In last night’s two-hour finale of So You Think You Can Dance – which featured performances by Ciara and Fergie — swing dancer Benji Schwimmer, 22, was crowned America’s favorite dancer. He takes home $100,000 cash, a hybrid SUV, and a contract with Celine Dion’s show in Las Vegas. And though Dion made an appearance at the end of the show, congratulating the hoofer via video satellite, in an interview with Us last week, Benji said that he’s considering passing the offer on to one of his cast mates, so he can concentrate on breaking into acting.
Us: What will you do with the money if you win?
B: Give some to church, give some to my charity and spend a little bit and invest the rest. I have a charity called DEMAND which stands for Dancers Everywhere Making A Needed Difference and we work with underprivileged children in Mexico and we also help other dancers out in the community who may have injured themselves and can’t support themselves we get them back on their feet.
Us: So would you take the Celine Dion job?
B: (sings) “My heart will go oooonnnnn…” I think more than anything, if I was to have that offer, I would give it to one of these 2 [cast mates] here and let them take it because they are the dancers fit to do that. We didn’t even know about the Celine Dion contract until we actually made the show so that was never my goal to receive a contract, my goal was to be on the show for the exposure, to be challenged as a dancer.
Us: You guys haven’t heard from any celebrities about how they love the show have you?
B: Tyce — that’s my choreographer – he is friends with Tobey Maguire and said that Tobey is a huge fan of the show and wants to do a dance movie. I couldn’t believe it. So I asked Tyce again and once again he’s like no I talked to him he’s dead serious…
Us:How would you feel about doing a movie?
B: I definitely want to get into acting. That’s without a doubt. I want to get into television and movies. When I was younger, I was doing a lot of commercials and I was on Full House.
Us: You were on Full House?
B: Reluctantly. I was 5 years old.
Us: How is a 5 year old reluctant?
B: I am reluctant now because when I did it they dubbed my voice over, there was bad sound or something and some Chinese lady dubbed over my voice…it was stupid.
Us Weekly
I would rather him go to Broadway and Travis Wall go to Celine!
