It’s always the switch-and-bait acts that steal the show. Celebrating 50 years of marriage, Rich and Carlene LaFevre charmed the America’s Got Talent audience as a sweet, soft-spoken couple—before revealing they’re competitive eating champs. If you had “elderly binge-eaters” on your bingo card, it’s time to buy a lottery ticket.
America’s Got Talent‘s milestone 20th season has been full of surprises, but Rich and Carlene may have been the biggest one yet. Standing behind a table with covered trays, the lovable couple chowed down on nursing home-inspired dishes while serving up a heavy dose of comedy. While they may not be a successful act in terms of moving to the next round, the LaFevres made an incredible impression in the iconic moment department.
The ‘AGT’ Couple That Eats Together, Stays Together
There’s always an “aww” factor when an older performer takes the AGT stage—a reminder that it’s never too late to chase your dreams in just two minutes. That’s what we thought was about to happen with Rich and Carlene. They were the perfect couple to help celebrate Season 20 as they hadn’t missed an episode of the series. Calling back to acts of the past, the montage clip show helped tie into their excitement to enter the contest themselves.
Now, to be fair, there likely was a faction of viewers who may have recognized them. However, for those of us who did not, their sugary sweet personas should have been an indication that food would be on the menu. The LeFavres are competitive eaters. Like Simon Cowell, there was a collective confusion about what was about to happen. But a quick Google search would lead you to discover that they are the “First Couple” of Major League Eating. And yes, that is an actual thing.
For AGT, their act was competing against one another to see who could eat faster. That’s it. That’s the act. Before Terry Crews started the stopwatch, you couldn’t help but smirk about what was to come, but once they started, well, the comedy was literally watching them eat “old people food,” including baked peaches, corn, and soup. Carlene was the victor because Rich, who was in the lead the entire time, was a gentleman. Simon didn’t know what they were judging, but like Carlene said, “Were we entertaining?” Spoiler: they were.
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Gross Food Eating Acts Flop on ‘AGT’
Carlene is known as ‘The Madam of Etiquette,” known for her signature move in which she bounces up and down while eating to get the food to settle, called the “Carlene Pop.” Rich is known as “The Locust.” In the world of competitive eating, these two are legends. They have appeared on television in the past, including The View and The Tonight Show. They have won countless competitions, including the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. And yet, they believed this talent was the right fit for this particular venue.
In a sense, they were a novelty act. An older couple doing something outrageous, not necessarily intended for comedy. Perhaps those who wake up at the crack of dawn to head to Coney Island on the 4th of July to watch the LeFevres take on Joey Chestnut are the ones that this appeals to. In the history of AGT, especially this season, gross food eating tends to lead to flops. As displayed at the start of the season with Eric Booker, like other eating acts, there is very little room for gross food acts. Listen, if you have a dream, go for it! It serves as the foundation for this program. But to move on to the next round, the only appeal about this couple was their story, image, and the element of surprise. Perhaps we would all have been like Mel B and given them an X to get them to stop, but let’s face it, they were charming.
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. All episodes are available to stream on Peacock.