Bellisima08

Too funny! I like the spontaneous fun moments like this rather than the staged fun like VK's spa trip. And that whole thing about thinking of someone while posing is a great trick. I used to model in bridal shows and when they would take my picture, I always tried to think of who I'd marry to get that "excited bride with romance in her eyes" look. Ryan Gosling was always my go-to guy.

At this point, I think this is just how she is. Really the only things that are consistent about her is her difficulty at mastering choreography, letting things faze her, and her inability to think on her feet. The fact that we've seen her mess up at something in every episode this season with minimal improvement makes me believe that she has always been this way and will continue to be this way. We've seen it with Morgan and Breelen and they only lasted one season so unless Meredith majorly improves this season, I doubt she will make it back into training camp next year.

Well, I have to say his episode has a lot going on. Not necessarily stuff that was enjoyable, but a lot was happening. I wish I could say the cameos were fun because I usually enjoy them, but this time around they were just so-so. The bright spots of cameos were Chandi, Shania (that uniform looked amazing on her and made her eyes pop) and Amanda were the standouts among the Rookies.VK looked better since Marshall actually tamed her hair. Meredith was just painfully awkward during the photos. I don't think Kelli has ever had to coach someone in their cameos so much and the uniform was not flattering even before they fixed the vest for her. And I'm sorry, but when did on-the-spot altering of the standard length of the vest become a thing that they do for cameos? Kelli even said that's something they never do so how does Meredith rate that preference? The only other cameo that stuck out to me was Christina's because her boobs were almost up to her chin. The cooking contest could have been fun if it wasn't for the rigged win for VK's team. I mean what was Kevin Curry smoking that the sloppiness of that team with VK's inability to open a can-opener and their difficulty with shrimp means a win? I've watched a lot of cooking competition shows and the main things that I've seen judges look at is efficiency of preparation, quality/taste and presentation of the dish/meal and Maddie's team clearly excelled at all of that. Now I don't know which girl on Maddie's team said that the competition was rigged, but whoever it was, I totally agree with them! For the field rehearsals, the biggest things I took away was Meredith's continued sloppiness and Bridget fainting. For the life of me I cannot understand why Meredith is still there. She gets flustered so easily and she clearly cannot adapt quickly to choreography changes. To me, it's not a question of if she'll have a massive screw-up that's featured on the jumbo-tron, but when. In so many other seasons we've seen people who constantly mess up and not look good in the uniform/cameos get sent home, but Meredith is being led by the hand through this training camp and it's just mind-boggling. As for poor Bridget, she's so lucky she didn't get badly hurt or hurt someone else. The way she just keeled over...thank goodness her head practically landed in the lap of the cheerleader next to hurt because she could have injured her head or neck. I just hope that Bridget simply forgot to eat because she was busy and that it wasn't a deliberate meal-skipping situation. In getting to the locker room conversations, I felt so bad for Shania. The poor thing just looked so exhausted and sad. I did believe her when she said that during a real game situation she would be on and doing wonderfully. I truly think that she was more affected by the loss of her friends then what has been shown and that's manifested as her losing a bit of her shine & energy. I believe that if she'd made the team, it would have been a big boost to her spirit, but clearly K&J would rather have Meredith with her mistakes, bad interview skills & poor cameos then Shania with a uniform figure to die for, a great attitude and good dancing ability. At least Judy said that she hoped Shania would try out again. I hope she does as well. Now for Julia's office visit....yikes! I think in Julia's case there's just a lack of awareness in what she says (it didn't even register with her that the resume comment & naming her TV station was not good) and what is appropriate interview behavior. I could see how she was trying to highlight how the DCC is about the team as a whole and if she'd left it at that, she probably would have been fine, but calling out L.A. dancers made the comment look snarky. And the whole bit about her saying "F*** that" was shocking. At first I thought she might have said "I F***ed up", but when I re-watched it & studied her expression, I could see that she was more ticked off with the office visit & what K&J said than with herself. Also couldn't help but notice that VK was just behind her & within earshot so I would not be surprised if VK went running to Auntie Kelli & said that Julia was cussing up a storm & trashing them. I guess we'll see the fallout next week.

