"I just didn't think it could happen." Mason declared in an interview after winning the title. "Brandon Bryant is such a powerful and beautiful dancer, and I admire him so much that I definitely thought he had it. So I was just ready to give him a hug, step back and let him have his moment. So hearing Cat Deeley say my name was so surreal, it was amazing."
Mason plans to enter UCLA this fall as a communications major, focusing on both dance and film. Right now, her plan is to only take three classes each semester, so she also has time to audition and follow her dream. But funnily, she also reveals that she wasn't a natural-born dancer.
"I always loved dancing, but I hated that it made me feel so defeated toward the beginning of my lessons," she recalls. "I was so horrible that my teachers didn't feel like putting in the effort because they knew how much work it would take to get me to a place that was anywhere near good. So it took me such a long time to find a teacher that was willing to work with me and was willing to put in all that work."
Mason finally found the right teacher when she was nine years old -- someone who believed in her. Now Mason knows that America, too, believes in her.
"It's the greatest feeling ever to hear that people actually picked up the phone and voted for you," she said. "Somebody asked me, 'Was there ever a week that you felt like this is the week I'm going home?' I said, 'Yes, every week.' It's literally every week that you think this is it."
Fans of the dance series won't have to wait until next summer for the next season of "So You Think You Can Dance." FOX will premiere the sixth season Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m.
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