The sixth season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from May 31 to September 14, 2011. No major changes were made in the program's format, although a number of participants who auditioned later dropped out due to obligations outside the competition. However, the season attracted media attention after one of its participants established a world record during their performance on the program.
The sixth season was won by jazz singer Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., with silhouette dance group Silhouettes finishing in second, and glow-light dance group Team iLuminate placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around over 11.8 million viewers, with its opening episode attracting around 15.28 million viewers (the highest viewing figures for a season of America's Got Talent to premiere with).
Season overview Auditions for the sixth season's competition took place during Winter until mid-Spring 2011, in eight cities in the United States including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York. Auditions held within Denver and Chicago were not filmed. Due to weather conditions, Piers Morgan was unable to attend some of the auditions held in Minneapolis, though this did not disrupt production. The sixth season had a number of participants who auditioned, but dropped out despite securing a place in the live rounds, after determining that it would conflict with other obligations each had. In an interview held during May 2011 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Howie Mandel said the program was the most dangerous, indicating that ambulances had to be called six times during auditions after a number of participants injured themselves during their act. One of the most significant events of this season involved Darren Taylor, who operated under his stage name of Professor Splash and established a new world record, during one of his live round performances for the highest shallow dive.- Professor Splash breaks shallow diving record
Of the participants who auditioned for the season, sixty-one secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. Eleven of the acts were given a second chance in the Wildcard quarter-final, after losing their initial quarter-final. About twenty-four advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the finals, and four finalists securing a place in the grand-final. Below are the results of each participant's overall performance in the season:
| Wildcard Quarter-finalist
ParticipantAge(s) GenreActFromQuarter-FinalResult Aeon Acrobatics Parkour Group Los Angeles 5 Anna Graceman 11 Singing Singer Juneau, Alaska 1 Attack Dance Crew 19-25 Dance Dance Group Tallahassee, Florida 2 Avery and the Calico Hearts 9-10 Music Vocal Trio Lubbock, Texas 4 Beth Ann Robinson 14 Dance Dancer Dothan, Alabama 5 Breena Bell 8 Dance Dancer Lincoln, Alabama 5 Brett Daniels 50 Magic Magician Milwaukee, Wisconsin 5 Captain and Maybelle 38 & 32 Danger Sideshow Duo Douglasville, Georgia 3 Charles Peachock 35 Variety Juggler Kent, Ohio 4 Dani Shay 22 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Orlando 2 Daniel Joseph Baker 20 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Katy, Texas 2 Dezmond Meeks 28 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Pineville, Louisiana 1 Duo Aero 23 & 24 Danger Trapeze Duo Saint Paul, Minnesota 1 Dylan Andre 19 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Zieglerville, Pennsylvania 2 Echo of Animal Gardens 15 & 32 Animals Parrot Act Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 1 Fatally Unique 13-22 Dance Dance Group Rockford, Illinois 4 Fearless Flores Family 8-35 Danger Motorcycle Stunt Group Myakka City, Florida 1 Frank Miles 50 Danger Daredevil San Francisco 4 Gabe Rocks Animal Dog Act Bellingham, Washington 5 Geechy Guy 46 Comedy Comedian Rochester, Michigan 2 Gymkana Acrobatics Acrobatic Group College Park, Maryland 5 Ian Johnson 16 Variety Yo-Yoer Hebron, Illinois 3 J. Chris Newberg 41 Comedy / Music Comedian Birmingham, Michigan 1 Kalani Basketball Freestyle 24 Variety Basketball Freestyler Honolulu, Hawaii 5 Kevin Colis 33 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist New Braunfels, Texas 5 Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. 35 Singing Jazz Singer Logan County, West Virginia 3 Landon Swank 26 Magic Magician Wasilla, Alaska 2 Lys Agnès 27 Singing Opera Singer Denver 3 Matt Wilhelm 32 Danger Blacklight Biker Chicago 5 Mauricio Herrera 33 Singing Singer Orange, California 3 Melissa Villaseñor 23 Comedy Impressionist Whittier, California 4 Miami All-Stars 13-43 Dance Dance Group Miami 1 Mona Lisa 29 Singing Vocal Duo Santa Ana, California 2 Monét 12 Singing Singer Charlotte, North Carolina 3 POPLYFE 12-16 Singing / Music Band Oakland, California 3 Powerhouse Singing Choir Burbank, California 5 Professor Splash 50 Danger High Diver Denver 3 Purrfect Angelz 22-36 Dance Dance Group Los Angeles 3 Sam B 32 Dance Dancer Falls Church, Virginia 4 Sandou Trio Russian Bar 25-43 Acrobatics / Danger Russian Bar Trio San Antonio, Texas 1 Scott Alexander 41 Magic Magician Lancaster, Pennsylvania 4 Seth Grabel 29 Magic Magician Los Angeles 3 SH'Boss Boys 5-7 Music Rap Trio Atlanta 3 Shevonne 20 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Tampa, Florida 6 Silhouettes 4-18 Dance Shadow Dance Group Denver 2 Smage Brothers Riding Shows 18-25 Danger Stunt Motorcycle Group Elkhorn, Wisconsin 2 Snap Boogie 18 Dance Dancer Boston 1 Squonk Opera 33-52 Singing / Music Operatic Band Pittsburgh 1 Steven Retchless 24 Dance Pole Dancer Las Vegas 2 Summerwind Skippers 22-36 Variety Jump Rope Group Boise, Idaho 3 Taylor Davis 18 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Leesburg, Georgia 4 Team iLuminate 25-33 Dance Light-Up Dance Group New York City 4 The Fiddleheads 21-23 Music Bluegrass Band Dahlonega, Georgia 1 The Kinetic King 47 Variety Kinetic Artist Saint Paul, Minnesota 4 The Rhinestone Ropers 28 & 52 Danger Wild West Performers Jerome, Idaho 2 Thomas John 22 Variety Juggler San Francisco 2 Those Funny Little People 23-53 Dance Dance Group Chicago 1 TNC Elite Dance Clogging Group Charlotte 5 West Springfield Dance Team Dance Dance Group Springfield, Virginia 5 Yellow Designs Stunt Team 25-41 Danger Stunt Bike Team Monument, Colorado 4 Zuma Zuma 28-42 Acrobatics Acrobatic Group Las Vegas 4
Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season. These participants were entered into the Wildcard quarter-final after losing their initial quarter-final. The ages of these participants were not disclosed on the program. For health and safety reasons, Professor Splash had to perform outside the studio; judges were required view the performance in person, and used hand-carried signs in place of their buzzers.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (July 12) Guest Performers, Results Show: Avril Lavigne, and cast of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 13) Miami All-Stars 1 Dezmond Meeks 2 Those Funny Little People 3 Fearless Flores Family 4 Squonk Opera 5 J. Chris Newberg 6 Snap Boogie 7 Echo of Animal Gardens 8 The Fiddleheads 9 Duo Aero 10 Anna Graceman 11 Sandou Trio Russian Bar 12
Because of the majority vote for Miami All-Stars, Mandel's voting intention was not revealed.
Quarter-final 2 (July 19) Guest Performers, Results Show: Hot Chelle Rae, and TRACES
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 20) Attack Dance Crew 1 Dani Shay 2 Geechy Guy 3 Daniel Joseph Baker 4 The Rhinestone Ropers 5 Dylan Andre 6 Landon Swank 7 Smage Brothers Riding Shows 8 Thomas John 9 Steven Retchless 10 Mona Lisa 11 Silhouettes 12
Quarter-final 3 (July 26) Guest Performers, Results Show: Stevie Nicks, Fighting Gravity, and The Smurfs
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 27) Summerwind Skippers 1 SH'Boss Boys 2 Mauricio Herrera 3 Seth Grabel 4 POPLYFE 5 Ian Johnson 6 Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. 7 Purrfect Angelz 8 Monét 9 Captain and Maybelle 10 Lys Agnès 11 Professor Splash 12
Quarter-final 4 (August 2) Guest performers, Results Show: Maroon 5, and Jason Derülo
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 3) The Kinetic King 1 Zuma Zuma 2 Avery and the Calico Hearts 3 Charles Peachock 4 Sam B 5 Taylor Davis 6 Melissa Villaseñor 7 Scott Alexander 8 Fatally Unique 9 Yellow Designs Stunt Team 10 Frank Miles 11 Team iLuminate 12
Quarter-final 5 - YouTube Round (August 9) Guest performers, Results Show: OK Go and Pilobolus, Keenan Cahill, Rebecca Black, Tay Zonday, and Up and Over It.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 10) TNC Elite 1 Brett Daniels 2 Gabe Rocks 3 Aeon 4 Breena Bell 5 Kevin Colis 6 Beth Ann Robinson 7 Gymkana 8 Kalani Basketball Freestyle 9 West Springfield Dance Team 10 Matt Wilhelm 11 Powerhouse 12
Quarter-final 6 - Wild Card Round (August 16) Guest Performers, Results Show: Colbie Caillat, and cast of Les Misérables
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 17) The Kinetic King 1 Those Funny Little People 2 Avery and the Calico Hearts 3 Seth Grabel 4 Shevonne 5 West Springfield Dance Team 6 J. Chris Newberg 7 Yellow Designs Stunt Team 8 Charles Peachock 9 The Fiddleheads 10 Summerwind Skippers 11 Landon Swank 12
Semi-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (August 23) Guest Performers, Results Show: Demi Lovato, Prince Poppycock, and New Boyz
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 24) Zuma Zuma 1 Beth Ann Robinson 2 Sandou Trio Russian Bar 3 Kevin Colis 4 Matt Wilhelm 5 POPLYFE 6 West Springfield Dance Team 7 Melissa Villaseñor 8 Team iLuminate 9 Daniel Joseph Baker 10 Miami All-Stars 11 Lys Agnès 12
Because of the majority vote for West Springfield Dance Team, Osbourne's voting intention was not revealed.
Semi-final 2 (August 30) Guest Performers, Results Show: David Guetta, Flo Rida, Nicki Minaj, and Susan Boyle
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 31) The Kinetic King 1 Fatally Unique 2 Landon Swank 3 Gymkana 4 Summerwind Skippers 5 Snap Boogie 6 Anna Graceman 7 Steven Retchless 8 Smage Brothers Riding Shows 9 Professor Splash 10 Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. 11 Silhouettes 12
Gymkana's performance was stopped early when one of the group members caught on fire while attempting to flip through the fire hoop, taking it down in the process.
Finals summary
| | Buzzed Out (Top 10 Finals Only)
Final - Top 10 (September 6) Guest Performers: Michael Grimm (Performance Episode); and Il Divo (Results Show).
Top 10 FinalistOrderBuzzesResult (September 7) Miami All-Stars 1 Lys Agnès 2 Landon Swank 3 Anna Graceman 4 Silhouettes 5 Smage Brothers Riding Shows 6 POPLYFE 7 West Springfield Dance Team 8 Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. 9 Team iLuminate 10
Grand-final (September 13) Guest Performers: Terry Fator (Performance Episode); Def Leppard, OneRepublic, Tony Bennett and Queen Latifah, cast of Cirque du Soleil's Iris, and Jackie Evancho (Results Show).
Grand-finalistOrderPerformed withResult (September 14) Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. 1 Patti LaBelle 1st Team iLuminate 2 Cobra Starship 3rd POPLYFE 3 Stevie Wonder 4th Silhouettes 4 LeAnn Rimes 2nd
Ratings The following ratings are based upon those published by Nielsen Media Research after this season's broadcast: