Host(s) Dave Hughes Genre(s) Acoustic | Broadcaster Nine Network | |
Broadcast from 1 February – 14 March 2016 Judges Kelly Osbourne
Ian "Dicko" Dickson
Sophie Monk
Eddie Perfect Origin Central Coast, New South Wales | ||
Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television show, based on the original UK series, to find new talent. Nine announced that the show would be returning in 2016 for an eighth season. It is the second season to air on Nine after it was axed in 2013. Auditions are open for September and October 2015. On 28 October 2015, it was announced that Halliwell, French, Timomatic and Sandilands have been replaced with a new panel of judges, they are Kelly Osbourne, Ian "Dicko" Dickson, Sophie Monk and Eddie Perfect. Morris did not return as host as she is committed to another show and was replaced by Dave Hughes as the host. For the first time, this season introduced the Golden Buzzer. The season premiered on 1 February 2016.
Contents
Golden Buzzer
This series saw the introduction of the new golden buzzer. During the auditions, as well as the standard buzzers, there was a golden buzzer placed in the centre of the judges' desk. Each judge was allowed to press this buzzer only once, and it would send that auditionee straight through to the live semi-finals regardless of the opinions of the other three judges.
Wildcard
This season will see the introduction of a viewer-voted Wildcard entry to send one lucky performer directly to the Grand Finale. Contestants who are not taken through to the semi-final by the celebrity judges can be voted back into the finals by viewers as Wildcards.
Auditions
After all the audtions for each episode, the judges must choose who they want to send to the semi-finals from their shortlist of talents, those who got the gold buzzer go directly through to the semis, those who aren't sent to the semis become a Wildcard vote.
Semi-finals
Semi-Finals started on 22nd February the semi-finals wasn't live. 2 acts made it through to the grand final each week.
Finals
Final - Top 11
The top 11, including the grand final wild card act, appeared in a grand final performance before the Grand Finale. An audience vote followed after the show and only 5 acts returned for the Grand Finale with new performances.
Grand Finale - Top 5
For the first time in AGT history, the Grand Finale aired Live and the winner was decided by the viewers, not the judges. Magician/illusionist AGT Alumni Cosentino had a performance and actor Jack Black was a guest judge. The winner received $250,000