My God what is the deal with that pose? She looks like she's auditioning to be a waitress at a DCC themed restaurant!

I've wondered about the possibility of Lucchese making the boots a little shorter as well given how the boots are already made special for the DCC by making them lighter and more flexible. My guess as to why they don't shorten them would be that maybe the organization prefers that the height of the boots all look the same for symmetry. I agree that it is dumb to take a candidate into camp if its clear that her legs are too short. I don't see why they don't have the girls try on the boots at auditions or even have them practicing in the boots at the start of camp. That way they can see if the girls can dance & look good in the boots right away and if they don't, then they are gone. I can't recall if they have ever said why they don't do an official height requirement for the DCC. Maybe they think it would limit how many candidates they'd get. The one dance organization with a height requirement that comes to mind for me is the Rockettes. I had a friend who tried out and she said that for the Rockettes you have to be between 5' 6" and 5' 10 1/2 and they tend to pick people with a similar body type. You also have to be able to kick your legs for extended periods of time. I read online that they can kick up to as many as 1,200 times each day.

Lisa's pose isn't so flattering either. Her knees bent like that (combined with the boots coming up so high) just make her look so much shorter. I'm actually surprised that she made the team because Kelli has cut people who were on the short side. I remember during Vivian the poet's cameo photo shoot in her first training camp, Kelli said something about how it looked like the boots were swallowing her legs. Then Vivian got cut right after.

Oh dear. The camera did not love her in that moment. And goodness she looks so short.

Probably. VK does appear to be, to paraphrase a quote from Friends, "pretty but dumb."

I'll bet VK knows how to use a blender to make her milkshakes!

Poor Bridgette. Her boobs are being flattened like a pancake against her chest in this pic. No wonder they keep trying to escape! Have they ever said if the cheerleaders are allowed to use double-sided tape under the blouse?

Ok, so finally got some time to organize my thoughts on this episode and gotta say it really didn't leave me with a good feeling on the whole. Usually as we get close to the end I'm excited to see the final roster & you can feel the excitement rise, but I personally feel like it's limping to the finish. It certainly didn't start strong with the media training. I did think that Kelcey & Lily did well with their responses & it was nice to see Kristen finally get noticed during the podcast. Kat had a good attitude, but I think she was trying too hard to cover everything with her answers to the questions which is what made her ramble a bit. Meredith was just....cringeworthy doesn't even begin to cover it. More like watching a train crash. I used to think she was just as bad as "there's 50 yards on the field" Kelsey, but now I think she's worse. Kelsey at least would fight her way through it and still smile, but Meredith withers away. I mean you could see as VK responded Meredith's smile fell and she looked down and then she was practically hypervetilating over the election question. And speaking of VK, I thought she seemed a little smug as she answered the question about the player transferring. I could practically see her thinking "guess I found my words now bitches!" Oh and I don't believe for a minute that VK was randomly paired with Meredith for that segment. I think they put VK with the weakest person on purpose in order to make her look better. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if they let her know the questions ahead of time. As for Julia, I really feel that this was just a case of her not thinking before she spoke. I truly think she was just wanting to convey that she's trying to be a well-rounded person in her career and that she has respectable goals for herself and sadly just used the wrong words. In comparing her to someone like Kalyssa, Julia seems to love dance, has respect for the Cowboys organization & really wants to be there. In the case of Kalyssa. I always thought she was insincere & didn't have the same obvious enjoyment of cheering that others like Maddie & KaShara had. And of course, we now know that Kalyssa's goals for joining the team were more mercenary & selfish. I don't get that vibe from Julia, but unfortunately thanks to Kalyssa's actions they are now watchful & suspicious of anyone's future career goals & Julia's words (which may have been overlooked pre-Kalyssa), put her under their microscope & she couldn't work her way out of it. In regards to the whole point of the triangle thing, I think it was handled poorly. I think that Kelli & Judy should have made it clear from the start of the practice that the point would be shared such as saying "ok, so we are going to be changing it up this year and our points will be..." I watched when Judy called for Maddie to come forward for the 2nd triangle & Amy's jaw was practically on the ground so she clearly expected to be the point for the whole time. And then for Judy to say in the voiceover that the second part of the triangle called for sharper moves & that Maddie is better at that...well that's a slap in the face to Amy. If I was her watching the episode and heard that, I'd be so hurt. First your bestie Kashara picks Caroline for point over you & then Judy basically implies you're not sharp enough for both triangles. In watching the field practices, I was just really ticked off at Melissa for speaking against Shaina and saying she was marking it. I'm like "Hello! Meredith is making mistakes all over the place and you are picking on Shaina who was doing it right & smiling the whole way through?" I'm sorry but if you think that Meredith is afraid to give 100%, then you shouldn't be giving her your sticker! Other things I noticed was that VK was again slightly behind the vets in her row while they were walking out and I wasn't happy with Kelli's snide comment about Jalyn rallying herself after being cut from show group. Excuse me Kelli, but Jalyn rallied herself that same night you cut her from show group and has been doing wonderfully ever since so save it! As for Julia's visit with K&J, I felt so bad that they put her through that. I don't know if it was CMT wanting her there for filming or if it was K&J's call, but Julia was clearly not in the best condition to be there. She looked really lethargic and she said herself that her head was hurting and that she was all bruised up (she probably had deep tissue contusions). Yeah they made the right call in not talking to her about the media training, but it still left me with a bad feeling, particularly after Kelli told Julia that she needed to calm down. After watching K&J talking about how they are struggling & how difficult it is to pick the team, I'm over it. There are several obvious cuts that could be made, but if they are going to turn a blind eye to those that are clearly displaying sub-par dancing and a lack of camera-reddiness, they get no sympathy from me. As for next week, let's see what they do with cameos. Given how underwhelming everything else has been, I don't have high expectations. I do hope the Vet that fainted is ok though.

