The eighth season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 4 to September 18, 2013. Following the previous season, Sharon Osbourne left the program following a dispute with the network, leading to Mel B replacing her. The judging panel was expanded with Heidi Klum serving as a fourth judge. Along with these changes, the live rounds for this season were moved to Radio City Music Hall in New York.
The eighth season was won by mime dancer Kenichi Ebina, the first foreign act to win the American competition. Stand-up comedian Taylor Williamson finished in second, with singer and guitarist Jimmy Rose placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around over 10.10 million viewers.
Season overview Auditions for the eighth season's competition took place between January and May 2013, in a far wider number of venues. Open auditions were held between January and February in Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Birmingham (Alabama), Memphis, Nashville, Savannah, Raleigh, Norfolk and Columbus. New Orleans, San Antonio, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago also held open auditions (along with judges' auditions from March to May). Prior to production beginning, Sharon Osbourne became involved in a dispute with NBC, following the conclusion of the seventh season. Due to the treatment of her son in another of the network's programs, the dispute fundamentally culminated in her departing from the show.
Initially, executive producer Simon Cowell had wanted Carmen Electra to replace Osbourne on the program, but the decision was made to find someone else and expand the judging panel to incorporate four judges. This format change was first introduced on the sixth season of Britain's Got Talent. Singer Mel B was revealed as Osbourne's replacement, which was announced on February 20, 2013. On March 3, supermodel Heidi Klum was revealed as the fourth judge. During filming, Howie Mandel was absent on the first day of auditions in Los Angeles for personal reasons.
Following the previous season, some changes were made for the live rounds. After moving to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in season seven to accommodate new judge Howard Stern, it was announced that the live shows would be presented from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Both the YouTube and Wildcard quarter-finals were dropped from the schedule, and replaced with a standard fifth quarter-final round, with the Wildcard format adjusted. Judges could only select one eliminated quarter-finalist each as their Wildcard act, but their choice would be granted an automatic place in the semi-finals as a result. Additionally, any participant who reached the grand-final stage of the competition would be required to conduct two different performances, although the second routine would be done with a guest performer to accompany the style of their act. For example, a singer's second performance would have the potential of involving another singer to sing a duet with them.
Of the participants who auditioned for this season, sixty secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. About twenty of these advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, including three quarter-finalists chosen as Wildcard acts, along with the last-minute addition that had previously withdrew before the live rounds. Twelve semi-finalists secured a place in the finals, and six finalists secured a place in the grand-final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:
| | Wildcard Semi-finalist
ParticipantGenreActQuarter-FinalResult 2Unique Music Rapper and DJ 5 3Penny Chorus & Orchestra Music Orchestra 4 Aaralyn & Izzy Singing / Music Singer and Drummer 1 Aerial Ice Acrobatics Ice Skating Group 4 AeroSphere Aerial Balloon Show Acrobatics Aerialist 3 Alexandr Magala Danger Sword Swallower 2 Alexandria the Great Danger Escape Artist 1 American Hitmen Music Band 1 American Military Spouses Choir Singing Choir 3 Angela Hoover Comedy Impressionist 2 Anna Christine Singing Singer 1 Aquanuts Variety Synchronized Swimmers 2 Brad Byers Danger Sideshow Performer 2 Branden James Singing Opera Singer 1 Brandon & Savannah Music Band 3 Cami Bradley Singing / Music Singer 4 Catapult Entertainment Dance Shadow Dance Group 5 Champions Forever Variety Unicycle Group 4 Chicago Boyz Acrobatics Acrobatic Group 3 Chloe Channell Singing Singer 4 Ciana Pelekai Singing Singer 2 Collins Key Magic Magician 1 D'Angelo & Amanda Dance Ballroom Duo 5 Dave Fenley Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 5 Dave Shirley Comedy Comedian 2 David "The Cobra Kid" Weathers Animals Snake Handler 3 David Ferman Variety Juggler 4 Deanna DellaCioppa Singing Singer 3 Duo Resonance Acrobatics Acrobat Duo 5 Forte Singing Opera Trio 2 Fresh Faces Dance Dance Group 1 Hype Dance Dance Group 1 Innovative Force Acrobatics Acrobatic Group 2 Jim Meskimen Comedy Impressionist 3 Jimmy Rose Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 4 John Wing Comedy Comedian 5 Jonathan Allen Singing Opera Singer 3 Kelsey and Bailey Animals Dog Act 3 Kenichi Ebina Dance Dancer 3 Kevin Downey Jr. Comedy Comedian 1 Kid the Wiz Dance Dancer 2 KriStef Brothers Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo 1 Leon Etienne & Romy Low Magic Magicians 3 Marty Brown Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 2 Melody Caballero Acrobatics Contortionist 5 Mitsi Dancing School Dance Dance Group 3 Red Panda Acrobatics Acrobat Ruby & Jonas Dance Ballroom Duo 5 Sam Johnson Danger Daredevil 5 Selena Mykenzie Gordon Singing Singer 5 SensEtion Dance Dance Group 4 Special Head Variety Novelty Act 1 Sprice Variety Kinetic Artist 5 Struck Boyz Dance Dance Group 2 Taylor Williamson Comedy Comedian 4 Tellavision Dance Dance Group 1 The Robotix Music Band 4 Timber Brown Acrobatics Acrobat 4 Tone the Chiefrocca Singing Rapper 2 Tummy Talk Music Body Drummers 4 Virginia State University Gospel Chorale Singing Gospel Choir 5
Red Panda originally had a place in the quarter-finals, but were forced to withdraw for personal reasons. While they later returned as a WildCard semi-finalist, their quarter-final place was given to Melody Caballero as a direct result.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (July 23) Guest Performers, Results Show: The Rockettes, Labrinth, and Emeli Sandé
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 24) Anna Christine 1 tellAvision 2 American Hitmen 3 Special Head 4 Fresh Faces 5 Collins Key 6 Kevin Downey Jr. 7 Aaralyn and Izzy 8 Alexandria the Great 9 KriStef Brothers 10 Hype 11 Branden James 12
Quarter-final 2 (July 30) Guest Performers, Results Show: Robin Thicke, Brad Paisley
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (July 31) Innovative Force 1 Ciana Pelekai 2 Alexandr Magala 3 Struck Boyz 4 Brad Byers 5 Kid the Wiz 6 Forte 7 Angela Hoover 8 Dave Shirley 9 Marty Brown 10 Aquanuts 11 Tone the Chiefrocca 12
Due to the nature of the Aquanuts' performance, their quarter-final routine had to be pre-recorded at another location. Tone the Chiefrocca was later appointed as Mel B's WildCard semi-finalist.
