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Inside Three G's Nerve-Wracking Act That Had the Judges on Edge: "I Can't Watch"
NBC Insider talked to Three G about the major injury that nearly ended their audition.
America’s Got Talent is back for Season 18, and the talent just keeps getting better.
Legendary Judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Simon Cowell, and Sofia Vergara return as talented Acts from around the world take the AGT stage. During the season premiere one Act, Three G, came all the way from Ukraine. The female trio hoped to show the Judges a daring balancing act — and they did just that — but a series of dangerous close call nearly cut their audition short.
Read on for a recap of what happened during their audition and to learn exactly what went wrong in an exclusive interview with NBC Insider.
Who is Three G?
The Ukrainian Act's name is inspired by the phrase "three girls."
“We started acrobatic because we watch the talent show in Ukraine, and that’s what inspired us,” said Sophia, speaking on behalf of the group backstage with AGT Host Terry Crews. She continued to explain that trust was one of the most important things with their trio because their routine was “very dangerous.”
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Minus their missing fourth member — a small Italian greyhound named Tyson — Sophia, Lana, and Eliana took the stage wearing loose-fitting blazers and bottoms. Their outfits were bright and bold, with Lana in orange, Sophia in blue, and Eliana in purple, all with varying styles of tinsel-like fringe.
According to Sophia, the three women spent their whole lives learning gymnastics and acrobatics, though they’d only been together as a trio for two years.
“The thing that AGT will give us [is] the opportunity to do, our whole life, the thing we love to,” Sophia said.
Cowell thanked the women for coming from Ukraine, reminding them that “three minutes can change your life on this show.”
“I hope it goes well,” he said. “Good luck.”
What happened during Three G's Audition?
The group executed gravity-defying stunts and flexibility, impressively creating a balancing act towering three persons high. Audience members clapped, but the Judges braced for impact as the women became shaky.
At various points throughout their audition, the Act crumbled, bringing the Judges to their feet with shock and concern. But determined to finish, the ladies helped one another up and brushed themselves off, performing yet another daring position that consisted of throwing Eliana into the air and catching her.
As they prepared to create another three-person high tower — this time with Eliana balancing on the soles of Lana’s feet — Vergara nervously remarked, “I don’t want to see it.”
The women gave a show-stopping performance before things heated up, with crew members bringing a large mat to the stage. There was slight hesitation on the Act’s part, with Klum and Mandel noting that it seemed as though they were weighing out whether to do their next trick.
To be honest, I'm surprised I could even continue the Act as my elbow was already fractured.
Sophia, Three G
What the women created was already an impressive feat before, but they fumbled again.
The music stopped, and the ladies composed themselves before trying the final trick one last time, this time without music.
“I can’t watch this,” Mandel said. “I can’t watch this, guys.”
The Judges encouraged the Act to try again, instructing the audience to hold their applause. But ultimately, the group fell for a final time.
What went wrong?
In an interview with NBC Insider, Three G broke down what led to the mishaps during their audition.
"To be honest, I'm surprised I could even continue the Act as my elbow was already fractured. I knew it was because I heard, during the first trick, a double crackle inside. At this moment I realized it was a fracture, but I was hoping that [it wasn't] that bad," Sophia said. "The biggest problem was a broken elbow. I didn't expect it at all. It's very hard to keep calm in that moment as all of us understood straight away that it's serious."
But that wasn't the only injury that caused issues.
"Also, I hurt my knee pretty badly so in the last trick it was hard to make it work as I needed to balance on my one leg and it was the right one and it's a lot of pressure — but even then I said to myself, 'Believe in yourself. You can do it even with a broken elbow. Fight,' but the injuries were serious, and plus, I'm the one who connected the pyramid so it was impossible," she explained.
Did Three G make it past AGT auditions?
Cowell raised his hand to reassure the women that all was OK. Despite the missteps of the routine, the women’s determination and unwillingness to give up certainly left their mark on the Judges.
“We’ve seen balancing acts, but I think the moves that you were able to complete were far more dangerous, far more skilled than I have ever seen before,” Mandel said.
Sophia began crying, telling Lana in Ukrainian that she wasn’t crying from pain but that she was shocked by the positive reaction.
“I think you did a wonderful job,” Mandel continued. “It doesn’t matter that you fell down; what matters is that you got up, and you kept trying and trying and trying.”
“I really admire that you guys kept trying to do it,” Vergara added. “The part you were able to do was spectacular.”
Vergara believed the women had it in them to succeed, and Klum echoed the same sentiment.
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“I know that this bothers you so much, that this didn’t go as planned,” Klum said. “But it was incredible.”
Cowell got the last word, telling the performers he could tell how disappointed they were.
“The Act, in my opinion, it showed us more about you than anything else because lesser people would have just given up, and you didn’t,” he said. “I saw the determination on your face, and it made it — for me — more human.”
Ultimately, Three G drive earned a "Yes" vote from each of the Judges.
Crews welcomed the women backstage before Sophia went to see one of the on-site medics. It remains to be seen whether it will affect the trio’s Act as AGT continues.
As for how her knee and elbow are doing now, Sophia told us she is doing different exercises and working towards getting better.
"We definitely want to show our last trick with a mat and we want to show our other tricks. We know we can do it and we want people to see us do it," she says. "You must always believe in you."
"We still have lots of surprises. We just trained so hard to make everything perfect, including our years in sport. Sport taught us to never stop trying, and we tried to push until the end, no matter what."
