Tasya

Exactly marys your post x100. I feel like all of the pity for Alecia is because she's this little small blond girl and people are almost conditioned to see that type as vulnerable. Alecia was worthless as a Survivor player. Were the guys mean to her? Yes, they certainly were. But I don't considered that as bullying and I feel like the word is getting used way to much in the context of this show. The were horrid to her, rude and disrespectful. Then because Cydney didn't stand up for her she's vilified and cast quite literally as the "bitch" in the little drama. It's ridiculous and to suggest that Alecia be brought back for another season? Based on what exactly? She doesn't deserve another chance to play the game when she showed no ability to do so this time around. If she had been on Beauty instead of Brawn she still would have been worthless. Compare her play in the challenges to that of those girls. Seriously, I don't get people.

Valerie's was ugly, but at least she attempted to design something. Once Sam realized his big fabric wasn't going to work, he gave up. He didn't even bother fitting the damn circle skirt on the lady. If Mitchell had made that outfit they would have sent him packing; heck if anyone else had made it they would be gone. But they must keep their little boo boy. I think he's insufferable, I didn't like him on UTG and he isn't making a good impression here either. I'm going to be really disappointed if he gets Top Looks next week because of Dom's help and he doesn't acknowledge that he had help (A la Kini designing his entire outfit previously). I don't understand the designers who just stand there and let someone else take credit for their work.

And no one should be surprised that Adrian takes the win. Man all Claire had to do was look down and quickly realize that had to be a g for brag and gloat and she would've eliminated him. If this show comes back, Lifetime should perhaps not give one child a constantly running promo. It was obvious from the get-go that Adrian was going to win. I'm glad for him that he has the money he seems to need but I don't like the kid. I think he's really smug and I can see that getting worse as the years go by. He's going to be that guy that sneers at anyone who is less intelligent, you can just tell.

But Jenn was the one that screwed that alliance. By that point at Tribal they really had no idea who she would have voted for. She ended up voting for Alecia anyway. That move by Jenn still goes down as the most bizarre ever.

But she had to tell Jason; she was already aware that he had spotted her with Alecia on the hill digging for a clue. At this point she's stuck in an alliance with the two guys. If she doesn't go to Jason with the clue, he's going to start plotting against her because he now thinks she's flipped and is working with Alecia. The dumb one in this situation is Alecia, She had absolutely no reason to call Cydney over and show her the clue. Just stealthily place it somewhere and read it later.

I find it hilarious that Cydney is getting called a bitch and lumped in with the guys for not sticking up for Alecia. She NEVER joined in when the guys were saying stuff directly to Alecia. So what if she said stuff behind her back, this is Survivor, everyone does that. Not one time did she berate her in a nasty way. She would say stuff like "Keep digging Alecia" or "Just dig, don't stand there" etc., but who wouldn't do that if someone wasn't being productive? Cydney didn't want Alecia there from the get go and Scott and Kyle/Jason or whatever are the reason she was still around. Cydney told them to vote out Alecia and keep Darnell but oh no, they had to keep her around for fodder. Then when Jen flipped out, instead of taking the high road and keeping her, they kept Alecia once again. I don't think that just because you're a woman you have to take up for another woman, especially when doing so can mean you get kicked instead. We've seen that happen in previous seasons. No one ever says that a random guy should stand up for another random guy that's getting picked on, but somehow Cydney is supposed to place a target on her back for someone she doesn't even like. BS in my opinion. Cydney always looked to me as if she was keeping quiet because she didn't want the focus on her. Once Darnell was gone, she had no alliance. She knew that the core 3 was Jason, Scott and Jen; it was lucky for her that Jen flipped out. Then it's her, Alecia and the two guys. Teaming up with Alecia is pointless because she's worthless, so what could she do? Start jumping in and taking up for Alecia, then the guys could potentially say "Well Cyd's a real threat and Alecia is a goat; let's keep her around. I think that black women in this game have a long road to travel. They are usually never approached for an alliance first unless it's by another minority character, and then they are quickly placed in a box. I get so tired of the black females being called bitch when they haven't shown any directly bitchy behavior. At the immunity challenge Alecia said "I messed that up, it's my fault" Cyd immediately says "No WE messed up". Even when the guys were piling on she just shrugged her shoulders. So unless there is a whole lot more to her behavior than what we have seen, i'm sorry but she's just playing the game. I'm voting for Cydney because everyone else on this season is boring and bland and has made zero impression other than to annoy. Tai had potential but his thing with Caleb is not cool. First trying to kiss him and then just continuing on with the entire thing as if there was romantic potential there. It's creepy. The beauty girls are non-entities so far and Nick is a jerk. Most of brains are also jerky with the exception being Aubry and Joe who are just background material.

I don't think the spoiler in regards to So I guess my point is, of all she had to say in that article, that's the least objectionable lol.

Brawn is incredibly stupid for voting out Darnell over Alecia. She's perhaps the most deadweight of a person that we've ever had on Survivor. I don't blame Cydney for saying she had to do the puzzle; what else did she do for her tribe in the challenge? She didn't help paddle, she had to be helped into the boat, she didn't help push the boat; we all know that Jen did most of the pulling on the rope side of things. If she wasn't designated for the puzzle, she would have contributed nothing. In the end that's what happened anyway. On Beauty, the little head guy is delusional. There is nothing attractive about him, and I question his sanity and that of the other girl that called him dreamy. Blech. I don't watch BB so I only had an impression of Caleb from this show and he seemed ok and he looks a lot better than Nick. I don't have a lot of opinions on them yet except for the fact that Tai definitely tried to kiss Caleb in the preview and he is on the wrong tribe. On Brains, I wish they hadn't campaigned to get rid of the old people. But Debbie bugs and can go any time. The older guy is probably more useful than most of the others, so he should be a keeper. Overall so far I like Cydney, Jennifer, Neal and Joe? (older guy).

IIRC Nia was not part of the competition team before the show. There was an African-American girl on the competition team (and still is) but I guess her mother had enough common sense to say no lol. They had to have someone "ethnic" so Nia becomes part of the team. If you look back at all of the past pictures they post, you'll see that Nia isn't a part of any of them when the girls were really little.

To clarify, by bigger audience I meant specifically performing in competitions. SYTYCD begins in May I believe. I'm cautiously excited about the juniors but not as much by the format. Apparently all of the chosen contestants will compete in "The Academy" which will then whittle down to a top 10 who perform with the allstars. I can't imagine adults dancing with kids in the SYTYCD realm so that is a bit strange to me. I would have preferred if the age was higher (say 10-16) and if the kids were going to be dancing with each other.

That is true, but Brynn is not some poor little newbie dancer who has never been exposed to the spotlight. That's the point i'm trying to make. It's not wrong to compare Brynn to Maddie, Kalani, Kendall etc. She's within a year or two of all of them and should be better at projecting some sort of emotion into her routines. The girl is a great technician, she can technically dance circles around Maddie. But it's quite clear that her mother wants more for her than to continue winning on the competition circuit. Accordingly, she had better wake up and find some way to coax some performance out of her quickly, or her time in the spotlight is going to pass. If only because I simply can't believe that Dance Moms is going to come back after this season (they are filming episodes after the mid-season hiatus but I still consider that part of this current season).

Why is everyone acting like Brynn is so much younger than the other girls? Brynn is 12; she'll be 13 in July. Maddie is 13; she'll be 14 in September. In addition Brynn has been pursuing the fame route just as long as Maddie has. She had a singing and dancing group in the past, has modeled and done some small film bits. Not to mention she did America's Got Talent and I believe that other dance competition. I won't be surprised if we see her on So You Think You Can Dance this year since it's going to be changed to ages 8-13 for the upcoming season. In addition it can be argued that with Club Dance being nearer to the west coast and participating in far more of the premier competitions, she has had a greater exposure to a much bigger audience and spotlight than Maddie. Yet she hasn't managed to have a big break moment. Clearly her mother is hoping that this stint on Dance Moms will change that for her.

Sam is 12; not 9. Vivek and Arnav are both 9 and they are the youngest remaining contestants. Even Jaden was only 11 (or he was when the show started at least).

I think you hit the nail on the head Spanana. She was "ok" on Austin and Ally, i've seen worse but also a lot better. She was much better recently on Ricky, Dicky and whomever else; but again she played a dancer. However, even with that her spoken parts came along much more smoothly and with more feeling than on Austin and Ally, so I think she's loosened up a bit. I'm curious to see how she did in The Book of Henry. That's a much more trying avenue than these little kids shows, so I would expect some improvement. I do think that she's a dancer in that one as well though; but the difference is the focus is not on her character as a dancer but rather as an abused child (I believe that's it; so far details are very slim on this movie).

Honestly I don't get blaming Maddie for being over this and showing it. We the viewers are over it all, and we aren't directly influenced by it. I think that by this point in the game it's all wearing thin for the original girls. I think that at first it was a lark and a way to get noticed. Now I think it's more of an embarrassment for them than anything. Yes, they have this show to thank for their "fame" but I bet they all wish that they were Brooke, Chloe and Paige at this point. Those three got the fame brought about by the show but now they are spared the continued forced smiley, happy, togetherness of being together all of the time and of having to play along with whatever the script is. Also, at the age these girls are now, is when childhood friendships start to fray and rearrange themselves. I know that when I reached middle school, our big group of girl friends from elementary school started to break up into smaller groups that were based around different things, personalities etc. It has got to be tough and a bit frustrating to constantly have to pretend to be friends and lovey dovey with girls who you may not particularly want to spend a lot of time around anymore. When the show goes on hiatus during the summer, and the girls aren't filming, check out their pages and accounts. You can tell who really likes to hang out with who and really spend time together when it's not a show prop. I rarely see Nia with any of the other girls, sometimes with Chloe or Jojo. JoJo seems to have a busy career doing whatever promotion stuff her mother has going, but outside of filming I don't see any pictures of her with anyone ALDC other than Nia. Kendall and Maddie are often together along with Kendall's older sisters. You rarely see Mack and Maddie together as they both have their own group of friends and they are sisters lol. Kalani only spends time with any of the ALDC girls for filming, otherwise she is right back with her old studio friends. I just think that I'll cut them all a little slack when it comes down to being over this idiocy. I only watch in spurts (thank god I DVR and can fast forward), but it's clear that it really is time to end this. Or at the leas transition the big girls off and let the show just be the minis and the new moms.

I didn't see any quote from Maddie calling herself a "star". Is there a video clip I missed? I think that's just TMZ's headline to grab anything and incite the comment area. I don't know how long Maddie's so-called "star" will shine, but good for her that she's getting some play out of this entire thing. It's clear that all of these girls and their mothers are in it for the fame rather than for the love of dance. As much as any of the mothers like to cast stones, both current and former, they would all give just about anything for their children to be where Maddie is right now. Brooke, Page and Chloe have all left the show and yet are still trading off of their Dance Moms fame to stay in the news. I don't think that Maddie is the next Shirley Temple or Judy Garland or Drew Barrymore, but it's undeniable that she has a certain something that is sparking the attention of Hollywood at the moment. I say capitalize on it, as long as it's done smartly (I doubt this is the case for Melissa but there is always hope...) and enjoy the ride.

Brynn was first in the Junior division and 4th overall. Maddie was second in the Teen division and 2nd overall.

KAR, which is a pretty big convention that we attend allows for dancers to teach and still compete as long as they are 19 or younger.

At the competitions we've gone to, graduation is not an exclusion. In general senior is until 19 then it's 20 and over.

Payton was also in the group I believe; which could be why they bumped up to Senior. Kalani would only bump them up to Teen.

Maddie and Mackenzie have a tutor; there was an episode that was shown way back when they started homeschooling that showed them being taught at home. As far as Chloe's popularity; she's more popular with the fans because everyone loves the underdog (except me; I never bought into it). But surprisingly that hasn't translated over into any big career opportunities. She's done a couple of music videos for smaller internet stars and some smaller magazine covers but she doesn't get booked for any of the big name stuff that Maddie has so far (Capezio, Elle, Vogue, Glamour, Appearing during Fashion Week, Polo etc). It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. I know everyone says that Maddie gets all of the opportunities because of being shown as the "best" on the show but I don't buy that. She is clearly favored by Abby but she's also the "villain" and I would think that would mean that the other "nicer" girls would be more appealing as a whole. I think it's because despite what the show portrays in my opinion Maddie has a certain something that the others, including Chloe, simply do not. She definitely catches your eye and to use that old tired beauty pageant slogan "sparkles".

I liked most of the show last night. I keep reading that Jaja is overpraised but for me that is Megz. I was a huge fan back at the start of the show, but I feel as if she's peaked at this point. She seems as if she has zero flexibility and just comes across as really stiff. I wanted to love Comfort and Virgil but the dance just didn't go with the music. It was cute but it could have been closer to Misty Blue with a different song. Neptune and Jasmine had moments but something just didn't "finish" their routine for me. I kept waiting for that one moment where I would be like woah!, and it never came. Loved Jaja and ALEX the most.

The talent level on SYTYCD is just not that high anymore to be honest. Even the "stage" dancers are very generic with usually one or two standouts. Kalani is 15 this year, if the show sticks around for another three seasons she could easily make it at the level she is at right now.

I think the problem with saying that Maddie will come to bad things based solely on what we see on Dance Moms is that it ignores everything that happens to her in the real word. Maddie does not always win at the real competitions she attends. She placed 4th at the TDA and was very gracious in defeat. She's similarly placed 2nd or 3rd at other top events and I have never seen her meltdown (as mentioned before my niece dances at an East coast studio and we often see ALDC). I think that Maddie knows how to lose just as well as anyone else, she simply isn't shown to be expecting it on the show because it's all scripted lol. As far as her brattiness etc., I don't think that Maddie is worse than any of the other girls her age. It's simply that we are shown her reactions when a particular narrative needs to be fulfilled. I don't believe any of these kids are angels or demons, they all have good and bad things about them. Having met them in person many times I can say that the only one of the kids that really gives out a brattier than your normal kid vibe is Mackenzie, she always has this little diva attitude. Kendall seems a little aloof but not mean, Jojo is a complete extrovert and really bubbly, Nia is really poised and extremely gracious, Maddie & Kalani are really charismatic, they light the area around them up.

The show edited so much that the reactions don't make much sense. Mackenzie got 4th place but won Highest overall for solos. Kalani did a solo and placed 1st for duets/trios. The group got 2nd but won the best in studio award. I think Collins was all over this competition in a way that is more than their normal interference. I really think that there will possibly be some sweeping changes next season and so they had to have a "dramatic" end to the competition year.