Paralyzed ‘America’s Got Talent’ Contestant Jonathan Goodwin’s Fiancée Recalls Accident

While rehearsing a stunt for America’s Got Talent: Extreme in October 2021, the daredevil and escapologist Jonathan Goodwin nearly died when he was crushed between two cars – and nearly died twice according to his fiancée.

The aim of the stunt was for Goodwin to be tied up in a straightjacket upside-down at a height of 30 feet, and he was to free himself before two hanging burning cars fell to crush him. They were released early and sandwiched Goodwin, causing him to sustain several injuries including a broken spine and third-degree burns.

Amanda Abbington, an actress known for appearing on Sherlock, is Goodwin’s fiancée and discussed the harrowing experience he went through while on the podcast Out to Lunch. She sweetly talked about how she and Goodwin courted each other by talking with each other for hours at a time because they lived in different countries. Once they met in person after weeks of phone calls, they soon became engaged.

Unfortunately, not soon after their engagement, Goodwin then became paralyzed during the stunt rehearsal. Abbington said he “nearly died twice, on the operating table, and at the stunt he did.” She mentioned that Goodwin “devised” the stunt so he didn’t perform it under the pressure of the producers, but he was harmed when crew members “misjudged” when they were supposed to release the cars.

She added that after he was crushed between the two burning cars, Goodwin then “fell thirty feet,” onto part of the floor that wasn’t covered by a crash pad. Abbington listed off a brutal series of injuries he sustained saying he “lost a kidney, broke both shoulder blades, shattered both legs, third-degree burns, broke his spine and severed his spinal cord.”

Abbington added that her fiancé is permanently paralyzed and needs a wheelchair, “unless there’s kind of stem cell surgery or that thing that Elon Musk is designing, the little chip, he’ll be like that, yeah.” She said that Goodwin is “so positive and upbeat, and so strong, like his courage and his strength is something I aspire to be like.”

The actress also said that he wouldn’t be attempting any more crazy escapes from a wheelchair and he had fully “retired” as an escapologist, which is very reasonable.