We thought the reaction to Susan Boyle’s return for last week’s premiere of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” was intense — and then NBC “leaked” footage of 14-year-old ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer making her come back on Episode 2. In a preview clip from Monday’s episode, Farmer is back in front of Mel B, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell, ready to wow them for the special all-star edition of the competition. “Well, I always love a good competition, but I missed being on ‘AGT’ and maybe having a chance to have the ‘World Champion’ title just seemed awesome so…” the former winner and fan-favorite tells the judges, while holding Oscar, one of her trusty puppets. Also Read: Susan Boyle Scores First Golden Buzzer of 'America's Got Talent: The Champions' (Video) “Well look, no pressure, but you’re the first up, so let’s set the standard,” Cowell tells the teen. Farmer and Oscar are totally up for the challenge, first riffing on Simon’s wardrobe before launching into performances of “Nutbush City Limits” and “Proud Mary.” She even took the opportunity to use her own voice — not just Oscar’s — while “rolling on a river.” We’ll see her full performance when she makes her official “AGT: The Champions” debut next week. Also Read: Ratings: 'AGT - The Champions' Debut Tops Last Week's 'Masked Singer' Premiere in Viewers Watch the video above. Darci Lynne Farmer will make her “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” debut Monday, Jan. 14 at 8/7c on NBC.<doc-sep>"I'm just taking it step-by-step," Darci Lynne Farmer tells PEOPLE of losing to Cristina Ramos on Monday's episode Two of the youngest and most recognized faces of America’s Got Talent were eliminated from Monday’s episode of The Champions. Neither Darci Lynne Farmer nor Courtney Hadwin won Heidi Klum‘s Golden Buzzer, so they will not be moving forward to the finals. The two teenagers made it to the top 3 of the audition stage but were ultimately bested by Spain’s Got Talent champion Cristina Ramos, who edged out Farmer and Hadwin, both 14, with votes from the Midwest region. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “It’s insane how good she is,” Farmer tells PEOPLE of Ramos, who blew audiences away with her unique rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Farmer performed with her puppet Oscar the Mouse and amazed judges Klum, Simon Cowell, Mel B and Howie Mandel with their duets of Tina Turner’s hits “Nutbush City Limits” and “Proud Mary.” agt Credit: Chris Haston/NBC; Trae Patton/NBC On losing the chance to be named the world’s best, Farmer says, “I’m just taking it step-by-step,” adding that she’s returned to being a student at her local public school. “I’m just going along for the ride,” the season 12 AGT winner shares of her burgeoning fame. “I hope there’s more to come.” agt-b Credit: Chris Haston/NBC Meanwhile, Hadwin, who auditioned with an original song, is focusing on releasing her own songs post-Champions. “I’m working on new music, which is really cool! It’s going to be my own style. I want my own personal songs to not be based on someone else’s voice, I want it to be my voice and my kind of style,” says the U.K. native, who signed with Cowell’s record label after becoming a finalist on AGT season 13. “It was only a couple of months ago that I couldn’t have dreamt of being where I am now. It’s just amazing how much I’ve done. I feel very lucky!” she adds. agt-c Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Both girls say they’ve won something even more special than the Champions title: a lasting friendship. “Courtney and I actually became really good friends,” Farmer says. “We hung out a lot. She’s really, really sweet. She’s an amazing singer, she’s incredible. It was nice to get to know her and it was fun hanging out with her and we always played the card game, Uno. She’s really fun and to hang out with her was really fun.” Hadwin adds, “I’m constantly talking to Darci Lynne.” And as their careers skyrocket, Farmer and Hadwin’s anonymity is fleeting. “There are times where I’m like, ‘I wish I can do this or I wish I can be normal like this,’ but with my life, I try to keep it normal. I go to public school which is nice because that’s where I can go to be Darci and when I perform I’m Darci Lynne. It’s my balance,” Farmer says. “People either say, ‘Are you the girl off the telly?,’ or they want to say hi. They sometimes also ask for pictures,” Hadwin says. “I really like it when people come over, say hi and get a picture of me, but it’s a bit weird when I’m sitting there eating.”