S14.E05: The Transformation Begins

[Drogo]

Emmy-award winning choreographer, Travis Wall, comes to rehearsal to shake things up. The physical rigors of training camp begin with the kickline and the fear of the jumpsplits.

[DCCFanInKy]

Can someone fill me in pls on what happened in the first half hour? I didn't get home until about 20 min ago.

I just got home.  Who got cut this wk pls?

[Tornado]

2 minutes ago, DCCFanInKy said:

Can someone fill me in pls on what happened in the first half hour? I didn't get home until about 20 min ago.

Did you miss the 2 cuts?

[DCCFanInKy]

Just now, Tornado said:

Did you miss the 2 cuts?

Yeah I usually don't get home from my Friday night commitment until around 9:45pm EST

[Tornado]

So, the episode description at the top of the page is wrong. Tonight was uniform fitting and choreo with Travis Wall

Just now, DCCFanInKy said:

Yeah I usually don't get home from my Friday night commitment until around 9:45pm EST

The two cuts happened at about 15mins in. Ashley and Gina Marie. Ashley because she had bad flexibility, and Gina M because she cant remember choreo

[DCCFanInKy]

Just now, Tornado said:

So, the episode description at the top of the page is wrong. Tonight was uniform fitting and choreo with Travis Wall

@Drogo can you fix this?

3 minutes ago, Tornado said:

The two cuts happened at about 15mins in. Ashley and Gina Marie. Ashley because she had bad flexibility, and Gina M because she cant remember choreo

Thanks!

[DCCFanInKy]

7 minutes ago, Tornado said:

So, the episode description at the top of the page is wrong. Tonight was uniform fitting and choreo with Travis Wall

@Tornado I think @Drogo just fixed the episode description 🙂 Thanks @Drogo!

[Tornado]

3 minutes ago, DCCFanInKy said:

@Tornado I think @Drogo just fixed the episode description 🙂 Thanks @Drogo!

Oh you missed the kick line and teaching of the jump splits, as well as maybe 5min segment on uniform fitting. They hardly spent any time at all on uniform fitting. Interesting thing that I noticed. They handed VK her uniform from last season. It was on a hanger with the dry cleaning plastic covering it. The other rookies got handed an uncovered unpressed uniform

[DCCFanInKy]

nevermind

Edited August 31, 2019 by DCCFanInKy
nevermind

[NoChtngWhenEtng]

Kat is borderline insane. What is the point of her talking to the mom/daughter at the nail salon and then in the TH she said it didn’t work out? What did Kelly say about her nails? She’s so pretty though - if she pulls off the choreography I vote she can stay!

bye Ashley and Gina Marie! Gina Marie’s sweaty hair was making me laugh.

Lauren is adorable! Looks like Kelly and Judy disagree on her. Interesting 

[scorpio1031]

23 minutes ago, Tornado said:

They handed VK her uniform from last season. It was on a hanger with the dry cleaning plastic covering it. The other rookies got handed an uncovered unpressed uniform

Really?  Watching all these previous seasons, Lisa just hands the girl her uniform - no hanger, no nothing.  I'm surprised VK's wasn't in a special box escorted by Phil.

[nrskim]

Today on "DCC Kat, Making the Team", we get to watch Kat get a manicure while taking a phone call that her host family won't let her stay because she has a cat. Ho hum. 

We get to watch Kelli and Judi meet with their CORE personality test rep who analyzes the women. This helps Kelli and Judi pick group leaders and 2nd leaders. I admit, I liked seeing them talk about picking the leaders, it's about time!! But seriously, we do the stupid personality tests on all new hires, they bore me in real life, they bore me on TV. 

In the first little bit, Kellii randomly calls in 2 of the many nameless, faceless women that are on this season (I'm BORED with all of them so far!). She cuts them without fan fair. Kelli seems over it already. One of them has bad kicks, the other I don't remember. When one tried to say how hard she is working, Kelli shut it down and said "tonight will be your last night".

Uniform fittings. Kat is over dramatic and doing whatever she can to grab that screen time. Kelli randomly asks some of the women "what does your Ancestry DNA show". This feels (as does the Core tests) like product placements. I fully expect to see Kelli say "Excuse me while I read the Core tests while drinking a Pepsi at the Star and waiting for my Ancestry DNA tests. I'm a little hungry too, so I'll eat a PowerBar, that come in 30 delicious flavors, while I wait". I mean, beyond ridiculous. 

Travis Wall comes. I thought his choreography was interesting but to me, it depicted a seizure patient getting stabbed. He thought Victoria was the best of all of them (and I agreed! I did not have my glasses on so I couldn't see her face but I didn't take my eyes off of her, then I put my glasses on and whoa, it's Victoria!) I also thought Amy did a fantastic job. She's come a long way. He was NOT impressed by Kat. At ALL. He doesn't think she belongs. For some reason, Kelli and Judi do not agree. I don't know why, she is by far the worst there. She looks like if I, age 50 with no dance training and no rhythm, randomly decided to dance professionally. He did amuse me when he had the opportunity to do a DCC routine with them "Every gay man's dream!" And Amy taught him, she was cute, especially with the booty bounce. 

Overall, I give this season a total F. I've rewatched every single season and this one absolutely sucks compared to the rest. I mean, we have Kat playing the role of Morgan, Breelan, the other Kat, and those seasons where it was all about ONE person, we didn't get to know any of the other women. I'm not impressed, I'm tired of the random product plugs, Kat gets 99% of the screen time and she deserves none of it. I'm just bored. 

[scorpio1031]

9 minutes ago, nrskim said:

This helps Kelli and Judi pick group leaders and 2nd leaders.

FTLOG

[lkxydhfinl ghsdv]

28 minutes ago, scorpio1031 said:

Really?  Watching all these previous seasons, Lisa just hands the girl her uniform - no hanger, no nothing.  I'm surprised VK's wasn't in a special box escorted by Phil.

Since VK was in training camp last year, Lisa had already been working on it.  That's happened before when girls make it back to TC after being cut...they get the same uniform from the previous year.  VK's uniform already had the fringe on it as well...

ETA: Lily's and Kristin's are from last year, too--they have the fringe on it as well.

Edited August 31, 2019 by Tootie

[nrskim]

5 minutes ago, scorpio1031 said:

FTLOG

That was my EXACT thought, and it involved such a huge eye roll I saw my brain. 

[tanyak]

Kat’s lacefront is awful. And very distracting. 

 I also thought it was weird to have that whole scene in the nail shop with the woman offering up her house only to have it not work out. Why even bother showing it? 

[scorpio1031]

3 minutes ago, Tootie said:

Since VK was in training camp last year, Lisa had already been working on it.  That's happened before when girls make it back to TC after being cut...they get the same uniform from the previous year.  VK's uniform already had the fringe on it as well...

Right - but like the OP said, VK's was on a hanger with the dry clean plastic.  How many other returning TCC's got a hanger and plastic with their same uniform?

[lkxydhfinl ghsdv]

2 minutes ago, scorpio1031 said:

Right - but like the OP said, VK's was on a hanger with the dry clean plastic.  How many other returning TCC's got a hanger and plastic with their same uniform?

It wasn't shown... Lily's and Kristin's were probably the same...

[FutureDCC]

What an entirely bizarre episode.  I can't really even comment on a lot of dancing but here are my initial thoughts:

What was that nail salon scene? Why was CMT even included in that? Clearly it was set up, because 1) people don't normally just offer up their house to a complete stranger in public and 2) it seems a little crazy that it just randomly took place while CMT HAPPENED to be there.. no. I'm not sure why that was included, especially if it didn't work out.

Have we ever seen them cut girls mid-rehearsal before, except on squad announcement day? That was really weird to just pull Gina Marie and Ashley.  They didn't even get the big group hug from the girls at the end of the night.  Odd

Travis Wall and learning the jump splits were the only times I was actually entertained this episode. It was kind of interesting to see the leaders being chosen, but I really couldn't care less about the Core test.

Was Kelli trying to show how diverse they are by asking them about their "ancestry.com results"? Lack of diversity has been a big talking point this season so it doesn't surprise me.

All I can really say about dancing is that Lisa is on fire and Kat needs work. Victoria did look good too.

This whole episode just felt really contrived and manufactured to me. Brb gonna go binge watch seasons 1-8 😞

[omgtv]

4 minutes ago, FutureDCC said:

Travis Wall and learning the jump splits were the only times I was actually entertained this episode. It was kind of interesting to see the leaders being chosen, but I really couldn't care less about the Core test.

OMG, my cable crapped out for 20 minutes mid-episode and I thought you just wrote 'Travis Wall LEARNING the jump split" and I was like, OMG!  I NEED to see that.  I ❤️ Travis.

[FutureDCC]

Also, the audio from Sheryl pulling the girls totally sounded like it was added after the fact.  It's not like she was mic'd at the time so I guess I understand, but when she goes up to them and says "can you come with me?" it sounds like they recorded her saying it later and stuck it in.  Not sure if it only bothered me because I work in A/V production but it seemed unnecessary 🤣 we would still be able to tell what was going on if they had just shown the video.

[KatebytheSea]

I haven't watched the episode yet, but maybe CMT put the nail shop scene in to show another way some girls get a place to stay during TC. If the nail place is a usual DCC haunt like the hair salon, the employees know the DCCs, even TCCs. Though it seemed random, usually these things aren't, as we all know.

Cutting girls mid-practice seems curt and too abrupt. I'll have to see when I watch it, though! 

[Bad Example]

55 minutes ago, tanyak said:

I also thought it was weird to have that whole scene in the nail shop with the woman offering up her house only to have it not work out. Why even bother showing it? 

We're clearly all supposed to be obsessed with All Things Kat.  Her choice in nail polish color!  How much she likes her cat!  The details of her CORE personality, and how she would feel about it!  

Well... I'm not charmed by her (well, except how she feels about her cat.  That I like).  I feel as if they love her look so much that they're blind to her lack of dance skill.

[PrincessLeia]

I just wanna know.... How is Kelli wearing leather outside in Texas in June?

[PrincessLeia]

Thank you Jesus for not showing Victoria’s uniform fitting with Kelli. Not a hater, but I couldn’t have done that tonight. 

Madeline S is gorgeous. She looks fabulous in the uniform. So does Julia, Alexandra... hec they all did. 

I just can’t with Maddie anymore. The scene when she’s talking to the rookies about going out and trying the jump split just completely answer why she SHOULD NEVER BE POINT. She looks like a 12 year old playing dress up. 

And Kat was going to randomly move in with a stranger? Say whaaatttt?

Edited August 31, 2019 by PrincessLeia

[Lily80]

2 hours ago, Tornado said:

Oh you missed the kick line and teaching of the jump splits, as well as maybe 5min segment on uniform fitting. They hardly spent any time at all on uniform fitting. Interesting thing that I noticed. They handed VK her uniform from last season. It was on a hanger with the dry cleaning plastic covering it. The other rookies got handed an uncovered unpressed uniform

I think they always keep the girl's uniforms from training camp. I remember Brittany Schram trying hers on the next year, and it fitting the same, and Kelly saying something about liking her "consistency." And they gave Caley Fullerton her original uniform from like seven years before!

[FutureDCC]

35 minutes ago, KatebytheSea said:

Cutting girls mid-practice seems curt and too abrupt. I'll have to see when I watch it, though! 

Yes! Ashley's cut in particular seemed VERY abrupt. I knew it was coming (I'm already spoiled) but the way they went about it seemed.. off. Not even a warning or prior convo about kicks.. just got the axe. Which is extra weird because they've praised her in past episodes for her dance, look, and being liked by her teammates. Usually they give at least a little time to see improvement. I'm wondering if there's more that we just didn't see.

