Singing janitor Richard Goodall cleaned up the competition on NBC‘s “America’s Got Talent” Season 19 and won the top prize of $1 million during the grand finale on Tuesday, September 24. So what was going through his mind when “AGT” host Terry Crews announced him as the winner? “I go into every single section of the show with no expectations, and so when he called my name, I was just flabbergasted,” Richard reveals in Gold Derby’s exclusive video interview (watch above).
“It’s not very often that I’m speechless,” he continues on. “Not just with winning the show, but I sang with Journey on the show, so pinch me! You have bucket lists and then you have bucket lists that you didn’t know existed. All of it is very, very surreal to me.”
Heading into finale night, Richard readily admits that he was “trying not to think about” the ultimate outcome. “I kind of figured I’d be at least in the Top 5, hopefully. But like I said, I really don’t have any expectations, and the result was actually quite amazing.”
“I’ve liked all of the contestants,” the custodian tells us about his various competitors on the reality TV show. “In the Quarterfinal round, it just about ripped my heart out when the Los Osos kids got paired up against me and they went out, because I work in a middle school as a janitor. So it kind of hit home.”
As for why his story connected to so many viewers around the world, Richard calls himself a “working class person” who is “not professionally trained.” He is “somebody who has just been doing their regular job, Monday through Friday.” Richard adds, “There’s so much stuff going on in the world, I think people just needed somebody to root for, you know? Somebody who was just a regular, normal person. And I’m glad I could be that person.”
Richard opens up about his future as a school janitor and what his plans are now that he’s a millionaire. “I’m going to be there for a little while and see what comes our way, and see where life takes us,” he explains. “[My wife and I] definitely want a home, and then we want to invest a little bit of the money smartly, and just do whatever is called. We might rent or lease a nice RV and just kind of tour around different places.”
