America's Got Talent Gossip

Kentucky native Kevin Skinner, an unemployed farmhand and longtime musician, was named the winner of NBC’s America’s Got Talent last night. Yee haw!

He beat out opera singer Barbara Padilla, his final competitor after almost 100,000 hopefuls auditioned for the fourth season of the NBC talent show.

“My heart was pounding, almost to the point that I thought it was going to come out of my chest,” Skinner said after winning the $1 million prize.

“I had never experienced anything like that and probably never will again, I would say, that dramatic. It’s the greatest feeling. I’m 35, so I have been chasing the dream for a while, and it hasn’t come true. It’s more than words can explain.”

Kevin Skinner has Got the most Talent in America!

Judge Sharon Osbourne summed up Kevin Skinner’s win: “Apparently, it was a really huge win, too. It’s just such a feel-good story that people just want him to win because he’s the everyman. All his life he’s been the underdog."

"He’s so genuine, what you see is what you get. He’s not contrived. So many people that come on this show kind of get sophisticated and try to play the game.”

Like Britain’s Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle, who performed on the AGT finale in her American musical debut, Kevin Skinner became an viral video star long before he took home the title yesterday evening. Congrats again, K!

Love Simon Cowell or hate him, you've gotta admit this: people love his shows.

We're not even talking about American Idol, although a few million fans seem to enjoy that program, too. It's Cowell's latest brain child, America's Got Talent, that has the nation buzzing. The cantakerous Brit has even been shocked by such success.

"To be honest, we were not expecting it to do as well as it did," he told the New York Post.

Some of the show's popularity may be due to German favorite and ex-Baywatch star, David Hasselhoff. Simon hopes he can convince Kit's former owner to return as a judge, despite the fact that the Hoff has said he was only going to do the gig for one season.

"I like this panel, I think they're going to get more interesting," Simon said of Hasselhoff, Brandy, and Piers Morgan.

Of course, being an Idol judge himself, Cowel admits he's seen some acts on his own show that make him wish he were the one passing his own brand of bombastic judgment.

"It's been very tempting," says Cowell. "There have been times when I've watched the show and thought to myself, 'God I wish I was judging this.'"

America's Got Talent ends tomorrow with the crowning of a $1 million winner - but expect it to return in the future.