There were some scary moments on Tuesday’s season 19 premiere of America’s Got Talent, courtesy of contestant Arshiya Sharma.
The shy, smiling 13-year-old girl introduced herself by saying that she’d come all the way from India to compete. Her talent, she explained, was dancing, but she’d added some gymnastics and flexibility. And she sure had! Although Arshiya had said she was nervous, her performance was scary good—like something right out of a horror film.
Well, you said your dance was different
, judge Heidi Klum told the teen before she began her performance. We love different around here, so we’re very excited to see what you’ve got.
The crew then wheeled out what looked like a small wooden house decorated with a few old dolls. Arshiya crawled out with faux blood all over and, as a creepy soundtrack played, moved around like a monster. The terrified audience screamed as Arshyia, now wearing a bloody dress with cracked teeth and chilling contact lenses, contorted her body in seemingly impossible ways, bending over backwards and forwards, even doing splits in multiple directions. Some people turned their heads.
Judge Simon Cowell reacted with amazement. God, she’s changed
, he exclaimed. It was just so unexpected and frightening and brilliant at the same time.
Sofia Vergara added, I wondered sometimes, when you were in the middle of it, ‘There’s no way she’s going to be able to detangle.’ But you did every time and got into a worse position after.
At the end, she flung herself backwards to land very close to flat across the stage, prompting Vergara to scream. Then all four judges—Klum, Cowell, Vergara, and Howie Mandel—stood and clapped.
When you said you were going to leave to change [before the performance],
Klum said later on stage. I thought you were gonna come back with a pretty dress.
She added that she thought the contestant was one of the best contortionists we’ve ever seen
.
Mandel advised young girls watching at home not to attempt any of the moves without a lot of training. She had been so sweet, Cowell commented,that we thought she was going to do a Disney routine or something but instead you come back as Linda Blair from The Exorcist. It was just so unexpected and brilliant at the same time…The Chihuahua turned into a werewolf.
Just offstage as she reunited with her proud mom, Arshiya promised host Terry Crews that she would shock again in the next round. Throughout her performance,the audience cheered for her, cementing her place in the competition’s next stages.
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