Mumbai’s V Unbeatable lives up to its name, crowned America’s Got Talent champions

V Unbeatable, a Mumbai-based acrobatic dance crew, were crowned winners of the second season of America’s Got Talent (AGT): Champions 2020, capping the journey of

V Unbeatable, a Mumbai-based acrobatic dance crew, were crowned winners of the second season of America’s Got Talent (AGT): Champions 2020, capping the journey of 40-odd youngsters from the slums of Bhayander and Naigaon to the world stage.

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The crew’s performance at the finale, which had one of its dancers doing a back flip over Travis Barker, drummer of punk-rock band Blink-182, and snatching his drumstick in the process, was a

fitting final act in its international run. Barker was performing with the group.

V Unbeatable’s sets, a mix of acrobatics and quick-fire synchronous transitions, had, through the course of the competition, left the crowd and the judges — Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Alesha Dixon and Heidi Klum — stunned. “It is one of the biggest reality shows in the world. We were going crazy. All my kids were going mad on stage there,” said Om Prakash, choreographer of the group, on being announced as the winners.

The dance crew, whose members are between the ages of 12 and 27, first grabbed the world’s attention when it finished fourth in America’s Got Talent 2019, against the backdrop of an inspiring, but tragic story.

The V in the group’s name is a tribute to one of its leaders, Vikas, who was left paralysed after he fell during a dance stunt. He passed away a few weeks later. The team had also finished in the top 4 of Dance Plus, an Indian reality show.

Although there are 40 dancers in the crew, only 29 of them could participate in the show. “Initially, the production team told us they could only allow 14 to 15 members as they were helping us with our travel and accommodation. We had to request them to double it, so that we could accommodate more dancers for different genres of dance. In the end, we were allowed to take 29 dancers,” said Prakash.

The team from the bylanes of Mumbai is truly living its dreams. “It was our dream to win something big. Having said that, we never expected to win something this big. It is a big win for us and it means a lot to all of us at V Unbeatable. All my kids have worked really hard for this and all their efforts have finally paid off,” said Prakash.

The team got together in 2014 with just one emotion in their mind — to get away from their daily extremely difficult lives for a few hours. “It is absolutely unbelievable to think what our lives were and where we have reached,” said Prakash.

The group rose to fame through a fourth-place finish on Dance Plus in 2018. “When you finish fourth you don’t get anything. You are just one among the finalists. Nobody calls you for work. In the industry, when it comes to dance teams, there is no value if you are just a finalist,” said Prakash.

Refusing to give up, next year, they decided to take on a bigger challenge and auditioned for America’s Got Talent season 14. It was guest judge and basketball player Dwayne Wade, who gave them their first Golden Buzzer, which saw them cruise straight into the live shows. Although they had one hand on the trophy back then, things didn’t go their way and they again ended up in the fourth position.

Then came the auditions for AGT: Champions 2020, where they performed in front of Simon, Howie, Alesha and Heidi. The judges were so impressed by their act that Howie gave them his Golden Buzzer that sent them straight into the finals. About the support from the judges, Prakash said, “The judges were all praises for our performance at the finale. We got good support from all of them and especially Howie, because he saw the talent in us.”

Howie even took to Twitter to congratulate them. He wrote, “WOW!! I knew V.Unbeatable was special from the moment they walked on stage. Thank you for opening up the world to us, @v_unbeatable. You deserve this incredible moment. Congratulations to my Golden Buzzer on WINNING #AGTChampions.”

Host Terry Crews also tweeted, “The sensational @v_unbeatable have won #AGTChampions!!!! #VUnbeatableWins.”