Atikokan’s Alex Sampson reacted with a spin and an ecstatic “Oh my gaaawd!” Wednesday evening when he and millions of viewers found out he’s moving on to the semifinals in America’s Got Talent.
His mom, dad and brother were in the studio audience in Los Angeles, equally thrilled.
“Our reaction was a lot of tears and relief,” mom Jennifer Sampson said Thursday from Los Angeles.
She was glad host Terry Crews announced her son first for the semis, she said, “because if we all had to sit there any longer, the tension would have been worse. We were all nerves.
“But yeah, it was so amazing. We’re so proud of him. This is so surreal.”
Sampson, 20, wowed the show’s four judges with the original song “Pretty Baby” in his audition, which aired July 9.
His quarterfinals entry on Tuesday’s live telecast was another original song, “If You Were My Girl.”
AGT’s most critical judge, Simon Cowell, said Sampson was a bit “off” in places; the other judges called the crooner “a gem,” “a star” and “amazing.”
AGT’s live semifinal round begins Sept. 10 on NBC and Citytv.
