During Tuesday night’s episode of America’s Got Talent, the judges were left shaking in their shoes thanks to The Sacred Riana, a creepy magic act none of them were prepared for.
The act started with judge Mel B asking the young girl what her name was. She refused to answer, instead dropping a teddy bear with a loud thud on the stage. The magician then walked off the stage and circled the judge’s panel.
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Howie Mandel, Simon Cowell, Mel B and Heidi Klum were already scared before she started her act.
There was a wooden box on the judge’s desk in front of the former Spice Girls singer. Riana pulled out a group of old photos, then unfurled a newspaper clipping with the headline “12 people died in building blaze: suicide victim to blame.”
Then, she pointed at Mel B., asking “Who caused the fire?”
Mel B. picked a random photo, and the girl then took a picture of Mel B. with the camera. Riana then unfurled the newspaper again… and it had Bob’s picture! Even Cowell slamming the “X” did not put Riana off her game.
Then, Mel B. flipped over the photo, which showed Mel B… and Bob’s ghost right behind her!
“Go away… you should just go away now,” Mandel said.
However, she is not going away because Mandel, Mel B. and Klum all gave a “yes” vote, so she is moving on to the next round.
The Sacred Riana, who was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, has experience with talent shows. According to Asia One, she won last year’s Asia’s Got Talent. Her real name is Marie Antoinette Riana Graharani and her videos have over 70 million views on Facebook and YouTube.
Riana’s character is based on Sadako, the girl ghost in the Japanese horror classic The Ring. Like the character in the film, Riana does not say a word on stage. Her doll is also a reference to Annabelle, the creepy doll from the film of the same name. She also won Stand Up Magician and The Next Mentalist, notes Xtra.
“Riana is very surprised to win. She joined the show because she just wanted to share her performance with other people,” Riana’s manager, Bow Vernon, told the Straits Times. “She is a quiet girl by nature, so it’s easy. She is not the talkative type.”
Vernon also claimed she is over 100 years old.
New episodes of America’s Got Talent air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. The show is still in its audition stage.
Photo credit: YouTube/NBC