Bello Nock

Bello Nock was a comic daredevil act from Season 12 of America's Got Talent. He was eliminated in the Judge Cuts.

Background
Bello Nock is a clown from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Traveling Circus and performs 500 shows in 11 months, while carefully maintaining an eight inch spiked strawberry-blond do which is part of his trademark. Declared "America's Best Clown" by Time Magazine and "greatest athlete to perform in Madison Square Garden" by the New York Times.

Bello the clown is a seventh generation circus performer. He is a natural-born American of Swiss and Italian ancestry. A descendant of the family that founded Switzerland's Circus Nock in the 18th century, Nock began performing at age 3, playing the baby on the burning house in a "Dumbo" clown routine. At 6, Nock played Michael Darling in the touring version of "Peter Pan" with Cathy Rigby; he also performed at the age of 15 when he began performing in the Nock family's sway poles act. He later performed with his father and three brothers around the United States in an acrobatic troupe known as the Nerveless Nocks; he was a featured clown in Mexico's Circo Atayde before joining New York's Big Apple Circus, where he became the star attraction in 2000. Nock joined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 2001 as the star clown. The Sarasota native slowly progressed from clown to daredevil, learning all he could along the way. His dad Eugene, invented the act Bello now does -- the sway pole. This contraption goes up to 90 feet and is flexible, adding more suspense as Bello climbs to the top and does his routine.

His father came to America from Switzerland in 1954 to work for Ringling Bros., and his mother, Aurelia, was hired that same year. The two were married in 1955 and headlined the three-ring circus. 

Audition
Bello Nock's audition in Episode 1204 consisted of scrambling up a tall 2-inch diameter, 37-feet high sway pole with his bare hands. Once he was at the top of the pole, he perched on top, swung the pole, performed a handstand, and finally, slid down the pole face-down. Howie Mandel, Mel B, Heidi Klum, and Simon Cowell all voted "Yes", sending Bello to the Judge Cuts.

Judge Cuts
Bello Nock's Judge Cuts performance in Episode 1209 consisted of being shot out of a cannon over a helicopter onto a bullseye. Bello's performance was not strong enough for the judges to send him to the Quarterfinals, eliminating him from the competition along with Jonathan Rinny, instead of Billy & Emily England.

Trivia

 * Bello Nock's brother, John, was part of Season 8 act AeroSphere Aerial Balloon Show.