The fans holding “Kherington Rocks!” posters lowered them in silence.
Kherington Payne, 18, of Placentia, was eliminated from FOX’s reality show “So You Think You Can Dance” on Thursday night.
The energetic blonde was one of the early favorites in the competition, but she failed to garner enough votes.
Thousands auditioned for the show; eight dancers now remain.
Q.Some of the routines and costumes have been a little risqué. Have you been getting any parental admonitions?
A.Oh no! (Laughs.) My mom’s funny. She’s like, “You’re so cute!” Everyone loves my costumes; they love everything about it. Nothing bad about it.
Q.Did you ever think, “Uh, maybe I don’t want to do that?”
A.Oh no, not at all. It was fine. I’m kind of used to stuff, since I’ve had competitions and everything, so it was fine.
Q.Did the elimination come as much of a shock to you?
A:It’s always going to be a shock, but you always have to prepare yourself for the worst as I did so it wouldn’t be that much of a shock. It’s still sad.
Q.You were always so upbeat and so positive. What was it like to keep your spirits high?
A. It’s definitely tough, and you have to tell yourself it’s totally mind over matter. You have to keep telling yourself to keep your head up, and I have always had a positive attitude about this experience no matter what.
Q.What’s the best advice you received while on the show?
A.Oh, man, oh man. I guess (choreographer) Tyce (Diorio) was always a good philosopher. He always told us to keep our heads up and keep the negative thoughts out and never tell yourself that you can’t do it because you can.
Q.How hard has it been leaving (El Dorado) High School, missing out on graduation?
A:It was sad not being able to go to my graduation, because that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. But then again, I had to tell myself that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. …My mom brought plates that said “Grad” on it, and we had a little pasta dinner. We were fun about it, and we had a little banner. It was cute.
Q.How do you think you did on Wednesday’s show? Were some of the judges’ criticisms warranted?
A:Criticism is criticism. I totally take (what they thought) with me. I thought I did the best that I could given that literally I think the Texas two-step is the hardest dance that I’ve ever had to learn in my entire life. I thought I did really well on my jazz routine.
Q.What was the best and worst part of the competition?
A.The best part was definitely meeting all these new people. … Worst part is leaving it all. It’s really sad.
Q.What are your future plans?
A.It’s all up in the air. I definitely want to keep dancing, and see where that takes me. I don’t know what’s coming. I just hope it has something to do with dance.
Q.Do you want to go to school around here?
A.Yes. I will probably go to school the next fall, because I have tour this fall. I will probably be going to Santiago Community College.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3782 or eneff@ocregister.com
