Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25150955-20190108025202/@comment-25433488-20190122195928

Curious Poker Chip wrote: I have an America's Got Talent theory that I came up with last night. I may even make this theory in a YouTube video. I cannot confirm or deny if anything that I will say below is true or false but it is just a harmless theory and should not be taken seriously.

Simon Cowell's buzz during Tom Cotter's performance during America's Got Talent: The Champions is extremely telling...

Prior to Season 7, AGT wasn't as "scripted" or as "rigged" as it was now. The judges and host were given much stronger free rein in regards of the acts that they liked/disliked and nobody was really "pushed" as an obvious frontrunner. For Season 7, Tom Cotter auditioned and he became a frontrunner and was at the time the funniest comedian that had ever auditioned. However, Simon Cowell disliked him. Simon was still heavily involved with AGT even back when he didn't judge, but because he disliked him (not to the point of hatred, just simply him not thinking he is funny because comedy is subjective), he did not want him to win. But because there wasn't as much control over the show as there is now.

Anyways, he makes it to the finals and I personally believe that he actually did get more votes than Olate Dogs, but because Simon loves dogs and disliked Tom's style of comedy and because he has the most control on the show, he decided to make it seem as though Olate Dogs beat out Tom in the voting. It was at this point that Simon decided to "restructure" the show and make it more scripted for lack of a better word. Sharon left because of an NBC kerfuffle and slowly but surely, the show became more and more in Simon's control to the point of where he eventually became a judge and hand-picked a couple of contestants to be "better" than others because of the fakeness.

So I am saying that there is a possibility that Tom Cotter is the sole reason for the change in format and structure, which is ironic since he is a terrific act. And also because he disliked him and is not the same judge he was in the glory days of American Idol, instead of saying "Tom, you're not funny" or "Tom, you suck", he just called him "ordinary" and I think Tom also knows this, which is why even though he tried to save face and did not say anything for the rest of the episode and could be seen with a stern expression afterwards. He knows that Simon has two times in a row through him under the bus and sabotaged his chances of winning. But because he is a lowly comedian and Simon has money and power, he can't say anything about it. You can't fight city hall after all.

I came up with all this while I was trying to fall asleep last night. Not buying it tbh.

Anyone would have acted like Tom did if they were in his shoes. You can tell that he was genuinely shocked when he was buzzed because he didn't expect it. No one did. After all, he was the runner-up, and the show is called THE CHAMPIONS. He was probably more hurt than anything else