'America's Got Talent' finale highlights, from Mayyas' win to Simon Cowell's roast

Terry Crews's hypnotic LED dance with Ukrainian troupe Light Balance also stands out

Host Terry Crews, far left, with members of the female Lebanese dance troupe Mayyas, who were crowned winners of the latest season of 'America's Got Talent'. AP

The Lebanese troupe will take home a $1 million prize and the chance to headline a Las Vegas show. AP

Mayyas react to the announcement they had won this season of 'America's Got Talent'. Getty Images

Kristy Sellars and Terry Crews react as Mayyas are announced the winners of season 17 of 'America's Got Talent'. Getty Images

America's Got Talent finale, from left, Mayyas, Terry Crews, Chapel Hart, Metaphysic, Drake Milligan, Kristy Sellars. Getty Images

Nadim Cherfan, centre, with the dance group Mayyas, winners of season 17. Getty Images

Mayyas perform during the 'America's Got Talent' finals on September 13. Getty Images

The co-ordinated dance featured white, feathered outfits and sparkling globes of light in a moody routine that won a standing ovation from the crowd. Getty Images

Appearing on 'America's Got Talent', the group have their sights set on winning the coveted $1 million prize. Getty Images

Terry Crews with Mayyas on stage. Getty Images

Mayyas attend an 'America's Got Talent' Season 17 live show at Sheraton Pasadena Hotel in California. Getty Images

Lebanese dance troupe Mayyas perform in the semi-finals of 'America's Got Talent'. Getty

Judge Simon Cowell said the performance was 'as good as it gets'. Getty

The group danced to a selection of Arabic melodies. Photo: YouTube

Lebanese dance crew Mayyas have appeared on season 17 of 'America's Got Talent'. Getty

Judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara said they felt 'hypnotised'. Getty

The Lebanese dance company won season six of 'Arabs Got Talent' in 2019. Photo: MBC

Mayyas celebrate with choreographer Nadim Cherfan (in black), after their ‘Arabs Got Talent’ win. Photo: MBC

Mayyas's 'Arabs Got Talent' win came with a new car and a 200,000 Saudi riyal ($53,333) cash prize. Photo: MBC

The group are known for their physical style, performed to Arabic melodies. Photo: MBC

At the time, Mayyas said they planned to use their 'Arabs Got Talent' cash prize to set up a dance studio. Photo: MBC

After winning 'Arabs Got Talent', they appeared on the UK spin-off 'Britain's Got Talent: The Champions' in 2019. Photo: Shutterstock

The group on 'Britain's Got Talent: The Champions'. Photo: Shutterstock

Mayyas made history on Wednesday night when they became the first Middle Eastern group to win America's Got Talent.

They now take home the $1 million prize and get the opportunity to headline a show at Luxor Las Vegas.

The Lebanese dance troupe, who dazzled judges with their hypnotic performances, wowed once again on stage alongside fellow dancer Kristy Sellars, who came in second on season 17.

Here are some of the highlights from the emotional two-hour finale.

Simon Cowell's roast

Comedian Mike E Winfield hosted the roast of Simon Cowell, with Jeff Ross, Don McMillan and Lace Larrabee who poked fun at the judge.

McMillan began the roast with a PowerPoint presentation of Cowell's dislikes, which included one per cent Parmesan cheese and shaving.

He ended his skit, saying: "If someone told me 20 years ago I would be on national TV roasting Simon Cowell, I would have said 'I can't believe Simon Cowell's still on television in 2022.'"

Larrabee came on to say, "I do love Simon's style, I like to call it mid-life crisis chic".

Ross dubbed him "Simon Scowl" and then introduced "Simon's biggest fan", which ended up being the AI version of Cowell by contestant Metaphysic, who went on to shower compliments on himself.

A spooky prank

Heidi Klum and host Terry Crews terrified Cowell, Sofia Vergara and Howie Mandel with a Hollywood Horror Nights park.

The trio wandered through a "haunted" hotel, while actors dressed in gory outfits (think missing eyes and lots of fake blood) jumped out at them, making the judges scream.

"Get away from us," Cowell shouted.

"I can't do this anymore," Vergara piped up.

Crews then popped out in disguise, before pulling off his mask and shouting, "I gotcha", to which Cowell replied, "I hate you, I actually hate you".

Mind-bending magic

Actor Henry Winkler, a self-confessed America's Got Talent fan, introduced three magicians to the stage for a mind-bending performance.

Shin Lim, the winner of season 13, took the stage with Yu Hojin and Nicolas Ribs, both contestants on the latest season.

Lim played the piano, while Hojin wowed the crowd with some sleight of hand card tricks, including putting a whole deck in order of suit with a quick flick of the wrist. He also erased the faces of the cards to reveal the AGT logo in their place.

Meanwhile, Ribs displayed his unique brand of magic by working with a projection and making objects appear in reality, from coins to cards.

Lim came in at the end to turn an entire deck into aces.

Poignant reunions

With the use of Proto's hologram technology, friends and family on the finalists were beamed into the studio to give participants' a last word of encouragement.

This included magician Hojin's parents from South Korea, who said, "We're in Korea rooting for you", as well as saxophone player Avery Dixon's brother, who said ,"I knew you were going to make it".

Country music trio Chapel Hart got an extra-special surprise, when American country music singer Tanya Tucker appeared, saying: "Surprise. It's Tanya. Chapel Hart, y'all are so great and congratulations on everything you do. America's Got Talent, write about that."

Terry Crews performs with Ukrainian LED troupe

Crews was the centre of attention at the beginning of the show when he hit the stage with Light Balance, a Ukrainian LED dance troupe, as they performed to Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling!.

The group mesmerised the crowd with their in-sync performance lit up in neon, to a backdrop of laser beams.

At the end, the lights came on and Crews took off his hat to reveal that he'd been part of the group all along.

"This reminds me of my bachelor party," Crews joked. "You can catch these guys in our AGT live show at Luxor Las Vegas!"

The moment Mayyas won

The biggest moment of the night was, naturally, when the winners were revealed.

In true America's Got Talent fashion, the suspense was heightened as Crews took a long pause before revealing the winner. A nervous Sellars stood on stage, next to the whole Mayyas troupe, many of whom were shaking or crying already.

As Crews called out their name, they all started jumping and crying in their golden outfits, as matching golden confetti rained down.

Vergara, who gave Mayyas her golden buzzer in the auditions phase, jumped up and ran on stage to hug the ladies.