Bellisima08

Well the DCC organization has no one to blame but themselves for that. Since I've watched this show I've learned that for all their gushing about sisterhood, teammates for life and churning out strong, independent women, there's a fair amount of judgement, cattiness and hypocrisy. And not just between the cheerleaders, but from TPTB, who, while they may claim that the organization is modern & woke, doesn't seem that far removed from values & attitudes that shaped the 50s. That could be a turn off to a lot of young woman. You also have to consider that pay might have something to do with it. After Ericka spilled the beans about how little the cheerleaders make, that had to have dimmed the appeal a bit. I mean to work so hard & put your body through all that dancing, coupled with the long hours only to learn that the Mascot makes more & that some of them can't make rent on their own....that would certainly make me think twice about trying out. I think the show really pulled back the curtain on how things are run there & it could very well be that once people really started following the show & seeing what actually goes down, some up & coming dancers were probably like "eh maybe I don't want to put myself through that."

Man if VK moved/fell out of her space enough to get in the way of a player, I'd LOVE to see how K&J try to spin that! "Oh that big brute just wasn't watching where he was going & he chased that ball right into her space! How could he not see where our sweet Victoria was dancing? If our beautiful storm was injured the coach will hear about this!"

If I had to pick a legacy to stay I would have picked Madeline S. Comparing her to VK in the two episodes that have aired so far, she just comes across as much more polished & mature. I mean, take for example how much we have seen of VK versus Madeline. We've gotten VK inserting herself into conversation...I mean "bonding" with other returning rookies, toasting her fellow dancers at the water cooler,her laughing about how her big & bold style made her fall & just doing all she can to convince everyone she is likable. With Madeline there's been one mention of her in deliberations from Kelli about her being a legacy & how Kelli didn't even recognize her right away. Then there was when Charm sought her out & was chatting with her which I thought was nice & Madeline seemed to be very nice, respectful, natural & actually had words to say. When it comes to dance Madeline seems far more graceful with more finesse compared to VK overdoing her moves & not staying in her space. I also liked Madeline's look better. Her hair was nicely styled & her makeup looked natural & classy while VK whipped that head of straw around and called way too much attention to her teeth with that bright lipstick. Oh well, hopefully Madeline will try out again next year.

Wow! This is surprising. Although if its true then I can't say I blame her for leaving after the way her daughter was treated. I know I would find it hard to work with Kelli & Judy after they broke Dayton down while they practically bent over backwards to make Veruca's path easy. Well it's their loss!

Agreed. I've loved & rooted for Maddie ever since her first rookie year when she got cut. I liked her because she had a great attitude & seems like a nice person with a good work ethic. I mean she took her lessons from her first training camp & really improved on everything with her look & dancing and made show group and has been a group leader. She's also never had her name connected with any drama as far as I've heard. As for her looks, I think she has a very approachable, girl next door sex appeal which I think is nice. I think its certainly better than the stripper vibe of Kalyssa or the in-your-face sexiness of Holly P.

I'd watch VK as point....just for chance to see her spin out of it! Because seriously I don't think its a question of if she she'll fall out of a turn during a game, but when.

Ok, so after rewatching the 2nd episode here are my thoughts: All the judges have had the VK Kool-Aid. When it came time to talk about her at the deliberations, no one said a thing against her. No mention of her falling out of her turn or that she was still dancing too big. VK is in overdrive to be super friendly with everyone. She didn't seem to be nearly so chatty last year at auditions, but this year she is sitting in pow-wows with returning rookies & toasting her fellow group members at the water cooler. Chandie & Madeline S are my favorites because they are just so fun to watch & seem really nice. Julia & Kristine still have my attention as does Kat. I'm not liking Lisa's look on the TV. Her hair color seems off and she's very short. Her photos are better. As nice As Meredith & Gina C are, I don't know how either of them made it into TC. Gina had so many mistakes & Meredith lost steam. Lily's dancing was good, but there's still been no focus on Kelcey or Shaina which I don't think is right. I mean if it wasn't for this board, I'd have no idea who they were since they haven't been talked about on the show. Loved seeing the Vets say goodbye although I got teary by the end. Yay for Yuko getting engaged! I was surprised that Gabby was not at that meeting. It seemed like there were a few vets missing. Anyway, that's my thoughts. Bring on next week!

Yay! I'm happy with this!

Just rewatched the 2nd episode and rolled my eyes when VK was at the water cooler with the other girls she'd been dancing with and saying "yay for numbers 70 through 75!" It's like she's overcompensating for last year & is trying to be as big & bold in her sweetness as she is in her dance moves.

Wow. I actually like VK better with the darker hair & more natural makeup. The red lipstick draws more attention to her mouth & those teeth.

God if Travis Wall is going to fawn over VK (a girl who is coasting through training camp on the strength of her mother's friendship with Kelli) & discount Brennan (who got into training camp multiple times on her own merits/talent, took the lessons from each attempt & came back better & did it all with a great attitude), then he has undermined himself & his objectivity as a judge & I consider his opinion tainted!

I can say right now that if news were to come out that VK injured herself or someone else while dancing I wouldn't be surprised. She could have easily hurt someone at the audition when she fell out of her turn. If the chairs had been a little closer to the dance floor she could have hit one of them and whoever was sitting in it. If she'd fallen in the other direction to her left, she could have hit the girl who was dancing next to her. She's so concerned with being bold in her dance moves she doesn't consider the possibility that she'll take someone else out. Of course maybe that's her master plan.

I totally agree! It sounds so choppy and like it was just thrown together. I mean I've been wanting them to update the intro for years, but by update I meant "feature more recent cheerleaders." I would have been fine with them keeping the old music and showing different dance moves or maybe a montage of the girls played over the music.

I only noticed it after watching the episode a second time. I didn't catch it the first time because the way Judy said it made it sound almost off-hand. Like she was kind of saying it to herself (because her voice didn't sound at full volume) and then it got lost in the noise of Kelli, Charm & Melissa joking about it. I'm glad she at least said it though.

And thanks to the freezing of the image at that point in time, you can see VK's eyes going wide with the realization of "oh crap, I'm falling"! She was probably too busy trying to swing her head around to whip her hair about & keep eye contact with Auntie Kelli that she forgot that when you are doing turns, your head position should remain relatively fixed in order to maintain balance & prevent dizziness.

Someone should Tweet that article to Kelli! And to think she gets mad at training camp candidates when they don't know any facts about the Cowboys organization!

Whether or not its 112 or 142, it's still really low compared to the numbers Kelli & CMT give us. I get that its a gimmick, but its such a stupid thing to lie about. It's like quibbling over the size of inauguration crowds. There are other ways to frame the turnout such as talent level, dance experience, ethnic range (although not so much in the case of this year), how many states represented, ect.

Rewatching last night's premiere and have some thoughts: Really loved Chandi, Kat, Kristen & Lily. Also loved legacy Madeline and am sad she doesn't make the team as I think she's much prettier than VK & she didn't fall out of her turn. Of course Kelli said she didn't even remember she was a legacy until she saw her dance & given that we know this was always VK's year, there probably wasn't room for two legacies on the squad this year. As for the others that we know made it to training camp, the only ones who stood out to me were Amanda, Lisa & Julia and Julia was the only one of those three who I liked outright. Really pulling for Kristen to make it as she did seem much brighter in the audition and she didn't seem to be looking at the floor so much. I was surprised that they didn't focus on VK more. I was fully expecting to see a montage of her in training camp last year accompanied by sad music when she got cut & an interview where she talked about how hard its been for her. I suppose we were lucky to only see her focused on twice, once when she fell & then when she was sitting with the other returning rookies. That by the way was so staged. I noticed that when Lily "invited" VK over, she glanced at someone off-camera over to her left. I assumed that was a producer gesturing at Lily to get her to interact with VK. That was the only time I saw VK with any of the returning Rookies while the rest of them did seem to be hanging out together while waiting in line & I saw Kristen hugging Lily at one point. What is up with Marshall's hair? I mean the guy is a stylist who critiques their hair & yet his is clearly over processed! One of my friend's texted me during the show and was like "his hair looks like straw"! Where was Charlotte? I can't recall if anyone said anything on here earlier about why she was absent. I couldn't help thinking when Melissa talked about how she got to be in the room with K&J that she only got in there because Charlotte wasn't there. I really don't get why they are inflating the numbers of how many auditioned. Do they think we can't count? Anyway, I thought it was a good start. I think next week will be even more revealing.

And then when they were interviewing her afterwards she was like "I just got right back up so hopefully Judy & Kelli didn't see it." Yeah, Veruca, you were in the front row, wobbling like a weeble & you landed on your hands! They saw it!

I could see VK's fall coming. In the promo they made it look like her fall was caused by just slipping on the pom pom. but when I watched the actual episode you could see that she was wobbling out of her turn & that wobble caused her to step out of her space onto the pom & that was what made her slip. What really got me was Kelli's reaction. I mean she was giggling and her attitude was to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. "Oh ha, ha. It's only Victoria & her wobbly turns. Isn't she precious?" And then they interviewed Victoria who was cackling and was like "I guess I was too big and bold."Reign in the twister VK!

I also find it incredibly creepy when cameras (both still & video) are aimed straight on at their crotches. One of my friends calls pics like these "perv shots". I mean there's no need to be shooting in that direction just to see how high their kick is. You can take a picture at an angle or from the side.

Kelli: And ladies when it's time for solos you'll see the most returning vets we've ever had!

A lasso? Yikes! I once had to learn how to use one when doing the musical "Will Rogers Follies" and using that thing combined with dance moves is not easy or fun. Most of us chorus girls got mean cases of rope burn & one time our Will was nearly strangled when one of the girls was practicing a trick involving a spin & her aim was so off it landed around his neck. Somehow a lot of cheerleaders twirling lassos in close quarters sounds like a disaster.

First off, thank you for sharing this. Secondly, WOW! Did Judy get on the phone to Cassie and say "honey you gotta go defend our girl"? Clearly they didn't stop to think of how it would look to have the first example of nepotism coming to the defense of its latest incarnation. I mean given what we know about the whole "protect VK" edict, I'm suspicious of anyone from the organization going into overdrive to promote VK, but to have it be Cassie makes the whole thing stink more than the football players locker room right after a game! I mean really, "Victoria was judged even harder"?! Please!

When you break it down like that, it really is obvious how they were more in VK's corner than Dayton's. I mean both of them had the same knowledge of how training camp works, they both had extensive backgrounds in dance and they both had insight into what was expected of them, but they both handled it very differently (Dayton with genuine sweetness & grace, VK with ego and expectation) and they were both treated very differently. The analogy I used was like when little kids are learning to swim. K&J were holding VK's hand & guiding her through the shallows while they threw Dayton into the deep end and were like "we're disappointed you're not swimming as well as VK."