<doc-sep>On “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” 50 acts from around the world return to compete for the ultimate crown, but several former winners are dropping like flies. Two winning ventriloquists returned for “Champions” — Season 10 champ Paul Zerdin and Season 12 victor Darci Lynne Farmer — but Darci Lynne was shockingly eliminated after her audition. When Paul pops up in the Monday, January 28 episode, can he do what Darci Lynne couldn’t and advance to the Finals? Watch Paul Zerdin’s “AGT: Champions” leaked video above. Judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel are on the floor laughing at Paul’s latest comedy routine, which begins without one of his trusted puppets. Paul reveals that he loves messing with people in elevators by pretending to be the voice of the elevator and saying things like, “Doors closing. Going up. Get out, fatty, you’re too heavy. Cable detaching.” Soon Paul introduces the audience to his trusted puppet Sam, who asks, “What the hell went wrong?” when he finds out that he’s back on the “America’s Got Talent” stage. They then perform an impressive duet with Sam humming a tune and Paul doing the beat box drum beat. “Woo, we did it!” shouts Sam as the audience applauds wildly. During Season 10 Paul beat out runner-up comedian Drew Lynch to become the show’s second ventriloquist champ since Terry Fator in Season 2. Following his victory the London entertainer headlined a show in Las Vegas called “Mouthing Off” than ran for four months at Planet Hollywood. There are two ways that Paul can advance to the Finals of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions”: via a Golden Buzzer or via the Superfan vote. If Paul ends up making it through on Monday night he’ll be joining a comedian (Preacher Lawson), a pair of extreme knife throwers (Deadly Games) and four singers (Susan Boyle, Cristina Ramos, Angelica Hale and Paul Potts).<doc-sep>“America’s Got Talent: The Champions” ends the audition round of season 1 on Monday with the fifth and final episode showcasing 50 acts drawn from around the world. Another 10 take part on the February 4 edition of this spin-off from “AGT” including a past winner of the main show: magician Shin Lim who pulled off an upset on “America’s Got Talent” last summer. Of the other nine acts, five won in their respective countries, including three who took the title on “Britain’s Got Talent”: shadow dance group Attraction (2013), pianist Tokio Myers (2017) and comedian Lost Voice Guy (2018). Another, sand artist Kseniya Simonova, won “Ukraine’s Got Talent” in 2009. And escape artist Cosentino was the “Australia’s Got Talent” winner in 2011. WATCH Shin Lim perform mind-blowing magic card tricks on ‘AGT: The Champions’ Each of the other four acts on the bill on Monday lost their bid to win “America’s Got Talent.” Among these is Jackie Evancho who was the season 5 runner-up in 2010. In the nine years since she has racked up millions of record sales and performs to sell-out crowds. WATCH Jackie Evancho sing ‘Music of the Night’ flawlessly on ‘AGT: The Champions’ The other three “AGT” finalists set to perform on episode 5 of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” are: mentalist Colin Cloud (AGT 2017); musical group Sons of Serendip (AGT 2014); and singer Sal Valentinetti (AGT 2016). SEE Who are the ‘America’s Got Talent’ superfans: How voting for ‘AGT: The Champions’ works Refresh this page for the most up-to-date comments 8:02 p.m. – In the last four weeks we saw Mel B, Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel all send their favorite acts through to the final with the Golden Buzzer–tonight it’s new host Terry Crews‘s turn to make someone’s dreams come true. The other nine acts will compete for the favor of the super fans across the country that will decide which one of them will be the second act to move on. 8:04 p.m. – The first act to perform tonight was the Hungarian champions of BGT, shadow dance group Attraction. They were hoping to impress Simon once again and prove that they are just as good as they were in 2013 when they won. Their routine was a love story to America that saw the shadows of a man and his son traveling to the U.S. and through all of its major cities and landmarks. Howie loved how concise and emotional the story was and Heidi called it “flawless.” 8:12 p.m. – Next was singer Jackie Evancho, who competed when she was 10 years old (she’s now 18), the runner-up from season 5 of AGT. Since then she traveled the world performing on television and recording albums, one of which made her the youngest solo singer to go platinum. Her performance tonight garnered a roaring round of applause from the audience and earned high praise from Simon who said that she’s gotten better. 