Joel Mawhinney Wins 3 Yeses on America's Got Talent With Risky Magic Act

Q: After leaving kids' TV, can this magician's high-stakes gamble win America despite a judge's harsh critique?

Yes. Joel Mawhinney’s gamble has already paid off in the most immediate sense: despite Howie Mandel’s blunt “no” and criticism that the act was “too slow,” he won three yeses from Mel B, Sofía Vergara and Simon Cowell and advanced on America’s Got Talent. That matters because the audition did what a debut needs to do on AGT: make him memorable. Mawhinney, 28, took a high-risk approach by appearing to destroy deeply personal items from the judges’ dressing rooms, including Mel B’s birthday bracelet, Vergara’s framed dog photo and Mandel’s phone, before revealing each item unharmed in carefully staged locations. The trick created tension, surprise and a strong emotional payoff, which are key ingredients for success on a show built around standout moments. Mandel’s critique was not trivial. Pacing can hurt contestants as the competition gets tougher, and Simon Cowell also noted the act ran long. If Mawhinney is to “win America,” not just survive a round, he will likely need to tighten the structure of future performances while keeping the same level of danger and personality. He has reasons to believe he can do that. Mawhinney said his Blue Peter live-TV experience helped him handle the pressure, and he arrives with a substantial built-in audience, with more than 20 million followers online. That gives him visibility, but AGT ultimately rewards repeatable impact. His debut suggests he has the nerve, originality and stagecraft to go far if he sharpens the timing.

Q: How did a magician access celebrity dressing rooms for a trick that could have cost him everything?

He appears to have accessed the judges’ dressing rooms with the show’s cooperation as part of a pre-arranged audition setup, then used the opportunity to take items for the illusion. Neither Mawhinney nor the reports describe him sneaking in; instead, he said he “knew the plan was to take prized possessions, or whatever I could find,” which strongly suggests production approval rather than unauthorized access. What made it feel as if it could “cost him everything” was not how he got in, but what he chose to do once there. He took highly personal belongings — Mel B’s birthday bracelet, Sofía Vergara’s framed photo of her dog and Howie Mandel’s phone — and appeared to smash them on stage with a hammer before revealing they were safe and hidden elsewhere. Mawhinney himself said he normally avoids borrowing personal items because of “horror stories,” but decided to “go for it” on America’s Got Talent because he wanted to relaunch himself as a magician after leaving Blue Peter and felt he needed something extreme. He had turned down AGT approaches since 2020 because he saw the show as high-risk. This time, he accepted and relied on the live-TV experience he gained on Blue Peter to handle the pressure. The gamble worked: despite Mandel voting no because he found the act too slow, the other three judges voted yes and sent him through.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 21

Three judges sent former Blue Peter presenter Joel Mawhinney through after he appeared to smash their prized possessions, then revealed each item unharmed in a high-risk magic audition.
Howie Mandel's phone reappeared in a locked box, Sofía Vergara's dog photo was hidden in her seat cushion, and Mel B's bracelet turned up inside a red buzzer.
Mandel voted no, calling the act too slow, but Mel B, Vergara and Simon Cowell backed Mawhinney, giving him the 3 yeses needed to reach the next round.
Mawhinney said the stunt was the scariest experience of his life and a deliberate gamble to relaunch himself as a magician after leaving Blue Peter this month.
The 41st Blue Peter presenter said AGT producers had pursued him since 2020, and he finally accepted after deciding to kick off his post-TV career with something extreme.