An audition on America’s Got Talent almost went very wrong Tuesday, as the Messoudi Brothers took the stage to take off and put back on their clothes as they juggled knives. In the process, they stunned the judges.
“Can I just say,” judge Mel B said, “having seen you before, I didn’t think you’d be able to top it. And it was really frightening.”
Trae Patton/NBC
The act first appeared on the NBC reality competition in 2019 during season 14. Back then, they did acrobatics with a third brother, and they made it to the semifinals. Brother Soffien and Karim explained when they stepped onstage that their brother Yassin now has two children. He opted to sit out the more dangerous act they brought on the second episode of season 20.
And it was. Not only did the brothers toss around knives like they were balls, but they took off and put back on the suits they were wearing as they did it. The audience — and the judges — couldn’t take their eyes off of it. When they peeled off their jackets, they went crazy.
But there were gasps as one brother appeared to struggle when he attempted to put his jacket back on. The brothers were so thrilled at having completed their feat that they did the Dirty Dancing lift.
Mel B’s fellow judges, Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel, and Simon Cowell, were impressed too.
Mandel remarked how their act was “incredibly dangerous” and that’s when it was revealed that a knife had sliced the jacket.
Vergara, who had to turn away from the stage at one point, because she couldn’t bear to look, noted that the jacket mishap had “made it even better, because we realized how hard this is.”
The tough-to-please Cowell deemed the act “breathtaking.”
“It might be the only time I’ve ever liked juggling acts,” he said. “It felt different. And we always say, this show relies on moments, and that’s what I call a moment. Big time.”
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As Mel B delivered her own glowing evaluation, she stood, and Vergara immediately began shouting ‘no,’ because she knew what was coming. It didn’t help.
“I think you are perfect!” Mel B said, before hitting the Golden Buzzer, which sends the Messoudi Brothers straight to the live shows later in the season.
After a celebration that included gold confetti falling onto the stage, Vergara told Mandel and Cowell that she had planned to do what the former Spice Girls member had.
“I was gonna do it!” the Modern Family alum protested. “That was my Golden Buzzer!”
To that, Cowell asked why she hadn’t gotten there earlier.
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.