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America’s Got Talent contestant denied despite smashing record with Howie Mandel

By Vicki Newman
Published
david rush on agt split image

Serial record breaker David Rush (USA) absolutely smashed it out of the park when he teamed up with America’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel, but sadly the others weren’t impressed.

David, who has an astonishing number of records to his name, was excitedly welcomed onto the stage on Tuesday night’s episode by host Terry Crews.

The Idaho native last appeared on the hit show three years ago when he and Terry went head-to-head for the most T-shirts worn and torn in one minute.

David claimed the title with 29.

This time around, David asked comedian Howie to join him on stage to help him set yet another record.

david rush on americas got talent

Their attempt at the most alternate fist bumps in 30 seconds (team of two) was inspired by Howie’s disdain for germs.

The self-confessed germaphobe would much rather give someone a fist bump than a handshake, so this record attempt was right up his street.

David originally claimed this record title in January of this year, completing 273 fist bumps with Joey Hannon.

Taking to the stage, David told judges Howie, Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara that he’s already broken over 250 Guinness World Records titles.

When asked if he breaks records for a living, David said: “I worked in product management at a technology company, but this year, I just quit my job in tech because I want to be on stage to entertain and inspire.”

Despite David’s impressive credentials, Simon’s face seemed to suggest he didn’t approve of this new career path.

The audience, however, was firmly on his side, cheering him on as he explained he was planning to break another record, and getting even more excited when they realized Howie would be involved.

David explained that while he got some yeses from the judges last time, Howie had said he wanted to see something “more exciting”.

Despite egging him on, Howie seemed initially a little reluctant to join David on stage.

The record breaker said: “I thought, 'what is Howie good at? He is good at fist bumps'.”

“I have a fear of germs,” Howie admitted. “I don’t want to be touched.”

After a little encouragement from the audience, Howie finally got out of his seat and headed to the stage, where the duo was joined by Guinness World Records Adjudicator Michael Empric.

david rush and howie mandel accept their certificate from michael empric

While David said he’d been practising for months, Howie joked he’d been preparing for the moment for years.

And after a quick run-through of their technique, they kicked off their official attempt.

Howie held his fists up in the air in front of David, who bumped them with his own fists as rapidly as he could. 

The judges who remained in their seats were instantly unimpressed by the record attempt, each pressing their buzzers.

After the timer had run out, Michael explained he needed to review the footage backstage to get the official count.

“I don’t think they’ve made it in time,” Heidi said doubtfully, while Howie exclaimed: “I can’t feel my hands.”

Michael watched a slowed down version of the footage and carefully counted each fist bump before returning to the stage to announce they had a total of 380.

Howie was ecstatic, screaming: “I broke a record!”

Unfortunately for David, Howie’s fellow judges weren’t quite as excited and refused to give him a pass to the next round.

Howie returned to his desk to give David his only yes vote, before sticking his hands into bowls of ice.

David is the second Guinness World Records regular to appear on America’s Got Talent this series, with Muhamed Kahrimanovic showing off his coconut smashing skills last week.

• America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and the next day on Peacock

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