This act left Simon Cowell speechless!
Cowell and his fellow “America’s Got Talent” judges were blown away by a trick from magician and mentalist Max Major during Tuesday’s "Judge Cuts" episode — the first filmed during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Major had impressed the judges previously during his audition, and he remembered from his last time on the show that Cowell wanted to be more involved in his act. So this time, he tailored his entire performance to Cowell and decided to read his mind.
The trick involved two sets of five cards, one facedown and one faceup, printed with the faces of each judge: Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara, as well as host Terry Crews.
Cowell, 60, matched a facedown card to a faceup card at random as Major asked him a series of personal questions. He asked Cowell to name his most valued personality trait, to which Cowell answered, “Loyalty.”
Major also asked Cowell about a prized possession that he wouldn’t sell for any amount of money, and the judge named the first photo of his son, Eric, after “being born, lying on my chest.”
For his final question, Major asked Cowell about a fond childhood memory that others might not know about, and Cowell recalled the happy moment he got his first racing car set.
Finally, Major flipped over all the facedown cards that Cowell had paired with the faceup ones — and magically, they all matched.
But even more amazingly, Major then pulled out an envelope and revealed three sheets of paper that contained the exact answers that Cowell had given to his personal questions: "Loyalty," "Picture of son Eric" and "Getting 1st car set."
Cowell was so shocked by the trick that at first, he was at a loss for words. When he did speak to his fellow judges, he assured them that “this was not planned.”
"I have to say this, because this is one of the most astonishing things I've ever seen,” he said. “I mean, it was seriously incredible. ... How the hell did he do that?"
Now, Major is going to the live rounds, and he wrote on Instagram that he is "so incredibly grateful to be moving forward."
The “America’s Got Talent” set looked very different when the show returned this week. The talent competition show has switched to a new, outdoor setup inspired by a classic drive-in theater.
The judges now sit far apart and watch the contestants on a large, movie theater-style screen. Host Terry Crews also stands at an appropriate social distance, and when they are not talking on camera, they all wear masks.
"The drive-in idea is one that came organically because, at the time, you're just reading about drive-ins," ‘AGT’ executive producer Sam Donnelly told People. "We liked the idea of being outside on a movie set location. Having the judges outside, socially distanced, but in a way that didn't feel really weird. It felt like a good solution."
"America's Got Talent" airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.