From the moment a golden shower of confetti rained down on her during the Season 12 premiere, Oklahoma ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer was considered one of the favorites to win “American's Got Talent.”
And on Wednesday night, she did.
The 12-year-old singing ventriloquist from Oklahoma City, who consistently wowed the judges, the studio audience and the internet with her remarkable performances on the popular NBC talent show, won the $1 million grand prize and a Las Vegas headlining opportunity on Wednesday night's finale.
As sparkles and more confetti rained down on the stage, Darci's older brothers, Nick, 20, and Dalton, 17, rushed past host Tyra Banks to swoop up the girl, who burst into tears when her name was called.
The competition ultimately came down to two talented girls who were front-runners throughout the season: Darci, whose voice soared through her clenched teeth as she operated her charming puppet pals, and Angelica Hale, a precocious 10-year-old belter who had survived a kidney transplant.
“No matter what happens, it's just been so much fun, and we're just all winners on the show,” Darci said moments before she was named the victor.
Banks said an “America's Got Talent” record 52 million votes were cast Tuesday night after the top 10 finalists performed live.
Tough competition
The Season 12 competition was strong, their stories stirring: teenage songbird Evie Clair, who dedicated her performances to her father, who succumbed to cancer earlier this month; Kechi, a singer who survived being badly burned in a plane crash; singer-songwriter Mandy Harvey, who learned to sing again after losing her hearing in college; and singer, rapper and songsmith Chase Goehring, who brought his original compositions to the stage.
The contenders also included brash comedian Preacher Lawson; inspirational dog act Sara and Hero; and daring dance groups Diavolo and Light Balance. All 10 finalists earned standing ovations from the studio audience and praise from the show's curmudgeonly judge and creator Simon Cowell Tuesday night.
With the high-quality talent, “America's Got Talent” delivered its most watched season ever, averaging 15.8 million viewers in “live plus seven day” averages from Nielsen Media Research for Tuesday and Wednesday original episodes, up 14 percent over last summer, according to NBC.
“It's really unpredictable because it's in America's hands … and you never know: America could love you or could not like you at all,” Darci told The Oklahoman in a summer interview. “Winning would be amazing.”
Tickets for “America's Got Talent Live” Nov. 3-4 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas will go on sale at noon Friday. A special pre-sale is set for noon to midnight Thursday. Tickets can be purchased online at www.AGTvegas.com or by phone at 702-777-2782 or 855-234-7469.
Viral ventriloquist
Darci, who took up ventriloquism 2 ½ years ago to counteract her shyness, amazed from the start of the summer competition. During her audition, which aired on the May 30 season premiere, Darci and her rabbit diva puppet Petunia crooned an incredible rendition of "Summertime" that prompted Spice Girl Mel B. to hit her Golden Buzzer, meaning the stunned Oklahoma native bypassed the rest of the competition and went straight to the live shows.
The performance immediately went viral, so Darci suddenly found herself getting recognized in restaurants, at the mall and the airport when she returned to Oklahoma City.
“She got to 100 million (views) within 24 hours on Facebook,” her mom, Misty Farmer, told The Oklahoman. “They said she's been the most-watched audition in the history of ‘AGT.' They've never seen anything like it. It's been crazy.”
The Deer Creek Middle Schooler returned to TV for the Aug. 15 quarterfinals with a new puppet, an adorably awkward mouse named Oscar with whom she dedicated to Mel B. a soulful rendition of The Jackson 5's “Who's Lovin' You.”
On the Sept. 5 semifinals show, the seventh-grader and her sassy senior citizen character Edna Doorknocker serenaded Cowell with a heartfelt cover of the Aretha Franklin classic “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," earning a standing ovation from the studio audience by the first chorus.
The girl continued to top herself, bringing out both her bunny diva Petunia and her mousy blues belter Oscar so she could sing both parts of a show-stopping puppet duet of The Beatles classic “With a Little Help from My Friends” on Tuesday's finals performance.
"I was very, very shy. But 'America's Got Talent' has given me a voice," Darci said on Wednesday's show after appearing with famed ventriloquists Terry Fator and Jeff Dunham.
Life-changing experience
Darci told The Oklahoman she had a simple motivation for spending her spring break auditioning for “America's Got Talent” in Austin, Texas.
“I've always watched it and I've always wanted to do it, so I thought I'd try it,” she said.
“When I walked onto the ‘America's Got Talent' stage, I thought I was gonna puke,” she admitted. “Whenever I get nervous … I tend to cry. But I held it in, so I'm kind of proud.”
Her mother told The Oklahoman over the summer that her daughter didn't audition for “America's Got Talent” in the hopes of becoming rich and famous.
“That's really not in her. She's the most humble child you'll ever meet. She will not talk about herself. … She just is a normal 12-year-old with her friends,” said Misty Farmer, who added that she and husband Clarke have juggled activities for their three sons - Nick, Dalton and Nate, 9 - along with Darci's “America's Got Talent” trips to California throughout Season 12.
“She just loves what she does, and she'll go out and do her thing. And if it turns out that she does well, then that's the door that's been opened. And we'll just go with that.”
Darci said one of her goals on the show was to boost interest in the art of ventriloquism. Before her live performance Tuesday night, "America's Got Talent" producers showed a prerecorded segment of Darci watching videos of adults and children from all over who were inspired by her to try ventriloquism.
“It's not really common anymore, and not many people do it. So, I wanted to show it to them,” she said.
