'AGT' judges expected a boring baton act, but what this contestant pulled off blew them away
We live in the age of the internet, where everything is just a click away. But how many of us actually take advantage of this to learn something new? Enter Phillip Lewis, hailing from Statesboro, Georgia, who wowed the audience and the judges on 'America's Got Talent' in 2024 with his baton twirling, which, surprisingly enough, Lewis learned from YouTube. As Sofia Vergara asked Lewis why he chose this talent, he replied, "I saw this clip on YouTube and absolutely fell in love with it. It just presents such an amazing challenge for me."
Finally, before starting his performance, Vargera asked Lewis what he does to prepare for his performance, and Lewis had three amusing things to pick out as he said, "I say a prayer of gratitude, I listen to a song by Beyoncé, and I eat a donut." His response drew laughter from the crowd, with one audience member even chiming in, "I need to start eating more donuts," as reported by Good Housekeeping. Once the friendly banter was over, Lewis passed the mic to the crewmates as he prepared for the performance.
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Perhaps no one was prepared for Lewis' performance owing to his friendly demeanor, but that is exactly what he brought to the performance. With a smile on his face, the Georgia native moved the baton as if it were part of his body. With his eccentric energy and his unfading smile, Lewis had the audience and the judges grooving to his beats. And just when everyone thought the act was over, what did Lewis do? He pulled out two more batons as he continued to juggle them, finally crescendoing his performance to an end.
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The judges and the audience rose to their feet in applause as Vargera went on to say, "I was thinking it was going to be a little bit boring; it was actually a dangerous act. I was thinking something can happen at any moment with that thing." Heidi Klum resonated with Vergara's sentiment as she doubled down on the compliments, making quite a bold statement: "That was absolutely incredible. Is this part of the Olympics?" When Lewis replied that it wasn’t, Klum didn’t miss a beat. "It should be part of the Olympics, and you should be there."
It was finally Simon Cowell's turn to speak as he said, "I've got to be honest with you, when someone says bat and twirling, I'm not like going 'great'; however, this was on a different scale, and your showmanship, by the way, is off the charts." What came next from Cowell was a compliment unlike any other: "Over the years, this is the best I've ever seen." To no one's surprise, all three judges gave a unanimous yes as Lewis thanked the judges and the audience with his wholesome smile. While Lewis was in the wings, Cowell still wasn't done with his praises as he called him a 'dynamite.' While Lewis' performance was extraordinary, he couldn't make it past the quarterfinals owing to the large amount of phenomenal talent and was voted off, as reported by Parade.
