A magician never reveals his tricks.
But a magician has now revealed what it feels like to be crowned the winner of America’s Got Talent…
… because Shin Lim took home that honor on Wednesday night.
With 10 finalists battling it out on stage until the final vote, Season 13 came down to Lim and singing group Zurcaroh, with the self-taught 26-year old eventually coming out on top.
Much to his own complete shock.
“I can’t speak right now,” Lim said after he was named the champion and tackled his fellow finalists.
They all picked him up and put them on their shoulders after the announcement was made.
“When you told me at 16 that an awkward, shy kid would one day be performing at the Dolby Theatre performing on America’s Got Talent, I wouldn’t have believed them,” he added.
“To compete on AGT, it means the world to me.”
The very impressive magician not only took home the $ 1 million prize — but will also headline the America’s Got Talent Live stage at the Paris Theater in Las Vegas from November 2-4.
Lim’s parents hail from Singapore.
He was born in Canada and currently lives in Acton, Massachusetts and he blew viewers away through sleight of hand magic and close-up tricks.
For his finale, Lim performed a card trick with host Tyra Banks and American Ninja Warrior co-hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila.
At various points in the competition, Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell called Lim “the best close-up magician they have ever seen.”
(He’s second magician to win America’s Got Talent, following Mat Franco on Season 9.)
At age 20, four years after the started to learn the art of magic, Lim was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.
This forced him to gave up his piano career, as he dropped out of the School of Music at Lee University in Tennessee and put all his time and effort into his aspiring magic career.
After perfecting a number of tricks simply by studying YouTube videos, Lim appeared twice on Penn Jillette and Teller’s magic competition show, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, in 2015 and 2017.
He also took his talents overseas, including gigs in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Taiwan.
After his victory, Lim said he took Cowell’s advice to heart and moved away from the card table to make his show appear even bigger and more dazzling.
He’s thankful to the judge for offering up this tidbit and pushing him toward the grand prize.
“I learned so much going away from the table. It’s harder because it’s something I’m uncomfortable with. So, I really feel like I now have the confidence to build on it,” he said.
The finale performance “was my way of growing as a magician, and I think I’m going to follow that path of getting bigger and having a full show.”
Congratulations to Shin Lim!
Do you think he deserved to win?
Or do you remain shocked that singer Courtney Hadwin didn’t go all the way?