A magician from Rhode Island has won the ninth season of America's Got Talent this week.
Mat Franco won singer Emily West in Wednesday's finale to be crowned winner of the annual competition. The 26-years old man is the first magician to win the NBC talent show. Reports indicate that he has been awarded a prize of $1 million and an opportunity to headline his own show in Las Vegas.
Franco stood out as the only magician out of the six finalists who were all singers and his tricks did not fail to wow both the audience and the celebrity judges.
Judges Mel B, Howard Stern and Heidi Klum openly admitted their admiration for Franco's flair and mind blowing tricks.
Franco, who says he has always been fascinated by magic, performed a million dollar card trick involving Howard Stern and Rosie O'Donnell.
He gave both judges 10 cards each to be hidden in their clothes, and to the surprise of everyone he switched three of Rosie's cards to Stern's pack.
The graduate of Johnson High School and the University of Rhode Island described his victory in the popular talent hunt show as "outrageous and just unbelievable."
While on the red carpet with model and Judge Heidi Klum, he told NBC reporters that "I can't believe it was me," he said, "it all still fells like a dream at this point."
But Franco isn't the only one happy to have participated in this season of America's Got Talent.
Runner up Emily West has lauded the show for giving her a life changing platform. She described her time in the competition as an "unbelievable experience."
The singer went on congratulate the Franco and also thanked the NBC franchise saying "I am very honored. Thank you so much for having me on your beautiful show; it changed my life."
