'AGT' Winner Says He'll Buy Sheep With His $1 Million Prize

It was a life-changing moment for Adrian Stoica on Wednesday night’s America’s Got Talent when he won the season 18 title, a Kia EV9 SUV, and a gig as part of “America’s Got Talent Presents SUPERSTARS Live” at Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

He tells Parade that “it’s been amazing. It’s unbelievable.”

But Adrian didn’t win the competition alone. His partner was his 9-year-old Border Collie Hurricane, who probably doesn’t care much about the money, but may enjoy riding in the car. Even so, the dog trainer tells Parade that he is going to spend a portion of his $1 million prize to buy Hurricane something she will enjoy.

“I will buy some extra food for Hurricane and some sheep, because she’s a Border Collie, she needs to herd,” says Adrian, who owns a very small house with a big yard in northern Italy between Milan and Turin.

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Adrian bought Hurricane from a breeder in Italy, making her an Italian dog who doesn’t speak much English, “but in the future we’ll see what happens,” Adrian says.

Hurricane was just a puppy when she indicated to Adrian that she was ready to learn tricks.

“When I took her home with me, it was two months and I saw how smart she was,” he says.

These days, because Hurricane has a very solid background of tricks, it only takes about a month for her to learn a new act, and Adrian says he doesn’t train her using treats, she prefers toys.

“She loves to play, so it’s the best way for her,” he says.

The 45-year-old dog trainer, who previously competed on Italia’s Got Talent and Romania’s Got Talent, only began training dogs 16½ years ago with a dog named Rory, so he considers himself pretty new to the world of dog training.

Adrian has eight dogs that he works with – they can work individually or separately like we saw with Hurricane on AGT, but he hasn’t decided yet if he is going to bring over another of his dogs for the Las Vegas act. But it's not a problem as Hurricane can work with all his other dogs.

“As soon as possible, we’ll start working on the new act and go to the Luxor in Las Vegas,” he says.

But first, he is heading home to Italy and “the first thing I get is a big pizza,” he says.

America's Got Talent will return in early 2024 with a new all-star format: America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League.