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Brandon Leake Now Given the Best Odds to Win America’s Got Talent 2020 Alongside Roberta Battaglia

JJ De La Torre

by JJ De La Torre in Entertainment

Updated Mar 10, 2021 · 12:43 PM PST

simon cowell smiling
Simon Cowell arrives at the "America's Got Talent" Season 13 Finale Show red carpet at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)
  • Only six episodes of America’s Got Talent remain, with 20 of the original 44 acts still in the running
  • Which talented individual or group has the best chance of winning?
  • See the latest odds and predictions, below

After 15 seasons, it seems America’s still got talent. A decade-and-a-half into this series, judges are still being blown away by the skills onstage.

While this year’s production has looked a little different due to COVID-19, it has also been one for the history books. The odds to win this season now see spoken-word poet Brandon Leake as a co-favorite.

Previously, singer Archie Williams was the betting favorite, while Christina Rae and Roberta Battaglia were also ahead of Leake. Only Battaglia remains on even footing with Leake now.

Odds to Win America’s Got Talent 2020

Competitor Odds
Brandon Leake +400
Roberta Battaglia +400
Cristina Rae +700
Voices of Our City Choir +800
Archie Williams +1000
Max Major +1200
WAFFLE Crew +1200
Daneliya Tuleshova +1400
Alan Silva +1600
Jonathan Goodwin +1600
Broken Roots +2200
BAD Salsa +2500
Brett Loudermilk +2500
Celina +2800
Kenadi Dodds +2800
Bello Sisters +3300
Double Dragon +3300
Malik Dope +3300
Shaquira McGrath +3300
Spyros Brothers +3300

Odds as of September 4.

Brandon, Empowered

You don’t have to be a fan of AGT to know about Leake. The Stockton, California,has transcended television and gone viral.

Talent competitions and reality television are well known for their manufactured and artificial qualities. Leake’s verbal poetry is not only a breath of fresh air in comparison to his cookie-cutter competitors, his appearance on the show comes at exactly the right time.

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While the Black Lives Matter movement grows, Leake is a beacon of hope for his community and the world at large. His recent appearance on the show spoke to some of those killed in the Black community this year: Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake.

In addition,  Leake dove into his relationship with his mother during the same clip. It’s downright heartstring-pull-worthy.

It was a performance like no other and it garnered an emotional response from the judges.

YouTube video

The Underage Vote

On the other hand, Leake is presently tied in the odds with 11-year-old Canadian singing prodigy Roberta Battaglia. We’ve seen children be successful on this series before (paging Grace VanderWaal), and Battaglia certainly has the pipes to make it to the finale.

But this is not the year to award yet another miraculously talented child. This has been a year of uprising and protest. While you can’t exactly crown people on television for showing up to march in the streets, you can award someone for their artistry.

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Leake’s presence on America’s Got Talent is impressive and winning would be a full-on statement. The victory would not be just for Leake, but for a whole nation. The fact that he deserves to win merely solidifies what already appears likely: He’s going to win this thing.

Pick: Brandon Leake (+400)

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