Jannick Holste arrives from Germany with two things to declare: he wants to win the show, and he loves Heidi Klum. He praises her song, tells her he loves everything about her and explains that he teaches dance while studying math. When math gives him trouble, he dances. Then he gets ready to perform, and the judges start asking what, exactly, he has brought them.
“Is it magic or dance?” one asks. There are boxes and chairs onstage, equipment that needs more explanation than his introduction supplied. During the routine, a dancer appears from a previously empty box. Later, another bursts out of the top of a folded box. The cheerful fan who seemed likely to deliver a dance number has the panel trying to account for extra people.
That uncertainty runs through this 72-minute video of fans auditioning before their idols. Some arrive with enough skill to make the judges forget the flattery. Others get the meeting they wanted and a firm rejection. Several persuade a celebrity to leave the judging desk, where keeping a straight face becomes much harder.
Heidi Klum’s fan has something up his sleeve
Holste is 19, openly ambitious and delighted to be in the room. Asked whether he dreams of becoming the world’s best dancer, he says his biggest dream is to win the show. He gives the judges plenty to tease him about before he starts. Once he performs, they have something specific to praise.
“We weren’t expecting that,” comes the response. One judge says they cannot remember another magician presenting magic with dance. Sofía Vergara singles out the magic because it was unexpected, then praises the whole performance. Holste has used his introduction to set a modest expectation and his routine to exceed it.
The song gives Simon Cowell an opening. He compares the vocals to someone stepping on a cat, then calls the act “fantastically good and fantastically bad at the same time.” Klum defends her own music. Cowell eventually says he is kidding and loved it. Holste gets yeses, along with the pleasure of watching his favorite judge become part of the conversation about his act.
A love song still has to survive the vote
Peter Raj makes his purpose clear before he sings. Two years earlier, he decided to come on the program to meet Amanda Holden. He has written her a song. David Walliams carries his own judge’s chair onto the stage so Holden can sit close to her admirer, and Peter suddenly needs water.
The judges help arrange the encounter, but they retain their buzzers. Cowell presses his red button while Holden claps from her seat onstage. Afterward, he calls the gesture sweet and the song terrible. An offer to pay for dinner keeps the exchange playful, but Peter receives three noes and one yes.
His audition establishes a limit that several fans will meet. A judge can enjoy the attention, agree to join the performance and still reject the act. Peter gets an unusually elaborate meeting with Holden. He does not get enough votes to continue.
Derry gives Kelly Rowland a reason to listen
Derry Mensah has rehearsed the encounter in his imagination. The 20-year-old Burger King employee talks about walking a red carpet with Kelly Rowland and says he plans to sing on his knees for her. He brings family, friends and his little nephew. Asked whom he most wants to impress, he names Rowland without hesitation.
“I love you, Kelly Rowland,” he tells her. She calls him cute. The panel then reminds him that he has put himself under pressure: now he needs to impress her with his singing. He chooses Usher’s “Can U Help Me” and follows through on his promise to drop to his knees.
Afterward, the judges discuss where his voice belongs. One imagines him in a British group like Boyz II Men; another prefers him as a solo artist. Gary Barlow praises his voice and asks him to remove his cap in future so people can see his face. Those are judgments about a possible career, far beyond the opening exchange about his crush.
After the yeses, Derry asks for a kiss on the cheek. He walks to the desk and kisses Rowland’s cheek, then reaches his cheering family backstage and collapses to the floor. The shift is almost immediate. Onstage, he managed to sing through the pressure of meeting her. Backstage, he can barely contain what happened.
Simon Cowell gets called “juicy with love”
At 73, Benchavan wastes little time worrying about Cowell’s reputation. She compliments Howie Mandel, compares him to her husband and announces her affection for Simon. Asked what she sees in him, she offers the video’s most direct challenge to his tough-guy routine.
“He pretend that he’s tough, but inside of him is juicy with love.”
Cowell agrees that, if she does well, she can have a snog. Benchavan sings “L-O-V-E,” though her timing soon becomes a subject of discussion. She explains that seeing him made her excited. Mandel, Mel B and Klum each say no. Cowell says he would have said yes.
Benchavan still gets her embrace, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him onstage. “My dream has come true,” she says. Later, her husband goes to the judging desk and kisses Klum. The audition has ended, but the family’s visit with the judges continues. Benchavan leaves with exactly the experience she had asked Cowell for before singing.
Howard Stern joins in, and the panel says no
Jetta, a 63-year-old from Sacramento, California, arrives ready to sing “Hot Stuff” for Howard Stern. She has retired from the State Department of Rehabilitation and talks about how much she loves his personality. Face to face, they compare their similar hair. She also tells him she shares his wife’s maiden name.
Stern asks whether she really thinks he is hot stuff, then decides to join her onstage. Jetta touches his hand and shrieks with excitement. He drops to one knee while she dances and sings. By then, the encounter has become a duet of reactions, with Stern supplying as much of the spectacle as the contestant.
Someone jokingly calls it “a Susan Boyle moment.” The votes that follow are less generous. Jetta receives three noes, despite one yes. As with Peter, the judges’ willingness to participate never amounts to a promise of advancement. She has persuaded Stern to perform alongside her; she has not persuaded enough of the panel to send her through.
When admiration becomes part of the act
Leon Ung finds a compact way to acknowledge his idol. The 13-year-old removes his track jacket during his dance and reveals a T-shirt printed with Alesha Dixon’s face. Afterward, Dixon thanks him for putting her “little face” on his shirt. “Of course, you’re my inspiration,” he replies. The judges all say yes.
For City Limits, three brothers from Chattanooga, Tennessee, now living in Atlanta, admiration comes with years of watching the show. They describe a family of 12 siblings and an ambition to become one of the biggest groups in the world. Before performing, one brother dedicates the act to Mel B. Afterward, she asks about their nerves, tells them she wants them to succeed and praises their knowledge of their craft.
Elsewhere, the judges make even bigger gestures. Vergara presses the Golden Buzzer for Roberta Battaglia, then goes onstage to embrace her beneath the confetti. Lionel Richie slow-dances with Dewayne’s 78-year-old great-grandmother. The encounters range from a brief acknowledgment across a desk to a memory involving several generations of a family.
Watch the full video for what happens after each declaration of love: Holste’s first appearance from the box, the panel’s discussion of Derry’s voice and the votes after Jetta’s serenade. The fans arrive knowing whom they want to meet. Their performances give the judges a chance to decide whom they want to hear from again.