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America's Got Talent 2020 has now crowned its winner, who takes home the NBC show's top prize. Though contestant Archie Williams had the support of none other than Megan Markle, and other contestants had celebrity support from acts like Blake Shelton, Ava Max and OneRepublic, the eventual winner took the stage on his own for two powerful performances across the two-night finals.
The 10 finalists were first whittled down to five grand finalists: Singers Roberta Battaglia and Cristina Rae, aerialist Alan Silva, musical group Broken Roots and spoken word poet Brandon Leake.
Eventually, host Terry Crews revealed the final results for AGT Season 15. Rae placed third, and Broken Roots were second, meaning that this year's winner is 27-year-old Brandon Leake.
Leake achieved a number of firsts for America's Got Talent. He was the first poet to make the finals of the show, and also by extension the first to win it. The Californian act had previously received the Golden Buzzer from Howie Mandel, who told him during the quarter finals, "I've never been more moved in my life on this show by any other act. We need you on this show. We need in this world. ... You matter."
Viewers across America, meanwhile, had found themselves moved by his performances about his family and his poems about the Black Lives Matter movement, which were also one of the biggest viral hits of any of this year's performances.
After winning the show, Leake said: "This is a huge win for the spoken-word community. For an art form that has not been on the mainstream ever to have a chance to win America's Got Talent is bigger than anything. I am going to show the world what a spoken-word poet can do."
Leake's prize for winning AGT is $1 million and a headline slot in a Vegas show. However, this prize is not quite as it seems. As the disclaimer at the end of AGT episodes reads, "The prize, which totals $1,000,000, is payable in a financial annuity over forty years, or the contestant may choose to receive the present cash value of such annuity."
In effect, this means that the $1 million is paid at a rate of $25,000 a year over 40 years – meaning that Leake will be 67 before he gets his whole monetary prize. Alternatively, he can choose to take a lump sum of cash now, which according to Forbes is about $300,000 before taxes.
That Vegas headlining slot, meanwhile, is usually a three-day residency, which for Leake will be at the Luxor casino. This headline slot in America's Got Talent Live is usually in November, but due to the coronavirus dates have not been announced for the residency yet.
