Justice Crew (L-R): Lukas Bellesini, John Ruela Pearce, Len Ruela Pearce, Samson Cosray Smith, Paul Merciadez, Solo Tohi. Photo / Supplied
Justice Crew (L-R): Lukas Bellesini, John Ruela Pearce, Len Ruela Pearce, Samson Cosray Smith, Paul Merciadez, Solo Tohi. Photo / Supplied
Nearly a decade after they shot to fame on reality television, two Kiwis have been hand-picked by Hollywood heavyweight Simon Cowell for a shot at international stardom.
Samson Smith and Solo Tohi are part of Australian dance crew-turned-pop group, the Justice Crew, who won the 2010 season of Australia's GotTalent.
Now, the Crew is set to compete again, this time on the world stage for America's Got Talent: Champions - a series that pits Got Talent winners from around the world against each other to find the best of the best.
For Smith and Tohi, who moved to Australia from New Zealand to pursue their artistic careers, it's "mind-blowing".
"We were pretty shocked," says Smith. "We were like, 'What? On American TV?' And straight away we were like, 'yeah, no hesitation, we'll start practising."
When they got to the set, they had no idea who they'd encounter and were stunned to come across none other than one of the Got Talent franchise's biggest stars, Susan Boyle.
"We got there and we saw all the names on the curtains and we walked past Susan Boyle's and we were just like, 'No way, she can't be here." Then she walks in and ... man, it was crazy. I was like, 'What the heck? What's going on? We're in the same competition as these guys? It's just crazy.'"
They're not the only Kiwis there either; they're joined by Kiwi comedian Sam Wills who stunned the judges of America's Got Talent in 2016 when he showcased his mime act, Tape Face.
Other contestants include Aussie magician Cosentino, US comedian Preacher Lawson and AGT season one winner Bianca Ryan.
It's a major step up for the Justice Crew, who competed in Australia's Got Talent as a dance crew, and afterwards were approached by Sony Music who just happened to have a feeling the crew could become a pop sensation.
"They just asked if any of us sang and it was just like, 'Well, we'll give it a try and see what happens.' They ended up giving us a single just to see how it went," says Smith.
They've since enjoyed major success with chart-topping singles Boom Boom and Que Sera, clocking up 165,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, a 96,000-strong Instagram following and millions of views on their YouTube videos. They've toured with everyone from One Direction to Chris Brown to Janet Jackson - in short: "It blew up like crazy".
"You've just gotta be around the right people who are positive and who just want to go go go and move forward. Now that we're just living the life we wanted, it's a dream come true," says Smith.
What it means is that they're hitting the AGT: Champions' stage as a double threat - singing and dancing their way through the competition, and the exposure has already done wonders.
"This really just takes us to another level. So many people watch AGT and it's all around the world, so we're getting a lot of love and even family and friends couldn't believe that we were in front of Simon Cowell, you know - the craziest judge in the world," says Smith.
"We were so nervous walking out on stage, just because of his reputation ... but he ended up liking us. We had no bad comments from him and that was cool because we went in knowing, 'Okay, it's Simon, he's gonna tell us the truth about our act and whatever he says, that's it.' Then we went in he stood up at the end and we were totally blown away.
"It's pretty awesome, we get to compete against ... pretty much the world on a global stage and it's been one of the greatest highlights of our journey."
America's Got Talent: Champions airs in New Zealand on Three at 7pm, Saturday.
