IN the seven days since Terry Fator took home the $1 million prize on “America’s Got Talent,” the ventriloquist’s life has been turned upside down.
“I’d say that I was dreaming, but I pinched myself this morning, and it hurt,” Fator joked yesterday.
Since last week, Fator’s management has fielded scores of job offers from around the world. So far he’s committed to a gig in Hawaii (he’s not sure for whom – “It’s a trip to Hawaii!” he says) and an October show at the Las Vegas Hilton.
“I was told today that it’s turned out to be one of fastest selling tickets in Vegas,” he says. “That’s the stage where Elvis played. The night before. Tony Bennett will be there, and the night after me, Barry Manilow is playing. I can’t believe that.”
Fator was the dark horse to win the popular NBC talent show this summer. Ventriloquists are sometimes rated just a step above mimes on the show business food chain. But Fator quickly won over millions of viewers as he brought his dummies to life with amazing impressions of singers ranging from Cher to Kermit the Frog.
He says he plans to spend a portion of his $1 million prize on an expensive treatment for his sister Debi Beard, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, and a special Christmas present for his wife. Sunday he bought himself a laptop.