Ricky Ubeda admits he was surprised to win So You Think You Can Dance, but everyone else apparently saw it coming.
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"I am in complete shock," Ubeda, the 18-year-old winner of Season 11, told Entertainment Weekly.
"I knew this was possible, but for it to actually happen is unreal... I just graduated high school. I don't know what my real life is yet. This is real life I guess, and it doesn't feel like it."
However, So You Think You Can Dance judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy felt the opposite about Ubeda's victory on Wednesday night's finale.
"Ricky had won the American audience vote since day one, so it's no real surprise for me," Lythgoe, the show's executive producer, told EW.
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"Ricky was so far ahead at the beginning of the season, yet he managed to push himself each week, worked hard every single week, and still improved in areas he might not have been good at in the beginning of the season."
Murphy agreed, "I don't think he ever took a wrong step basically all season. It's never usually the best dancer, it's often the favorite dancer [who wins], but this year it happened to be both all wrapped up into one!"
Because he felt like a frontrunner from the get-go, especially in the judges' eyes, Ubeda admitted it raised the stakes for him in the competition and made him work harder each week.
"There was a lot of pressure from the beginning cause they loved me so much, which I was so grateful for, but I definitely had to push myself," Ubeda said. "Every moment I was on that stage was so magical, and I got lost in what I was doing. It was really unforgettable."
After Ubeda embarks on So You Think You Can Dance's 70-city tour with the rest of the Top 10 this fall, he'll apparently be moving to New York to join the Broadway cast of "On the Town," which is part of his SYTYCD prize package.
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"Of course there are little things like looking at the contract, but I'm definitely looking forward to taking that and my first big gig off the show," Ubeda explained, adding that he likes being in the spotlight now.
"I took a selfie with Jesse [Tyler Ferguson] kissing me on my cheek after I won, so boom! [And] Debbie Allen told me I need to start acting, but I definitely have to work on it cause I've never really acted before, but I think I could!"
So You Think You Can Dance has yet to be renewed by Fox for another season.
"You're going to have to ask someone else that question," Lythgoe noted when asked about the show's future. "[It's] such a wonderful platform for America to appreciate the arts."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski