Since America’s Got Talent has had loads of people come and go, many fans think about the show’s rich judges first and foremost. 

However, AGT has had some winners who became rich and memorable since they were so entertaining.

Since AGT’s top performers are so great, fans want to know if the show pays contestants and if the judges really care about their favorites. 

AGT fans also want to know about the show’s success stories. A perfect example is that AGT fans want to know what happened to the show’s most successful winner, Terry Fator.

This article will look at what Terry Fator did to become so successful after he won America’s Got Talent. Then, the article will look at the surprising twist that Fator’s career took.

Throughout the history of the entertainment industry, there have been many famous actors, musicians, and comedians. 

On the other hand, there have only been a handful of ventriloquists who became successful enough to have fan followings.

With that in mind, it seemed pretty clear that the odds were always against Terry Fator’s career. 

However, Fator is such a talented ventriloquist that he took America’s Got Talent by storm during the second season.

Since Fator won the second season of America’s Got Talent, his life has been fascinating in many ways. For example, Fator arguably has become the most successful America’s Got Talent winner ever.

According to public reporting, several of America’s Got Talent’s first ten winners have accumulated fortunes as big as $3 million. For most people, garnering a $3 million fortune would be a big deal.

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However, for America’s Got Talent’s second winner, having a $3 million fortune would be a huge step-down. At least, that is the case if the public reporting is correct, which it likely is largely accurate since it is from a more reputable source.

As of June 2024, Celebrity Net Worth reported that Fator had a truly impressive $160 million fortune. To put that in full perspective, Fator was largely unknown before he made his America’s Got Talent debut. Of course, that report asks an obvious question. How did Terry Fator reportedly become so rich?

According to a report from NBC News, Fator earned his fortune by doing a masterful job of taking advantage of the momentum winning AGT provided him.

According to an August 2023 report from the outlet, Fator’s first post-AGT deal provided him with $1.5 million for fifteen performances at Las Vegas’ Hilton Hotel. From there, it quickly became very clear that Fator was a draw in Las Vegas. After all, Fator had enough people attend his Hilton Hotel shows that he was offered a huge deal.

NBC News’ report revealed that in 2009, Fator was offered a five-year deal to perform at the Mirage. That deal called for Fator to be paid the staggering amount of $100 million.

The outlet’s report went on to quote Fator talking about how big of a deal signing that deal in 2009 was. Fator also made it very clear that he owed the huge deal he signed in 2009 to one thing, the fan following that America’s Got Talent provided him with.

“Because of America’s Got Talent I signed the biggest deal in the history of Las Vegas up to that point. Five years for $100 million? I mean talk about rags to riches.”

Speaking of Fator having a rags-to-riches story, a 2017 Parade article shines a light on that. The writer behind the article, Dr. Nancy Berk, spoke to Fator about his America’s Got Talent tenure. The most fascinating part of that conversation came when Fator explained how winning a $1 million prize from AGT instantly changed his life. As Fator explained, he was in debt and couldn’t afford to improve his performances before he won that money.

“It’s amazing. It’s absolutely amazing how it can really genuinely change your life. What it did for me was, I was able to completely pay off all my bills. I was able to invest in getting some new characters and puppets.”

After Fator signed his first deal with the Mirage in 2009, that relationship continued for a lot longer than the five years they first agreed to. According to NBC News’ aforementioned article, the Mirage continued to re-up their contract with Fator for many years after the first contract expired.

The outlet reported that Fator theoretically could earn $20 million annually each time his deal with the Mirage continued. The only stipulation was that for Fator to get all that money, his shows had to sell out from Monday to Thursday each week.

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Clearly, Fator did a great job selling out a lot of those shows. After all, NBC News’ report also revealed that Forbes included Fator on their list of the highest-paid comedians of the year in 2019.

NBC News’ article also revealed another area of Terry Fator’s life that has seemingly become very successful. As of September 2015, Terry Fator has been married to his wife Angie Fator. When the couple agreed to tie the knot, they also decided to celebrate their union twice as they held a second wedding ceremony in November 2015.

Before Terry Fator and Angie Fator got married, he’d been married twice before according to NBC News’ report. Fator’s first marriage to Melinda Fator lasted from 1991 until 2009 and his second one to Taylor Makakoa went from 2010 until 2015.

After Terry Fator and the Mirage signed their first contract in 2009, they worked together for more than a decade. As a result of how long that relationship was going strong, many observers didn’t anticipate it ending anytime soon.

Then in 2021, Terry Fator’s time performing at the Mirage came to an end. At that time, Fator moved his show to another venue in Las Vegas, New York-New York’s Liberty Loft. If anyone assumed that venue would work with Fator as long as the Mirage did, that proved to be very wrong.

In February 2024, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Fator’s time at New York-New York’s Liberty Loft also was ending. At that time, there was no information about where Fator would be performing in Las Vegas next. Considering that Fator had been a huge deal in Vegas for years, this was a stunning turn of events for many observers.

In May 2024, KTNV Las Vegas finally gave Fator’s fans an update on where he was going to call his new home in the travel destination. Fator signed a deal to start performing a new show called “Terry Fator: One Man, a Hundred Voices, a Thousand Laughs” at The Strat Theater. At that time, Fator released a statement about how excited he was to be performing in that venue.

“It has been a privilege to call Las Vegas home for more than 15 years and to bring so many voices to life every night on stage for my incredible audiences. I’ve been blessed by millions of fans who have been with me on my journey, and, with the support of our Co-Producer SPI Entertainment, I couldn’t be more excited to start this new chapter at The STRAT where literally, the sky’s the limit.”

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Source: USA Today