A northern B.C. content creator, actor and international host, who spent time in Smithers, has scored his biggest job to date.
Dancin Wayne, a former host of a Smithers radio station, is on his way to Qatar to host the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup (soccer).
The social media star, who doesn’t want to use his real name for privacy reasons, lived in Smithers from 2015-2019 and was on the local airwaves while working at Creative Roots Studios before moving to another northern B.C. community.
He was working a 9-5 office job, and slowly building a social media platform part-time when a horrible accident made him rethink what he was doing.
“I got in a terrible car accident, a drunk driver ran me off the road, basically left me for dead,” he said. “And then during recovery, I went back to my desk and I was really unfulfilled already, especially during the pandemic when everything was happening. I just quit one day, gave my two weeks.”
He was already doing well with Tik tok before quitting his job. He had 20,000 followers, making videos about education and his perspective on life. Once he jumped in with two feet, his following grew quickly. He now has over 800 million views.
“So when I went full-time into Tik Tok, a representative of FIFA, slid into my DMs,” he said. “He was like, ‘Hey, we’re hosting an event in Las Vegas.’ This was literally months after I quit my job. And they’re like, ‘you want to host this event? It’s at their new Raider stadium. We can’t offer too much of a budget.’ I was like, I don’t care. I’ll get there. And I went down there. I was it was the CONCACAF Gold Cup. It was Mexico vs. USA. I had the best time ever. It was so much fun. I made the right connections and left a lasting impression. They kept calling me for different events.”
Dancin Wayne has since hosted multiple international events.
“So when you eventually figure out what your happiness is, everything becomes easy,” he said.
The World Cup has him pumped.
“I know five billion people watch this,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird number to wrap my head around. Honestly, the excitement level is high, Canada being there is crazy.”
He’s proud to represent Canada and northern B.C.
He remembers his time in Smithers fondly and misses the community. He is still friends with Alex Cuba, whom he says he shares a vibe with.
“We talk about Smithers all the time, because we’re like, I can’t believe this place exists. It’s mind-blowing.”
He added that Smithers Brewing Company has offered to send him a care package with Smithers pins that he says he’ll wear while hosting the World Cup.
“I’ll do anything for Smithers,” he added.
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@MariscaDekkema
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