Pasadena, California, USA, June 9, 2026 — Ten-member South Korean magic group Hundred Fingers earned a Golden Buzzer during America’s Got Talent Season 21 auditions, when judge Howie Mandel slid across the judges’ table and body-slammed the button, beating host Terry Crews, who was already running toward it.
The group is led by Yu Hojin, a FISM Grand Prix winner and champion of The Magic Star on South Korea’s Seoul Broadcasting System, making his third appearance on AGT. Hojin first competed as a soloist in Season 17, advancing to the finale before losing to The Mayyas. He returned for the spinoff America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League, competing on Heidi Klum’s team before being eliminated in the semifinals.
The Comeback and Golden Buzzer
During Season 17, Simon Cowell felt Hojin’s card manipulation, while elegant, lacked the dramatic finish the big stage demanded. Hojin took the critique to heart, and in response formed Hundred Fingers, a collective of ten elite South Korean illusionists dressed entirely in black.
The group’s large-scale, cinematic card performance stunned the judges and brought the audience to a standing ovation. Card manipulation is traditionally an intimate, single-performer, two-hands art. Hundred Fingers instead choreographed it across ten men moving as one, a scale this reporter has not encountered elsewhere in decades of following the art. The name nods to their combined hundred fingers, and their synchronized illusions saw cards multiply, change color, and vanish into bursts of sparkle, alongside floating feathers and wands that dissolved into smoke. The result was Howie Mandel’s Golden Buzzer.
Cowell, addressing Hojin directly, confirmed the new act had surpassed his Season 17 performance — the validation Hojin had spent three years chasing.
A first for Korean acts
The win marks the first time a Korean team has received an AGT Golden Buzzer. A mixed team representing the World Taekwondo Federation received one in 2021, but that group included American members.
Hojin reflected on the achievement, saying the group had spent ‘a long time thinking and preparing for one stage.’ Hundred Fingers will now prepare for AGT’s live shows, scheduled for August.
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