stakes higher. Klum gave a 44, followed by Sofia Vergara, who said, "30."
Defreitas wrote again on the whiteboard, this time adding the numbers. And Voila, the 2-year-old got it right once again! The judges and the audience cheered louder this time. Next up, Duane asked Cowell to give a two-digit and a one-digit number, and Cowell replied with "79" and "7." As Defreitas continued to work on the problem, Howie Mandel said out loud, "We get to see the process." To this, the cute little boy turned his head, surprised, while his Duane gestured for everyone to keep quiet. Getting his son's focus back, he said, "It's ok, go ahead." Someone from the audience remarked, "He is not even using his fingers." Defreitas took a minute and then with a big wide smile, turned towards the audience and said, "It's 553." Everyone started clapping as the answer was correct one more time. Terry Crews, the host, even remarked, "I can't do that, and I'm 55."
Cowell went first, "We all sitting here are thinking the same thing... get us a calculator," he said laughing. Klum added, "You are an amazing young man, you really are amazing. However, the little boy was baffled by one question that Mandel asked, "If we give you 1 million dollars, what are you going to do?" Soon realizing that money made little sense to the young boy, Mandel said, "Oh, figure it out and do the math." Vergara also commented on the performance and said, "It's one of the most fascinating things I have watched on AGT." Cowell jokingly asked little Defreitas if would be helping him negotiate his next deal and Defreitas replied, "Yes", as he danced and giggled on the stage. After the dad-son duo left the stage, Cowell said, looking towards the camera, "Right now, I feel so stupid."
View this post on Instagram
NBC reported Devan Defreitas to be the youngest kid on the AGT stage. Per the outlet, Duane opened up with an insider about his parenting technique. “At age 1, we had bought him a writing tablet. We would practice writing numbers with him from 1 to 10… and we would practice writing every day, and by 15 months old, he knew how to write numbers on his own.” The math prodigy quickly moved from addition to subtraction and even mastered his timetables.
The Math Wiz later made an appearance on the 'Jennifer Hudson Show' in September 2024. Where Duane revealed some interesting facts, like Devan's first word was 7. He also added, "When we noticed how much he loved numbers, we started exposing him to learning videos with numbers, and we noticed that he would cry when we changed the channels... and stop crying when we changed it back."