8:22 p.m. – Back two years after his first stint on the show, Colin Cloud returned on Simon’s request that he deserved a second chance after just barely missing the finals. For his trick Colin correctly predicted that a random member of the audience would be thinking of David Hasselhoff‘s name which happened to already be written on Colin’s pocket square and who was already seated in the auditorium in the exact seat that Howie chose at random using one letter and one number. Simon was enthralled with the performance and said that he “absolutely redeemed himself.” 8:35 p.m. – The most recent BGT winner, Lost Voice Guy, was next and said that he’s gained confidence that he didn’t have before the show. Because of his cerebral palsy he is unable to speak so in order to fulfill his dream as a stand-up comedian he uses a speech aid device. His set tonight focused on his disability, drawing the crowd in and explaining who he is as a person while also being funny. Howie said that he uses him as an example of a comedian that the American audience needs in order to champion a comedian on their seasons. 8:46 p.m. – For fifth place finisher singer Sal Valentinetti, AGT changed his life and allowed him to perform all over the country, but he returned to prove that he can win. Heidi was most excited to see him return to the stage because he was her Golden Buzzer choice in 2016. Tonight she was just as over the moon for Sal as she was then. His rendition of “Mack the Knife” made Howie call him as real and authentic as Frank Sinatra. Simon even said that he’s “star struck” after seeing him sing. 8:55 p.m. – Tokio Myers made his first ever trip to the States in order to compete as one of the five champions on this evening’s show. Prior to his performance Simon referred to him as one of the greatest winners the show has ever had. His piano and drum performance tonight was accompanied by stellar graphics and pyrotechnics. After critiques Simon pleaded to the super fans to vote Tokio through to the finals–he probably should have petitioned to Terry though! That Golden Buzzer was still up for grabs. 9:07 p.m. – Next to take the stage was Ukraine’s Kseniya Simonova, a sand artist that won UGT in 2009 and then went viral online with her performance. What she did was draw on a light box covered in sand as it was projected on to the big screen for the audience to see. Through her constant rearranging of the sand she told the story of the birth and life of a boy who became famous and forgot his parents. The way she drew so quickly and clearly was indeed impressive–Simon called her one of the best contestants across all country shows, Howie called her art beautiful and declared her a champion and then Terry came out from backstage to hit his Golden Buzzer out of respect for her “ability to move people.” Great choice, Terry!<doc-sep>
Despite being one of the most successful “America’s Got Talent” winners of all time, teen ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer was shockingly eliminated in the second episode of spinoff series “America’s Got Talent: The Champions.” Of the 10 acts from around the world who performed on Monday, January 14, one advanced thanks to Heidi Klum‘s Golden Buzzer (extreme knife throwers Deadly Games) and the other was voted through thanks to the Superfan voters (opera/rock singer Cristina Ramos). Did the Superfans goof by sending home Darci? Vote down in our poll below. SEE Will Darci Lynne Farmer return to ‘America’s Got Talent: The Champions’ as a wild card? The 14-year-old Oklahoma native, who recently hosted her own Christmas special, took to the stage with her adorably sassy mouse puppet Oscar, who joked that “AGT” judge Simon Cowell was “wearing the same clothes” that he did two years ago. Since Oscar’s love life isn’t doing very good, Darci tasked him with impressing his female fans with a fun Tina Turner medley of “Nutbush City Limits” and “Proud Mary.” After their duet the judges gave Darci a standing ovation. Howie Mandel said that she was a “seasoned professional.” Mel B admitted that Oscar “won my heart with that.” Heidi Klum raved that she’s “one of the most unique” acts they’ve ever had. And Simon Cowell confessed that he was “literally blown away.” Unfortunately, Darci only came in second place in the Superfan vote so she was sent home. SEE ‘AGT: Champions’ dog act Ashleigh and Sully reflects on devastating death of Pudsey: ‘We had to say goodbye’ [WATCH] In his “AGT” live blog, our recapper John Benutty had this to say about Darci Lynne Farmer’s performance: “Darci set the standard very high for the rest of the night, receiving a standing ovation from the judges and audience. [Simon] also said that Darci deserves to be the world champion, but without Heidi’s Golden Buzzer it’ll take the votes of the superfans to get her to the next round.”