America’s Got Talent premieres next week on NBC, but as it returns, it seems that the network has chosen to cancel its spinoff series America’s Got Talent: Extreme.
The original version of America’s Got Talent has a lot of fun competitors, ranging from basic singers and comedians to magicians and aerial artists. However, AGT: Extreme took it to the extreme.
Much like the Go Big Show on TNT, AGT: Extreme had people doing extremely dangerous stunts to win the $500,000 prize.
The season was only four weeks and the ratings were terrible. It seems that this was not what fans of the franchise wanted to see and it likely won’t be back for a second season.
AGT: Extreme pulled, not likely to return
AGT: Extreme had a couple of faces familiar to America’s Got Talent fans, as Simon Cowell was on the judge’s panel and Terry Crews hosted both shows.
They were joined by WWE Hall of Fame superstar Nikki Bella and stunt performer Travis Pastrana.
It looked like a fun show for people who loved to see daring and risky stunts. However, there was one thing that likely doomed it from the start.
Jonathan Goodwin, an escape artist, ended up permanently paralyzed when his stunt went wrong and he ended up crushed between two cars.
Now, Deadline reports that NBC has not officially canceled the show, but it was put on hold indefinitely and they have no plans for a second season.
Jonathan Goodwin accident on AGT: Extreme
While Jonathan Goodwin’s accident on AGT: Extreme is not the reason for the network dropping the show, it probably played a large role in a reluctance to bring it back.
While the series aired in February, the accident happened last October when the show was taping its episodes. That probably caused a lot of people to either not want to tune in because of the real-life injury, or people to become morbidly curious. The show’s bad ratings showed which side was more prevalent.
In October, Jonathan was suspended 70 feet in the air while wearing a straightjacket. He was hanging by his feet from a wire and two cars on each side were swinging back and forth. His stunt was freeing himself from the straightjacket and falling to an air mattress before the cars crushed him.
He didn’t make it and he was caught between the colliding cars.
“I don’t really have a great memory …I know that there was a moment where I knew it was going wrong,” he told Good Morning America. “The spinal surgeon said that my injury was the worst that he’d ever seen and also told me that there was a really good chance I wouldn’t make it through the surgery.”
Jonathan has since announced he is paralyzed for life. He had been engaged for one month at the time of his accident and offered to let his fiance go if she wanted out of this, but he said she stuck with him through it all.
He has since come home, although it was a long road from the accident to getting back to his home.
“6 months ago I went to rehearse something and left this little hairy monkey waiting patiently for me,” Jonathan said. “He didn’t see his dad again until just a couple of weeks ago and when he finally did, dad had new cool wheels. A lot has changed in the last 6 months, but love is a constant and I’m very very loved. Looking forward to my next chapters and being a role model.”
America’s Got Talent premieres on Tuesday, May 31, at 8/7c on NBC.