“‘AGT’ was a staple in our household,” admits Terry Crews, the brand new host of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” in our exclusive video interview (watch above). “We used to sit down and watch and cheer and vote,” he recalls. “My kitchen island will never be the same, because [when I got the call to host] I actually jumped up on it and danced around like, ‘Holy Cow!’ My family screamed. Everybody just went crazy.”
NBC’s spinoff series “AGT: The Champions” airs Monday nights at 8/7c, with the last of the performance episodes taking place February 4. That episode will be a special one for Crews because he gets to push the Golden Buzzer for the very first time and send one act through to the Finals. So which act does Crews anoint with the life-changing honor?
“When you look at talent shows, most of the time they’re made up of singers, magicians, different things,” Crews teases. “You have never, ever seen an act like the act that I gave my Golden Buzzer to. It is absolutely one of the most phenomenal things. I literally ran out to give the buzzer. This is the thing: it’s such an enormous responsibility, because you understand when you press that button you are changing someone’s life forever, instantly.”
Crews adds, “You want to make sure that you made the right decision, that you don’t regret it. I didn’t want to come home like, ‘Oh man, I should have done this, I should have done that.’ I have no regrets. [The act] is absolutely deserving and you will see why.” So far the previous four Golden Buzzer acts have been Mel B‘s pick Susan Boyle, Heidi Klum‘s choice Deadly Games, Howie Mandel‘s selection Angelica Hale and Simon Cowell‘s honoree Kechi Okwuchi.
In an alternate reality, if Crews was a contestant instead of the host, what might his talent be? “I would probably sing,” he tells us. “I’m pretty good, I’m not gonna lie. My thing is, I hit you with the shock because you see a guy like me and you wouldn’t expect me to dance and sing and do other stuff, and then I would hit you with the biggest Frank Sinatra-type jam.”
Also in our interview, Crews explains how his role as host makes him “the bodyguard of these acts’ dreams,” he names Deadly Games and Jon Dorenbos as two of his personal favorite all-time contestants, he reveals what Simon Cowell is like in real life, and he gives his own theory for why so many prior “AGT” winners are dropping like flies.
