The Powerful Reason the Judges Think Kristy Sellars Got 2nd Place on AGT

Kristy Sellars earned second place on America's Got Talent Season 17, dazzling viewers and the Judges for weeks with her multimedia pole-dancing that took the art to the next level. Sellars is talented, full stop, so it's no surprise she was voted a top spot this season. But Judge Howie Mandel has another theory that also could explain why the Contestant performed so well. 

"I don't know if I'm overthinking this, but I do think at this time in our American history, women, more than anybody, need to take back power," he said to reporters after the AGT Final. "And I think that America is seeing women thrive and do things that, you know, [are] against the grain. And we wanna see women win now more than we've ever wanted to see women win before. And when you see somebody like Kristy, who shows us strength—just pure strength—in being able to hold her body weight in crazy positions, up in the air. But she has the strength of talent, too. She has the ability to create that digital story impeccably and seamlessly along with that." 

The "digital story" Mandel is referring too is the digital backdrop Sellars incorporates into her performances. Each one is different, and she mirrors her body movements to the backdrops to create a thrilling piece of entertainment. 

On why Heidi Klum thinks Sellars won second place, she told reporters, "I think: 1. She is a mother who, on top being a mom, can put all of this together by herself. She came out with the story, the drawing, all of it, and she's dancing on the pole. Other people just come and do the pole-dancing, but [Sellars] built a whole entire story around it. It was pretty incredible, what she did. She has an amazing imagination."

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