THE GREATEST GIVEAWAY
TV dance contest winner, 14, to hand half £50,000 prize to her teacher
SHE won viewers’ hearts and had the judges in tears as she was crowned the first winner of f The Greatest Dancer.
Now 14-year- old rising star Ellie Fergusson says she plans to give half of her £50,000 prize money to her dance teacher before putting herself through dance school.
The Scottish teenager was the surprise winner of the BBC1 talent show on Saturday, beating double act Harry Smallman and Eleiyah Navis, who were mentored by Cheryl Tweedy.
She now has the chance to appear on Strictly Come Dancing as part of her prize. And she is set on sharing the prize money equally with her teacher and choreographer, Jenni Inglis at Edinburgh Dance Academy, who helped with all of her routines.
‘I want to give half of it to my dance teacher and I want to use it to help me get to dance school,’ she said.
Earlier in the series, she said: ‘Dancing is everything to me. It takes up most of my life which I love because when I’m there I feel free and I enjoy it so much. I love all my dancing friends and teachers, we are more like a family. Dancing is my future.’
Ellie, from Livingston in West Lothian, said she was keen to return home and see her friends and classmates at the academy.
‘I’ve missed them very much,’ she said. ‘It definitely has not sunk in yet, I still can’t believe it. I think it will take a while.’
The teenager is said to ‘eat, sleep and breathe dance’ and train every night of the week after school for three to four hours at a time. According to the BBC, she ‘began dancing at the age of three and remembers pestering her parents to take her to a local dance club’.
Her mentor on the show, Strictly’s Oti Mabuse, said: ‘She has worked so hard and deserves to lift the trophy and I can’t wait to see her dance on Strictly. I’m so proud of her. She has changed from a shy 14-year-old to being a beautiful confident young dancer. I’m sure she has a huge career ahead of her.’
Ellie told host Alesha Dixon: ‘It has been the most amazing experience of my life and I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support. So thank you so much to everyone.’
A peak of 4.5million watched Ellie lift her trophy on Saturday night. It has been confirmed that The Greatest Dancer will return for a second series.
‘A huge career ahead of her’