‘This Is Bad Mentoring’: Simon Cowell Had Blunt Words For Howie Mandel After Country Star Drake Milligan’s AGT: Fantasy League Return

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

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: