Celebs: VIDEO: Lebanese toast ‘bittersweet’ win for local group in America’s Got Talent – Gulf Digital News

Celebs: VIDEO: Lebanese toast ‘bittersweet’ win for local group in America’s Got Talent – Gulf Digital News

BEIRUT - Lebanese celebrated at home and abroad on Thursday, despite their homeland's crises, as they woke up to the news that local female dance troop Mayyas had won the America's Got Talent competition on US television, bagging a $1 million prize.

"We did it! Lebanon, this one's for you," the group posted on Instagram alongside a video of their winning act - an Arabesque performance embellished with feathers and glowing white orbs.

Lebanon has been hit hard by an economic meltdown since 2019 that has seen the local pound lose more than 90% of its value and repeated power cuts and fuel shortages.

Mayyas dancers often had to practice in darkened studios that had no electricity and with members missing as they had no fuel to arrive to practice, the 36-member troupe's director Nadim Cherfan told local media overnight.

Given Lebanon's situation, the win was "bittersweet," said filmmaker-turned-software engineer Zahi Farah, who moved to Paris from Lebanon earlier this year and had followed the Mayyas's progress through the AGT season.

"It's like a big middle finger to everything dragging you down in Lebanon," Farah told Reuters.

Lebanon's worsening financial crisis and rampant corruption in politics had slashed opportunities for other talented people to exceed in