Quarter-final 3 (August 6) Guest Performers, Results Show: Marion Ross, and Jason Derulo
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 7) AeroSphere Aerial Balloon Show 1 Chicago Boyz 2 Mitsi Dancing School 3 Kelsey and Bailey 4 Brandon & Savannah 5 Leon Etienne & Romy Low 6 Deanna DellaCioppa 7 David "The Cobra Kid" Weathers 8 Jonathan Allen 9 Kenichi Ebina 10 Jim Meskimen 11 American Military Spouses Choir 12
Due to the majority vote for Chicago Boyz, Klum's voting intention was not revealed. Leon Etienne & Romy Low were later appointed as Howard Stern's WildCard semi-finalist.
Quarter-final 4 (August 13) Guest Performers, Results Show: Backstreet Boys
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 14) 3Penny Chorus & Orchestra 1 Chloe Channell 2 Champions Forever 3 SensEtion 4 The Robotix 5 Timber Brown 6 Cami Bradley 7 Tummy Talk 8 Taylor Williamson 9 Aerial Ice 10 David Ferman 11 Jimmy Rose 12
Quarter-final 5 (August 20) Guest Performers, Results Show: Tom Cotter, Train, and Ashley Monroe
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 21) Virginia State University Gospel Chorale 1 Melody Caballero 2 Dave Fenley 3 2Unique 4 Sam Johnson 5 Duo Resonance 6 D'Angelo & Amanda 7 Selena Mykenzie Gordon 8 John Wing 9 Sprice 10 Ruby & Jonas 11 Catapult Entertainment 12
For health and safety reasons, Sam Johnson's quarter-final performance had to be pre-recorded at another location. Duo Resonance were later appointed as Heidi Klum's WildCard semi-finalist.
Semi-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (August 27) Guest Performers, Results Show: One Direction, and Cassadee Pope
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (August 28) Tone the Chiefrocca 1 Red Panda 2 Angela Hoover 3 Duo Resonance 4 Collins Key 5 Innovative Force 6 Dave Fenley 7 Taylor Williamson 8 Jonathan Allen 9 Catapult Entertainment 10 Cami Bradley 11 Forte 12
Semi-final 2 (September 3) Guest Performers, Results Show: Fall Out Boy, and Team iLuminate
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' votesResult (September 4) D'Angelo & Amanda 1 Marty Brown 2 Chicago Boyz 3 Leon Etienne and Romy Low 4 Anna Christine 5 Kenichi Ebina 6 John Wing 7 Branden James 8 KriStef Brothers 9 American Military Spouses Choir 10 Timber Brown 11 Jimmy Rose 12
Kristef Brothers had to perform in the second semi-final, due to an accident in rehearsals. Red Panda were given their place in the first semi-final, both as a last-minute replacement and as Howie Mandel's WildCard act.
Finals summary Final - Top 12 (September 10) Guest Performers, Results Show: Terry Fator, and Olate Dogs
Top 12 FinalistOrderResult (September 11) Chicago Boyz 1 Branden James 2 Innovative Force 3 KriStef Brothers 4 D'Angelo & Amanda 5 Catapult Entertainment 6 Forte 7 Taylor Williamson 8 Collins Key 9 Kenichi Ebina 10 Jimmy Rose 11 Cami Bradley 12
Grand-Final (September 17) Guest Performers, Results Show: The Rockettes, Icona Pop, Earth, Wind & Fire, Luke Bryan
Grand-finalistPerformed with(2nd Performance)Result(September 18) Cami Bradley Gavin DeGraw 6th Collins Key Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb 5th Forte Josh Groban 4th Jimmy Rose Dierks Bentley 3rd Kenichi Ebina Il Divo with Heather Headley 1st Taylor Williamson James Lipton 2nd
Ratings The following ratings are based upon those published by Nielsen Media Research after this season's broadcast: