The big question, of course, is whether or not Simon Cowell will resume his role as judge after his exit last season when he fell off a bike and broke his back. And the good news is, yes, he will be back, and in his words, better than ever. “Honestly, and I shouldn’t say this, but it wasn’t that bad actually breaking your back,” Cowell tells Parade.com. “It wasn’t great for three or four weeks, but after that I had to do so much exercise, I actually feel better than I did before the accident. I was told off for saying earlier, ‘If you want to feel healthy, break your back.’ I shouldn’t really be saying that, but that’s how I feel. And, as has transpired on these interviews, everyone actually had a better time without me.” However, that was definitely not true for Sofia Vergara, who’s coming back for her second season. She says she had nightmares when she got the news about Cowell. “It was heartbreaking to me not to have Simon on the season,” she tells Parade.com. “It was my first season, I thought I needed him to back me up, to teach me, to guide me. It was heartbreaking. I couldn’t sleep; I couldn’t eat. I lost like six pounds when he got [injured].” Also joining Cowell and Vergara at the AGT judges table for Season 16 will be Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum, along with host Terry Crews. And to celebrate the return of the popular judging panel, AGT will host one final “Last Chance Audition” Saturday, March 6th. Interested acts from around the world can register at www.AGTAuditions.com for a virtual audition slot where they will perform live for show producers. The best acts discovered that day will then go on to perform for the AGT judges. “Just go to AGTauditions.com from your living room, from your bedroom, from the basement,” says Mandel. “Stay safe. Stay healthy. And you can go from your bedroom to the biggest room in the world and that’s the AGT stage.” Klum, for one, is looking forward to the new season because she sees America’s Got Talent as putting something positive into the world, something that is always needed, but even more so during the pandemic. “We all feel like we have the luckiest job on the planet because there is so much fun with the variety aspect,” she says. “Yes, we’re in this pandemic and it’s all terrible, but there have to be some people to try to find the positive, and I feel like we are doing that because we are putting on good times for the whole family for all these weeks.” And Vergara is right there with her, especially because she has a lot more confidence coming into her second season as a judge. “Now that Simon is back, I know I’m going to be OK,” she says. “Before, I wasn’t that sure. I had a great time last season because of the rest of the gang helping me and guiding me. I was scared at the beginning. I was afraid it was going to be canceled and I had a spectacular time. It was amazing to be able to see all these people be able to fulfill their dreams even though we were going through such a horrific thing as a pandemic. We were able to allow these people to finish what they wanted to do last year. I think we did a great job. I am really looking forward to next season.” Next, see who we think the next Bachelorette will be.
