Many mentalists have found their way into mainstream media.
This makes it so easy to access their performances.
Now, one show where mentalists have chosen to showcase their talent is America’s Got Talent (AGT).
And who can blame them?
With an average of 10 million viewers per season, it’s a sure way to jumpstart their mentalism career.
As for you, you may just want to know which AGT mentalism acts to watch to blow your mind…
Or maybe you’re looking for inspiration as a budding mentalist.
Whatever the case, here are 5 mentalism acts to watch on AGT…
Colin Cloud
Competed in: Season 12
Farthest Reach: Semifinals
Born Colin McLeod, this season 12 contestant was originally from Scotland.
Some people call him a real-life, modern-day Sherlock Holmes.
With a passion for criminal profiling, he entered university to study Forensic Investigation at 15. There, he honed his abilities, which later came in handy when he decided to pursue a career in stage and TV.
His audition on America’s Got Talent involved handing each judge a coin and asking them to hide it in one of their hands. His trick centered on correctly guessing which hand had it.
His approach with Howie, who was the first, was straightforward. For Mel B, Heidi, and Simon, he involved the audience by asking them to call out certain things.
For Mel B, the audience gave two colors — white and blue. He assigned a color for each hand.
For Heidi, it was between two animals (a cat or a cheetah).
And for Simon, two names (Oscar or Charlie).
Every time, Cloud correctly guessed which hand had it (white for Mel B, cat for Heidi, and Oscar for Simon).
He returns to the stage where Tyra Banks sits on a box, holding a champagne flute with a rolled-up paper inside. The audience sees this message when he unrolls it.
“I, @Colin_Cloud, want you to open the lid and tell everyone what’s inside.”
And, lo and behold! Inside the box was a white cat named Oscar.
Cloud went on and gave several more performances. His elimination happened on the 19th episode of the season. To see all of Colin Cloud’s AGT performances, watch this video:
Peter Antoniou
Competed in: Season 16
Farthest Reach: Semifinals
Peter Antoniou’s interest in the mystic arts came early — at age nine. It involved a tarot deck he had bought himself for Christmas.
He grew up watching his aunt read fortunes using coffee grounds (as opposed to tea leaves), furthering his interest in the paranormal.
Antoniou always knew he was a strange kid — and he leaned in and embraced it.
He learned all he could from various people, such as hypnotists, magicians, psychologists, psychics, and shamans.
But he also has a background in improvisational comedy, which gave his acts a different flavor.
In 2021, Antoniou moved from England to the U.S.
Seeing how no one knew who he was, he had to reestablish his career — and America’s Got Talent provided an excellent gateway for it.
He delivered a stellar audition, earning him yeses from all four judges.
First, he called the host, Terry Crews, on stage and revealed a toy house with five rooms. Antoniou says each judge and Terry get their own and that he customized each to their tastes.
He then turned around and asked the host to choose one item from any room and hide it wherever he wanted.
When it was time to guess, Antoniou pulled out his phone and let everyone listen to a pre-recorded voicemail.
It said that the baseball bat was in Terry’s left pocket — which it was.
He spins the toy house around and shows an identical message on the back.
The next part of his audition involved Simon hiding Sofia Vergara’s engagement ring in one of 1,000 boxes.
Not only did he find it, but he also guessed a memory that very few people knew about the proposal.
Oz Pearlman
Competed in: Season 10
Farthest Reach: 3rd Place
The next must-watch AGT mentalist was born in Israel on July 19, 1982.
Oz Pearlman’s interest in magic was piqued by a magic show aboard a cruise ship when he was 13. By 14, he was already performing at kids’ shows, restaurants, and corporate events.
Although passionate about magic and mentalism, Pearlman joined the corporate world after college. It wasn’t until he did a show for their senior management team that he realized it was worth doing full-time.
And in 2015, he became a contestant on America’s Got Talent, Season 10.
His audition comprised two mind-reading acts.
The first was asking Heidi to think of a number between 1 and 100. He asked Howie, who had known her for eight years if he had any idea what figure she chose.
When Howie said, “No” Pearlman quipped, “Me, too!”.
When he asked Heidi what her number was, she answered 57. He requested Howie to read the note he had scribbled beforehand — it was 57!
The second trick was more elaborate.
Pearlman handed Mel B a piece of paper and asked her to write down a place she had traveled to (not for work) and who she was with.
He pulls out an envelope from his jacket (stapled on all sides) and asks Howard to open it. Inside was a note saying he saw Mel B at a beach in Fiji in 1998 with someone named Geri.
And that was exactly what the former Spice Girl had written on her paper.
See how Oz navigated his way to the finals:
The Clairvoyants
Competed in: Season 11
Farthest Reach: 2nd Place
The only act on our list that isn’t a solo performer is the Clairvoyants.
Both were born in Austria but didn’t meet until they were in their twenties.
Within months of forming their duo, they worked on their second-sight act, which they brought to the stage within a year.
In 2016, they auditioned for America’s Got Talent with several mind-reading tricks that got them four yeses from the judges — but also a lot of love from the audience.
However, one of their most notable performances involved a bowl of jellybeans.
In the quarterfinals, The Clairvoyants decided to put a different spin on their acts.
The mind-reading element was still evident — Amélie Van Tass guessed the flavors Simon and Heidi picked from the bowl (grape and bubblegum, respectively).
Thommy Ten, the other half of the duo, then switched it up with Mel B, asking her to put as many jellybeans in her cup as she wanted.
Van Tass doesn’t guess the flavors this time — she tells them how many there are inside the cup.
While all this was happening, Ten bantered around with Howie, determining that his dream jellybean flavor was spicy chocolate.
Then the duo reveals that their act was not about mind-reading — it was about mind control.
They presented a covered board containing the same information during their performance — including Howie’s dream flavor!
If you want to see all their performances from the auditions to the finals, check out the video below:
Dustin Tavella
Competed in: Season 16
Farthest Reach: Winner
“What if what seemed really random actually was things landing exactly the way they were supposed to?”
That was Tavella’s line when he began his quarterfinal performance.
And what an act it was!
He starts by spreading a deck of cards on the table, showing them in order. He then puts them in a transparent box, which he shakes, mixing them up.
He hands them to Howie, who was with him onstage and asks him to move them around even more.
The AGT judge shakes the cards and dumbs them on a table — Tavella then spreads them across the table (this is when he says his iconic line).
Then you see what sets Tavella apart from other magicians and mentalists.
He isn’t only a performer — he’s a storyteller.
Even during his audition, his tricks were vehicles that allowed him to highlight significant points in his story.
This time, Tavella has prepared a storybook, and as he turns each page, he goes back to the table and shows how the cards exactly matched the story he wrote.
- Only 21 are facing upward
- Of the 21, 10 are black
- Of the 10, 8 were clubs
- All the red cards were hearts (except for the ten of diamonds)
To experience all of Tavella’s performances, you can watch it all in the video below:
Wrapping Things Up
And there you have it — 5 mentalists you should watch on AGT.
Remember, no two mentalists are the same.
Colin Cloud has a background in forensic investigation. Peter Antoniou has improvisational comedy. Oz Pearlman spent some time on Wall Street. The Clairvoyants are a duo. And Dustin Travella is a storyteller.
If you’re going to take inspiration and learn from those who made it in mainstream media, you might as well learn from the best.