Americas Got Talent live show 3-Spencer Horsman

For British Viewers, this article may contain spoilers


How did Spencer do?

It is common for magic acts to disappoint in the live shows, but Spencer Horsman's failure was especially frustrating, not least because, out of the four magic acts put through to the live shows, he had the most potential. For his live performance, Spencer was put in an iron straitjacket, then loaded into a mailbag, and hoisted in a box over a bed of spikes. He had 45 seconds to escape before he was dropped on the spikes. On paper, this seemed like a brilliant stunt, but Spencer made one major mistake; he chose to do the escape in shadow beneath a sheet, hiding it and turning him from the escapologist he had been in the auditions and Vegas into a magician. This meant that, unlike with his previous performances, there was never any doubt he would escape unharmed, even when he appeared to drop onto the spikes early. Furthermore, even as a magic trick, it wasn't difficult to figure out, due to the excessive amount of time spent locking Spencer inside the bag. Following Jarrett and Raja from two weeks ago, Spencer became the second magic act this year to be booed by the hard-to-please audience.


What did the judges say?


Sharon felt that the act was clever, but felt Spencer spent too much time wiggling in the bag, making the trick look boring, Howard was annoyed that he couldn't see Spencer behind the screen. Howie, however, put it best, however, when he said it "became A magic trick rather then an escape" and called it confusing


What was the competition like?


The heat was full of risky acts that could have either succeeded or failed. Most of them, however, did the latter: Rock Star Juggler Mike Price dropped a pin midway through his act, whilst Inspire the Fire lacked the personality of previous performances. Balancer Cristin Sandu's rola-bola tower collapsed within seconds of him climbing it. Jake Wesley Rogers sang a boring version of "Toxic", All Wheel Sports and their blend of biking, skating, trampolining, and cheerleading, were as cluttered as usual. Jacob Williams wasn't as funny as he was in previous rounds, whilst drag queen All Beef Patty was more boring then expected. The other four acts were solid, but with the exception of glow-in-the-dark puppeteers Light Wire Theater, none stood out. Elusive was a talented dancer, but is likely to be upstaged by other, better acts. The Untouchables, an offshoot of last years finalists Miami All-stars were as technically proficient as their predecessors, but, if they go through, will owe their place to a lack of adequate competition. Finally, rap-rock group Wordspit the Illest sang an original song, but were criticised for being too unconventional.


What are his chances?


Due to his highly disappointing performance, Spencer's chances of making the next round are pretty low.