Spoilers ahead for the June 17 episode of America’s Got Talent, available streaming now with a Peacock subscription.
The milestone 20th season of America’s Got Talent is only four episodes into the 2025 TV schedule, but the judges haven’t wasted any time in hitting the golden buzzer. Golden buzzers are fun ways to spice up episodes, but I for one don’t always love the way that the judges dole them out. In the most recent episode, however, host Terry Crews quite literally snuck up on the panel comprised of Howie Mandel, Mel B, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell to advance a pretty delightful act to the live shows, and I loved it both for the choice he made and the fact that he beat out Simon.
It was clear even before the The Funkateers took the stage that Terry Crews had taken a shine to them when they met behind the scenes. The four lifelong friends came to AGT from Detroit, and Crews regularly shows love to performers who hail from his home state of Michigan. Who can forget when he hit the golden buzzer for the Detroit Youth Choir back in Season 14? That said, a BTS connection doesn’t mean an act is guaranteed for advancement, and I wasn’t sure that the judges would advance the Funkateers even while the friends were delighting the audience with their performance.
Personally, I was loving their performance so much that before they were even finished, I was thinking back on how I always felt I would handle having a golden buzzer, which has never matched what the judges do. The judges generally hit the buzzer for performers who would definitely be advanced anyway after impressing everybody on the panel; I always thought it would be more fun if the judges hit the buzzer for a personal favorite who wouldn’t be guaranteed a future on AGT if not for the special honor.
Considering that the judges have high expectations for dance acts and Mel B has been a harsh critic since returning to AGT in the Season 20 premiere, I just wasn’t confident that The Funkateers would get another chance in the running for the $1 million and Las Vegas stage show. They needed a golden buzzer, as far as I was concerned, to guarantee their future. Take a look and see why I was crossing my fingers for the four men to achieve the dream that’s been 45 years in the making!
Well, it turns out that I was worried about judges being overly critical of The Funkateers for nothing, because both Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell declared that it was a “perfect” audition, Howie Mandel said that it was even better that they performed it at a later stage in life, and Mel B was smiling as big as anybody. But Terry Crews delivered a golden buzzer anyway, and I loved it. Not only did he sneak up behind the judges to make the gold confetti fall, but he managed to get the edge on Simon before he could hit the buzzer himself. What’s not to love?
How far the show has come since being essentially “dead” in the earliest days! Honestly, The Funkateers have to be my favorite golden buzzer winners of Season 20 so far, and I’m pumped to know that the four men will be back at least one more time on the AGT stage. The competition in the live shows will undoubtedly be stiff, though, and there are still more golden buzzers that have not yet been hit. Keep tuning in to NBC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for the latest episodes of America’s Got Talent Season 20, ahead of the first season of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s slightly confusing Destination X.
