Drake Milligan returned to AGT, and Simon Cowell didn’t mince words for Howie Mandel.

(Image credit: NBC)

Spoilers ahead for the second night of America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League qualifiers are ahead!

The America’s Got Talent franchise may be nearly twenty years old, but NBC is doing something new with AGT: Fantasy League in the 2024 TV schedule. Season 18 judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, and Heidi Klum were joined by former judge Mel B to take their picks from 40 AGT standouts. The judges are mentoring the performers on their own teams, which occasionally involves stealing acts from each other. In the second night of qualifiers, country star Drake Milligan returned on Mandel’s team, but Cowell’s main response to the performance was a critique of Mandel as a mentor.

Drake Milligan wowed the crowds back in Season 17 when he took the stage with some original songs, playing the guitar as he sang. He was charismatic on stage, penned very catchy tunes, and had his songs reaching #1 on the charts. Simon Cowell even praised him for not quitting AGT after he already reached those heights. He came in third in Season 17 after an extremely close vote, and it was no surprise that he was brought back for Fantasy League.

All the judges had their eye on him for their team before Howie Mandel claimed him. For Fantasy League, Milligan decided that he would go in a different direction than his original AGT performances and sing a song written by somebody else. He also didn’t play the guitar and spent part of the performance seated. He was a hit with the crowd, but his demonstration of “Don’t Leave Me Loving You” didn’t win over Simon Cowell, who said:

I love Drake, and I love Drake as an artist and also as a person. And I’ve this a lot about Drake. However, that wasn’t my favorite song you’ve ever done, and I think as a writer, I believe that you’re better than that.

Howie Mandel cut in to let his fellow judge know that Drake Milligan actually didn’t write “Don’t Leave Me Loving You,” even though he had written his two songs – “Sounds Like Something I’d Do” and “Kiss Goodbye All Night” – that he performed in AGT Season 17. Cowell continued:

Well, this is bad mentoring, because you are a great writer and I didn’t feel that there was a connection with you and that song, weirdly. [to Howie] Now you told me why.

While I’m certainly not going to say that I’m qualified to be a mentor for anybody on AGT, I have to agree with Simon Cowell that this wasn’t Drake Milligan’s best performance, and the songs he wrote himself were stronger. My favorite genre of music isn’t country, but I still listen to “Sounds Like Something I’d Do” and “Kiss Goodbye All Night” on repeat every once in a while. Honestly, I fully expect those songs to be stuck in my head again just after typing out the titles. Back in 2021, he chose to perform “Sounds Like Something I’d Do” twice to show how much he could elevate it for the finale, and it worked.

He definitely wasn’t bad when he took a chance with “Don’t Leave Me Loving You,” but in my book, the songs and his performances were just stronger when he originally competed in Season 17, and I missed the guitar. Mel B. seemed to be on the same page as Simon Cowell, although she was less blunt. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Drake Milligan didn’t make the cut to continue the AGT: Fantasy League journey. If you missed the episode or just want to revisit the performance (and commentary) yourself, take a look:

New episodes of America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League air on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, and there’s still plenty of competition on the way, even with Drake Milligan’s exit. You can revisit any acts you might have missed so far streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, as well as past seasons of AGT and AGT: All-Stars.