Geno Ploeger Channeled His Idol Mat Franco in His AGT Audition

A longtime dream is on the verge of coming true for Geno Ploeger, the 21-year-old protégé of America's Got Talent champion magician Mat Franco. On Night 2 of Auditions for AGT Season 21, Arizona native Ploeger finally got his chance to show off the magic skills he's been working on since the age of five, a journey he explained was inspired by seeing Franco take home the grand prize years earlier.

"When I was 10 years old, I watched AGT for the first time. I watched Mat Franco win Season 9. A boy next door doing magic. And I was like, that’s what I wanna do. So two years later my parents surprised me for my birthday with tickets to his show. He actually pulled me on stage.

And I was just starstruck," Ploeger said. Down at the Judges' table, he led Simon Cowell, Mel B, Howie Mandel and Sofía Vergara through a series of card tricks and reveals that told the story of how he went from seeing Franco on television to making his own way onto the AGT stage.

United States, Arizona

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