The outspoken judge saved his Golden Buzzer for a jaw-dropping feat of technological magic.
America's Got Talent: Extreme kicked off its debut season with a bang on Monday, in a two-hour premiere filled with death defying stunts. However, it was a team of tech wizards with an army of colorful drones who managed to truly impress Simon Cowell.
The four-man group known as Verge Aero hit the stage to explain their act, which involved controlling 160 drones that are synched up for a choreographed aerial light show!
Cowell, for whatever reason, was wildly unimpressed with their pitch, and made it almost laughably clear how bored he apparently was with the idea of dancing drones.
However, as the judges -- including Cowell, Nikki Bella and Travis Pastrana -- and host Terry Crews sat outdoors at night, it was immediately clear just how breathtaking Verge Aero's light show truly was. When the drone array ascended into the sky, everyone was instantly wowed by the spectacle.
"That was absolutely astonishing," Bella marveled after the performance. "I can't even imagine the brain power, of you four, that goes into that. It's so beyond me. And when it was done I just felt myself wanting so much more."
"I was absolutely amazed," Pastana added. "This was better than any fireworks show I've ever seen."
Cowell, however, used his trademark bait-and-switch by bringing up criticism before twisting expectations.
"I think drones are some of the most annoying things on the planet, honestly," Cowell shared. "Until now. That was just sensational."
Cowell was so enamored with the performance that he ended up giving out the night's first Golden Buzzer, meaning Verge Aero will be going straight to the finals!
ET's Kevin Frazier spoke with Cowell last week, and he opened up about how long he's wanted to make AGT: Extreme a reality.
"Well, we wanted to make this show a hit, and I said for about 10 years, it has been kind of something we keep saying we are going to do, these occasional big extreme auditions on the main show," Cowell explained. "What if we made a show that was just the extreme acts?"
He continued, "And about 18 months ago, NBC finally said yes. And it was like, now we have to put a judging team together, and is anyone going to turn up? I have no idea. Luckily, they did and we had a great judging team, Terry joined me, but I have got to tell you, out of everything I have ever done in my life, this was the scariest."
America's Got Talent: Extreme airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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