SSAHotchner

Believing that the Bible is the Word of God, and the Bible does state that homosexuality is not what God intended, does not necessarily make one homophobic. Homophobia is fear of and lack of acceptance of, discrimination toward gays . It's easy to assign labels to people without really knowing them or understanding their convictions. People were ready to put Chick-Fil-A out of business because the founder said that he believed that the Bible states marriage should be between a man and a woman. But that doesn't mean that one is intolerant of of abusive toward homosexuals. The chain doesn't refuse to serve anyone based on their beliefs, race, religion what have you. I find it frustrating and hypocritical for folks to want to vilify Christians for their beliefs because they think they're intolerant, judging, etc. when those folks are doing the same thing toward Christians. In this country we are supposed to be allowed to think and say what we want. We should not be punished for our thoughts, only our actions. If you behave hatefully toward anyone for any reason, that behavior should be judged. The very folks that compare conservatives to Nazis are the ones who want to obliterate everyone that doesn't believe exactly as they do. I believe that God intended marriage to be between a man and a woman, but I did theatre for years and have many gay friends, several of whom are married. My beliefs don't keep me from wishing them well in their relationships, congratulating them on anniversaries and such and wanting them to be happy. And it does not ever cross my mind to confront them or suggest what they're doing is wrong in God's eyes. We don't get to decide what choices anyone else makes. Live and let live. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Agree to disagree sometimes without letting it affect a relationship. Human beings are the sum of all of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, talents, emotions,desires. Any one of those things does not define them. It's the whole package that does. If one finds they can't tolerate someone based on their beliefs, behaviors, whatever, so be it. You can't like everybody. But that doesn't mean one should label that person and seek to undermine their worth in the eyes of others.

Yes! She should have made it last year as well. Wish we knew what bug crawled up Kelli's butt about Jalyn because she is a fantastic dancer and in great shape. While not exactly conventionally beautiful, I find her looks very striking and pretty. And she seems like a really nice person with a good head on her shoulders. I love that she's not a big, toothy blonde with a vacant smile. If they're not going to live up to the overused line "we're looking for world class dancers" then they should come up with some new lines for Kelli. Like, "we would love to have all 36 cheerleaders be world class dancers, but we primarily choose the team based on looks and internal politics."

I hear you, but I don't think Kelli was ever a big fan of Brennan. We all loved her because of her heart, perseverance and maturity. I also really loved Brooke. She was part of the first season I watched. Brooke was one you couldn't take your eyes off of, a natural performer. And there was that whole story line that season of her working to get her weight down and firm up to be able to wear the uniform. She worked her tail off...literally, I guess you could say. 😄 I was glad when they didn't outright cut her when she was injured, but I think back then they valued her presence at appearances. If you look back at some of the early seasons of the show, a lot of girls who made it into training camp back then would not today. They need girls who can handle themselves in interviews and public appearances. Brennan is good at that, too, but not as strong a dancer as several other vets. I still don't think Brennan should have been cut but then I haven't seen anybody's dancing, behavior this season so.... I did think it was clear nepotism that kept Cassie on the team when she was injured. She is not pretty, she always looks smug and bitchy and I don't think she was well liked by a lot of the other girls but they, of course, could not let on when her mother was the choreographer. Anyway, I have no idea what they can possibly show of this season under the crazy circumstances this year, but while they do seem to be creating some drama here, that's not really why people watch this reality show. We really do want to see the dancing and we want to see the most qualified girls make the team. When you see such obvious favoritism and lack of applying the rules and standards equally, it makes it hard to enjoy the show and even harder to have any respect for this organization or its leaders. I think the owner and his daughter are classless, but Kelli isn't and she should be smart enough to know better than to pull stuff like this.

That was my take, too. Even if she has a language barrier, which I think she is faking, there's no excuse for a "designer" not to be aware of fashion trends and to understand what the material is when shown examples. She may not have known the English word "shear" but a quick translation should have been all she needed. She is just acting out for attention and making excuses for poor design. Even if she had done a great job this week I still think the judges should tell her they're tired of seeing the same thing over and over from her. Frankly I think all those obvious two length skirts and strips of fabric look cheap, homemade and like the person who constructed them has no training whatsoever. I really disliked Chelsea's design too but I love her personality. Wish they would have kept her instead. She's done some great work in other challenges and at least she embraces the challenges rather than turning out the same piece of crap week after week. I'm also sorry to see Dayoung go but if she's that fragile, there's no way she can hope to survive something like this competition.

I thought that they might have given the win to Chelsey and then say they would also sell Dayoung's jacket because they all really seemed to like it. I agree with the judge who said it would have been better with some skinny pants. I kind of wish they would have because Dayoung is really sweet and humble. But I do think that Chelsey's was better and it was great to see her win.

I was sure he'd be the one going home. I swear they only kept him for drama because his stuff sucks week after week. Frankly I'm tired of contestants in any type of reality contest show trying to win or stay safe by giving a sob story. The contestants should be judged solely on their work and not their past. While it's admirable to come from nothing and really work to make something of yourself, that's not what this is about. And Sergio is just a jerk with an inflated ego. Fortunately the judges not only saw through his "performance" but also in a very diplomatic way let him know that his story wasn't going to affect their opinion of his design. I hope that he and the other designers take heed of that and don't try to rely on a sympathy vote going forward.

I haven't seen enough of Julia's dancing to know one way or the other whether that was a reason to cut her, but I confess I liked her a whole lot more before the past couple of weeks when we saw how she handled herself in the media training and in her office conversations with Kelli and Judy. I didn't care for her personality or behavior once we finally got a chance to see those things. So now I'm perfectly fine with them cutting her. Likewise, what we saw of Kat and Meredith in this episode made them look as if they were finally handling the choreography and looked good on the field. Even so, my eyes have truly been opened these past few seasons and I do think that no matter how lacking a girl may be in any area, if Kelli (or Charlotte) wants her on the team, she's going to make it.

Me, too. I know it's going to cause a commotion for me to say this, and I didn't understand it myself when I was younger, but I think when you display your "goods" that openly for all to see, you're just asking for trouble. It conveys that you're looking for more than conversation. When we read etiquette statements from the past, it seems silly now, but I'd love to see a return to better manners and women respecting themselves and their bodies and not feeling the need to dress this way. My mother always said that it was sexier to hint at what's there rather than to show it and I understand that now. But, yeah, I'm old, too.

Whoops! Sorry.

I'm actually going to defend VK here even though I can't stand her. Yeah, she's dumb as a post, but that Taylor was a nightmare. She was rude, also lied, belligerent, defiant. She didn't take any criticism, no matter how constructive, well and thought she was too good. I was relieved when they finally cut her. I also think cutting her hair was a punishment. She didn't look good with all the extensions, but I also didn't care for what they did to her hair. I think it was payback for her attitude. But since I didn't like her, I didn't really care that they butchered her hair.

I think so too. It makes her appear more spunky. It's nice to change things up a bit. And you're right about it helping her to stand out, which is a very good thing.

Brooke was one of my favorites. She was overweight when she got in and she worked her tail off to get in shape. Also when she performed, she was ON. She had the sparkle that draws your attention to her. And unlike the obvious favorites in subsequent seasons: Loni, Morgan, Breelan, etc., Brooke had no trouble picking up the routines or performing. Also the year she sat out with an injury was before the MTT show really got to take over the DCC audition process. I think Brooke was brought back because they weren't really sure how long it would take her to heal enough to dance and she was a good ambassador. Pretty, friendly, easy to converse with and she seemed to be well-liked. Only an insider can tell me if I'm wrong in my assumptions. And she was humble. She didn't assume she was a shoo-in like the current Kelli favorite. As for Cassie, she is a very polarizing entity. You either love her or hate her and I'm fairly sure that most folks here don't love her. But she didn't deliver (IMO) the way Brooke did and she was kind of a know-it-all, tattle tale. So it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison, because she was already given preferential treatment before her injury. I'm pretty sure if she wasn't Judy's daughter, there's a good chance she would not have been selected that year. There was opposition to her and Judy left the room when they discussed her. If only she and Kelli had done the same for VK or at least said, "we're too close to this candidate having known her all her life, so we'll just hold our thoughts and listen to what all of you think of her." Would VK have made it back this season without Kelli's input, most likely. But nobody will ever convince me that she was the highest scoring rookie without Kelli, Judy and Charlotte's input, and nobody will convince me that she outdanced Jaylyn at SG auditions. But we'll never know for sure because they don't show us the whole audition, only the parts they want us to see. Just my 2 cents. I'm not expecting to change anyone's mind or trying to argue. I just have always liked Brooke. She seemed more like a regular person to me and not an attention seeker or someone who wouldn't be caught in public not in full makeup with every hair in place.

Tramadol did absolutely nothing for me and certainly didn't help at all with pain. Not sure what's in it, but I'm the same with Tylenol. Doesn't bring down a fever and doesn't do a thing for pain. But I was on Ambien for a few years for sleep and I'd have whole conversations and not remember a thing. My kids made fun of me. "It must be one of Mom's Ambien induced rants." But still, I'm puzzled about the whole situation with Julia. They'd better give us a darned good reason for cutting her. Unless she turned out to be a stripper or an axe murderer, I can't think of a thing that would ever convince me that she should be cut and Meredith, Lily and Kat allowed to stay. I'm so tired of Kelli keeping girls based solely on their looks, and as far as that goes, I don't think there's anything pretty about Lily at all. She looks like a hag this year.

I always wondered why Meghan F. didn't do better when she had been in TC twice before and roomed with Brooke S. She shouldn't have had memory problems with dances that Brooke could have taught her before TC even started. RIP

Didn't we read/hear that she had been working at The Star all year? But whatever she was doing, why on earth wasn't she learning that entrance? It hasn't changed since I've been watching this show and if her mom was a DCC and "Aunt" Kelli wants her on the team so badly, couldn't she have learned it over the time between the date she was released from TC to now? Wasn't she around long enough last season to have learned it? And yet they jump on new candidates who don't pick it up right away. Call me nuts, but I even suspected she might have been taught some of the routines prior to training camp this season to make sure she wasn't messing up, so why not the entrance? I mean, we know it wouldn't be fair, but then what about her audition and time in TC both last year and this year was fair? The way this show has been edited, they bend over backwards for their favorites, and then throw out little comments like, "so and so messed up" or has made so many mistakes, etc. but when you look at the footage shown on the screen, you don't see it. It's just their way of convincing the unperceptive viewers that the ones they want to oust are terrible and deserve to be dismissed while at the same time the favored ones making mistakes everyone can see get the best possible edits and the praise from K&J.