Comfort Fedoke suspected she'd be up for elimination against Jessica King during last Thursday night's live So You Think You Can Dance fourth-season results show, so she decided to "go out with a bang if I'm leaving." 

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"I had to think smart.  I had to narrow it down to who -- right now -- is the crowd's favorite and who is going to be out of it.  I knew it was going to be out of me and Jessica.  I felt it," Fedoke told Reality TV World during a Friday conference call. 

"So I definitely knew that I had to come in there with nothing but confidence.  The reason why they picked me to be on this show was because I was this arrogant dancer.  When I dance, I do become a different kind of person.  So I made sure I showed all of that.  I made sure there was definitely confidence so if I had to leave I'd go out with a bang."

Fedoke accomplished that goal as her Thursday night solo was complimented by the judges.  However it wasn't enough to save her as 20-year-old hip-hop dancer from Lagos, Nigeria who currently resides in Dallas, TX became the fifth female finalist booted from So You Think You Can Dance's fourth season.

Moments later her partner Thayne Jasperson became the fifth male finalist ousted.  Fedoke and Jasperson had received criticism on Wednesday night for their lack of connection on the dance floor.

"Right when I was getting comfortable with Thayne,  it just got swept under my feet," Fedoke told reporters.  "I really enjoyed working with Thayne, me and Thayne were really getting better with each other.  They kicked us out before we could get it.  I really liked the connection me and Thayne were getting."

Fedoke couldn't say she shared the same connection with her original fourth-season partner Chris Jarosz, who was the third male finalist booted from the competition.  She explained that it was "awkward" dancing with Jarosz because he's "taller than anything" and she's a "little pea."

"He's a great person, but dance-wise it was kind of hard.  I guess the world picked up on that.  Then I had to switch partners," she told reporters.  "I love Chris to death but it was harder to work with him because of his height and me being so short.  It was hard to find a connection with him because we are totally, totally different.  But it's not an excuse, it just felt a little uncomfortable."

Despite the connection she had with Jasperson that wasn't there with Jarosz, Fedoke readily admitted that switching partners did throw her off.

"It did.  It really did.  It threw me off outstandingly," she said.  "I had such a disadvantage because I didn't have a partner that I could mesh with from the beginning and the world can grow to love, like everybody else."

In addition, Fedoke said that hurting her chances right from the start was the fact that she and Jarosz were not heavily featured during the fourth-season audition episodes.

"We were the only ones that didn't really have our solo getting shown when they were doing the auditions," she explained.  "So nobody knew who we were, they just knew we were good and I was said to be the best female hip-hop dancer.  The world was still getting to know us while everybody else was already picking their favorites."

The lack of viewer recognition was compounded by Fedoke's lack of experience when compared to other fourth-season finalists, a fact that led this week's guest judge Mia Michaels to comment Fedoke "can only fake technique so much."

"That is true because she knows and everybody knows -- and it's probably just for TV for her to say that -- but she knows I've only had three years of what these ladies have been doing for all their lives," Fedoke told Reality TV World about Michaels' comment. 

"I think I did very well in faking if I was, because I haven't been doing this.  You only get five hours to learn something you've never done.  I think I did extremely well for what I have under my belt."

Fedoke said it took a "really strong backbone" to constantly handle the judges' criticism.

"You take it in and you take it in as criticism, but it's TV too.  It's TV, it's television and they're going to say stuff to make people go, 'Ooh!  Ah!'  I understand that," she said.  "I just know everything bounced off my shoulder because I know I'm good in what I do.  I know I haven't done none of these dances in my life, so I can't sit here and argue with them about it.  They can say exactly what they feel as long as I know I did my best.  That's all that matters."

She added that So You Think You Can Dance was "definitely more difficult" than the freestyle hip-hop she's used to, citing the specific choreography she was required to learn on a weekly basis.

"Everything is totally different from where I came from, where I came out of," said Fedoke.  "I had to do a 360 with myself, because I've only had three years experience in what these other contestants have been doing forever.  It was definitely different."

While she may have been booted, Fedoke said participating in So You Think You Can Dance did allow her to experience genres outside of her wheelhouse.

"I've learned to just really be open to any kind of genre that I've never messed with.  I never thought to do contemporary or to dance in heels and wear little dresses.  I've never thought to explore little things like that," she said.  "So I guess it opened up my mind to experience everything in different genres and respect those genres."

In addition, she said she was able to lend some advice and support to her fellow finalists when they were tackling hip-hop.

"They all actually -- when they got hip-hop -- asked me for help with it.  I definitely helped them," she said.  "It was nothing for me, because I knew if I wanted help with contemporary, I'm like, 'You've all got to help me!'"

As for what's next, Fedoke said she's "so happy" to be given the opportunity to participate in So You Think You Can Dance's North American tour this fall and is also excited about what else is on the horizon.

"I'm such an outgoing kind of person, I'm just the type of person that loves entertainment -- acting, music, anything near music is what I'm going for," she said.  "Me having my own dance studio, that's No. 1.  So I'm doing anything."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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