I want to hear it! When did this happen? Take that Kelli!

I felt bad for Julia as well. I think the combo of the stress of training camp and her car accident had her really freaked out & that's what made her so emotional. I noticed that when she was sitting in the practice room watching the other girls that she looked really tired and like she was holding back tears. Plus she did say her mild concussion had her feeling foggy and she was probably aching all over. I once got rear-ended in a chain reaction car accident and I was sore for about a week after. Being ill or injured can make a stressful situation seem much rougher than it normally would be and I think she just got overwhelmed. I am glad that K&J didn't bring up the media training with her. They would have really looked like bullies if they'd gone after a girl recovering from a car accident.

Preach! When Amy was going on & on to her husband & KaShara about getting point I was like "umm hello, what about Maddie?". Sure we saw her eventually mention sharing with Maddie to Kashara, but she still sounded like she was bragging a bit too much.

The only kind of "stepping stone" that Kelli, Judy & the organization want this to be is either to marriage or a job within the organization. Oh and also a step on the way to dropping off your legacy daughter to her audition.

Oh Julia honey, no! This is so cringeworthy coming from someone who works in front of a camera on a regular basis. I wonder if she had planned to say that or if she just got caught off-guard and that's what came out. I mean she could have very well been trying to be complimentary & planned on saying something like, "this organization has seen a lot of amazing women come through here who have gone on to other great things and I'd be honored to follow in their footsteps", but she got nervous or forgot. It's a real shame that this is what tripped her up. I think she would have been a real asset to the team.

Amen to this! I've pretty much been saying all year that the reason VK is doing somewhat better this year is because she's had extra help to prepare leading up to the auditions. I mean she had access to the Vets, K&J and the Cowboys facilities that the other rookies can only dream of. That being said, I expected her to be far better than she is given the level of assistance she's gotten. If she was truly the strongest rookie that TPTB are trying to portray her as, they wouldn't need to edit footage of her & make it look like choreographers are praising her when they aren't. If she was a natural "on fire" dancer like Holly P, Kashara or Kelcey, you wouldn't have to look for it. It would just be obvious with every move she made. The best that can be said about VK this season is that she's blending better. As for VK & others not knowing the entrance, I can't excuse that. And the same goes for the kickline. These are part of the signature dance that has been recorded & shown on TV and more recently on Youtube for years now. You can watch videos of that dance in full from every angle and learn the timing & sequence & be able to do it at home & build up your stamina. I know that if I was planning on trying out, I'd be doing all that & I'd probably be at the local high school asking if I can practice on the field. I'm just saying that there is no reason for any girl coming into the audition to not know that dance forwards & backwards.

I did spot VK messing up at least two times on the field. One time her arm movement was off and the other time she was out of sync with the 3 vets in her row. I did find it interesting that we didn't see any of the comments that the group leaders had about her. I mean I'm sure they must have had some because it seemed like K&J were asking them their thoughts on the rookies. As for TPTB not mentioning VK's name during the episode, I was good with that. She mentioned herself plenty during the tour.

Finally getting the time to voice my thoughts about the episode. There were parts of the tour that Phil conducted that I enjoyed. It was rather cool to see those super exclusive areas and it was something new since the show has never done that before and its always fun to see Phil. That being said, I don't think that was the first time VK has ever seen some of that stuff (we know she's been in the locker room for sure). Given how Charlotte fawns over her & her connection to Kelli, the Kalina's have probably been invited to those places. And we didn't need her history about being a "Little Star". "Yes VK, we get that you've been brought up to only be involved in all things DCC!" I will say I wasn't sure how I felt about them showing the girls the locker room. I mean on the one hand, yes it's a special treat & maybe serves as a motivation for them, but on the other hand, it kind of ruins the surprise of seeing it for the first time once you make the team. I have to say I didn't like the group airing of sad stories on the field. It just felt really invasive & exploitative, not just of Shania, but the other girls. I was expecting that if what happened to her friends was addressed, it would be in a more private setting like Kelli's office or maybe one of her teammates or her group leader would be at her home to give moral support. I don't know, an "impromptu" support group on the field right before a practice just doesn't seem like the right time or place. The field practice with the boots was pretty underwhelming. Usually it's one of my favorites because I love getting to see the boots come out, but it was rather sloppy so I didn't enjoy it as much. The lines were messy and the kickline...oy vey. I still see no reason for Meredith to have made the team. She was just cringeworthy the whole episode and for Kelli to have said "ok, she's scaring me", you know that it's bad. I was sad for Madeline S, but I did see that she didn't do as well on the field. I still don't think that Meredith should have stayed over her and I believe that Madeline would have made a great alternate. I was glad that Judy said she should come back & I was happy that she want to audition again so I have hope for her for next year. I did like seeing the involvement of the group leaders. Heather looked gorgeous when the camera was on her and Maddie was so funny with her misuse of "dictator". I did find it very interesting that none of them gave stickers to Lisa or Meredith. Other thoughts on their time on the field...I saw VK mess up a couple of times, once she was rushing her arms & another time she was slightly behind the vets. I thought Kelcey, Julia & Amanda were the strongest of the rookies on the field. I was glad to see Lily finally relax a bit & look like she was having fun (loved seeing her teammates cheer for her) and was quite surprised to see Christina take it up a notch. She actually looked quite dynamic. It was also fun to see Danielle again. As for next week...all I could think about after that promo was poor Julia. She looked absolutely wrecked. I don't think she's been called into the office before so this seems like a repeat of Lily's cut when the first time she was ever called to the office was only for her to be told it was her last night. The only other thing I took away from the promo was that we'll finally see how the two triangles came about.

If VK hadn't had her hand down on the floor she would have gone totally off balance. And what was up with all that lifting of her skirt? Maybe she was thinking, "hmm, maybe if I flash my panties enough, they won't even care that I can't stick my landing!"

Maddie looks like a natural all-American girl. VK looks like a Stepford wife.

This really proves that Kelli's claims about the squad being elite with the best dancers is hogwash. If it were true, there is no way that Meredith with her two stickers & constant mistakes would have made the squad over Julia with her eleven stickers & consistently great dancing!

I got that sense as well. It felt rather contrived, like they wanted to make the effort to show Kelli interacting with her like "look Kelli's a caring person.". I don't know, I just had the feeling every time they cut to Kelli's face that she was thinking, "ok, ok, you're welcome. Now can we move on to the practice? I don't want to be here filming all night."

The idea that Marshall is typing his name into the search box just to find out if he's being talked about on this board is just so funny & a little bit sad. I mean dude don't you have better things to do like a salon to run & Grindr hookups to get to?

They all look great here! It almost makes you forget about the awful jump split!