Rubén Roldan unstraps his prosthetic leg, sets it down and prepares to tackle a huge outdoor staircase. The 23-year-old from Malaga, Spain, then vaults down the steps using his hands and one leg. Later, on the main stage, he balances upside down on one arm atop stacked black blocks.
Those two feats give Simon Cowell plenty to respond to before Rubén explains the childhood tractor accident that injured him. “I have so much respect for your talent and your courage,” Cowell tells him. Then he presses the Golden Buzzer.
Across the roughly 69-minute video titled ALL Golden Buzzer Auditions America’s Got Talent 2026, performers earn that response through very different kinds of risk. A rapper brings an original song and receives criticism. A singer returns to Cowell 21 years after their first meeting. An aerial performer drops toward the judges’ desk before catching herself. The gold follows, but the performances leave more to discuss than the celebration.
Rubén makes his case in motion
Before Rubén performs, a friend explains that he lives in a small village and hopes to travel the world doing parkour. The friend calls him the hardest-working person he knows. Rubén offers a shorter account of his state of mind: “Nervous.”
His routine gives that introduction a physical scale. Outside, he has a long staircase to negotiate. Inside, the stacked blocks provide a smaller platform for a demanding balance. He moves from covering ground to holding his body above a single planted hand.
Afterward, Rubén says he had an accident with a tractor while growing up in the countryside. He keeps the explanation brief. Cowell calls the performance “bloody fantastic,” and the Golden Buzzer follows his praise for both Rubén’s skill and courage. By then, Rubén has already shown the judges what he came to do.
A childhood audition, 21 years later
Mackenzie Sol arrives with a connection to Cowell that stretches back to age four. He says he auditioned for him on The X Factor, though the minimum age was 16. In the childhood exchange included in the video, Cowell tells him, “In twelve years’ time, you’re through.”
The return takes longer. Now 25, Mackenzie says he has spent recent years singing in local clubs and pubs in northeast England. His mother and family have come with him. Backstage, he worries about making a fool of himself and wonders whether Cowell will remember him.
Onstage, he gives Cowell the reminder himself. Cowell says he was about to suggest they had met, prompting some teasing about his ability to recognize someone he last saw as a small child. Mackenzie describes that first audition as the moment he knew he wanted to sing.
Mel B leaves little suspense after his performance. She calls him “absolutely extraordinarily fabulous,” says she is glad she gets to speak first, then stands and presses the buzzer. Mackenzie’s long account of trying to return ends with a judge unwilling to wait another turn.
Luke gets criticism before he gets gold
Luke’s history with the show begins in the audience. He attended to support his friend Jordan Blue and told Cowell to remember his face: the following year, he would be onstage, expecting a Golden Buzzer.
Born in Cuba and raised in the United States from age three, Luke says music helped him learn English and connect with other children. After high school, he worked in stockrooms, as a valet, in warehouses and as a forklift driver. He also began performing in the streets. For his audition, he brings an original rap called “Seat to Stage.”
The title describes the journey the judges have just heard about, and Luke performs with enough excitement that it becomes part of the critique. One judge says the audition was not the best or greatest and points out that he ran short of breath near the end. Another responds that he was excited.
The exchange gives the celebration some friction. The judges can admire his commitment and still hear a performance problem. They praise the original song and his heart before Howie Mandel returns to the prediction Luke made a year earlier.
“How did you know?”
Howie hits the buzzer, and Luke drops to his knees. Afterward, Luke explains that doctors diagnosed him with leukemia at 13. His mother worked overnight, and he sometimes stayed alone in the hospital. He began writing songs there. “Music got me through it,” he says. That account adds a much longer history to a song about moving from one side of a television studio to the other.
The singers who make the judges hurry
Isaac Atkins gets a reaction before he sings. A judge interrupts his introduction to hear his speaking voice again. Isaac repeats his name and explains that he is 23, from Lewiston, Maine, and a sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has served for six years and taken a few days of leave to audition.
His route to the stage began in his car. Isaac says he started posting singing videos about a year and a half earlier. Soldiers at work saw them, teased him about his TikTok appearances and encouraged him to enter. He credits his father with introducing him to Motown and Sam Cooke.
During the performance, Isaac clasps the microphone with both hands. Afterward, Mel B praises his voice and cuts off any chance of a long discussion: “Before anybody else does this, I’m gonna do it.” Her buzzer brings him to tears. Later, he is told to share the news with his fellow soldiers.
Lara D, from Sydney, Australia, gets Sofia Vergara searching for much the same opening. Lara says she started working with her parents but came to pursue her dream. Her performance includes a high note under the stage lights and pointed lyrics about a man she rates one out of ten.
Sofia says she has been looking for a surprise, for “something unexpected.” She calls Lara a star and presses the buzzer. Elsewhere in the compilation, 14-year-old Lai Noelle sings beneath bright spotlights and earns Cowell’s Golden Buzzer. The singers vary in age and experience; the judges repeatedly act before their colleagues can claim the same choice.
Dogs, lasers and a drop above the desk
The opening dance crew creates a multi-armed illusion by lining up behind a lead dancer and manipulating white cards. Howie lunges across the desk to award them gold. Later, the Acro Canine Crew folds a dog’s leap through posed acrobatic dancers into its routine. Terry Crews presses the buzzer, and the performers scream and cry. Cowell subsequently sits on the stage edge and lets one of the dogs lick his face.
Royal Lasers builds a different spectacle. Performers in illuminated cowboy suits dance together among neon beams. A dancer strikes a giant projected monster, followed by sparklers and fire effects. Terry rushes the judges’ desk to deliver another Golden Buzzer.
Veronika Goroshkova brings the danger close to that desk. Suspended high above the judges on an aerial pole, she spins upside down. Later, she drops down the pole and catches herself inches from the desk. Sofia presses the buzzer after a routine whose stakes are visible in the distance between performer and furniture.
Watch the full video to follow those routines through to the judges’ responses, especially the debate over Luke’s breath control and Rubén’s move from the outdoor stairs to the one-arm balance. Each gives you a chance to make your own judgment before anyone reaches for the buzzer.