[Lily80]

1 hour ago, tanyak said:

Kat’s lacefront is awful. And very distracting. 

 I also thought it was weird to have that whole scene in the nail shop with the woman offering up her house only to have it not work out. Why even bother showing it? 

Probably to add emotional weight to her scene in the office when she cried about having nowhere to stay. But it was so weird. Like, we're supposed to believe that some rando woman is going to offer her house to a stranger?

[PrincessLeia]

Gina killed travis’ choreography. #ginawasrobbed #stillnotoverit 

[Lily80]

1 hour ago, nrskim said:

Kelli randomly asks some of the women "what does your Ancestry DNA show".

Yes! Did she just happen to know that these particular girls have had their Ancestry DNA done? Or does everyone do this now?

[FutureDCC]

7 minutes ago, Lily80 said:

Yes! Did she just happen to know that these particular girls have had their Ancestry DNA done? Or does everyone do this now?

I got the impression that maybe Chandi mentioned to Kelli that she had done the Ancestry test (not shown) and Kelli asked about it, which is why she used that specific wording. Then she just asked the other girls what their heritage was. I could be wrong but I don't think they all actually do a DNA test.

[Mardo2044]

2 hours ago, FutureDCC said:

Yes! Ashley's cut in particular seemed VERY abrupt. I knew it was coming (I'm already spoiled) but the way they went about it seemed.. off. Not even a warning or prior convo about kicks.. just got the axe. Which is extra weird because they've praised her in past episodes for her dance, look, and being liked by her teammates. Usually they give at least a little time to see improvement. I'm wondering if there's more that we just didn't see.

I liked Ashley in her audition and I mostly had to go by outfit I don't even think they labeled her name like some of the others in semis.  But her kicks were low, so maybe this is the new Kelli?  If so, I'm glad she does not drag it out.

[Mardo2044]

The old seasons would have shown what Kelli said after the Kat talk where she was crying, telling them about her mom not knowing she is "homeless" but actually living in hotels, how she loves her cat, and she does not have a job because of training camp.  I think this maybe is the new Vivian with s****** VK thrown in!  It was hard to even follow a conversation with her, but Kelli had a side eye to Judy at the end!

Edited August 31, 2019 by Mardo2044
no eye roll but I felt it!

[Mardo2044]

okay, I froze the frame where CORE lady was talking and you could see the board in the background.  It is too far away to see names, faces or anything, but there are 2 vets on the second to bottom row.  We know Christina is one because Kelli talked about it on previous ep, but there is a brunette on the left that is also in the row with rookies.  I would love to know who it is.

[Quilt Fairy]

4 hours ago, nrskim said:

Travis Wall comes. I thought his choreography was interesting but to me, it depicted a seizure patient getting stabbed.

Thank you.  I thought it was just me being hopelessly unhip.

How can anyone make it to DCC training camp and be surprised that they're going to have to learn a jump split? 

[Mardo2044]

1 minute ago, Quilt Fairy said:

How can anyone make it to DCC training camp and be surprised that they're going to have to learn a jump split? 

Practicing and then saying "Oh, I have never done this" may be a strategy for some.  But I think we complain about this every season lol!

[Agent Gully]

5 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

Right - but like the OP said, VK's was on a hanger with the dry clean plastic.  How many other returning TCC's got a hanger and plastic with their same uniform?

Maybe she spilled milkshake on it and they had it dry cleaned.

[dreamcatcher]

7 hours ago, Tornado said:

Oh you missed the kick line and teaching of the jump splits, as well as maybe 5min segment on uniform fitting. They hardly spent any time at all on uniform fitting. Interesting thing that I noticed. They handed VK her uniform from last season. It was on a hanger with the dry cleaning plastic covering it. The other rookies got handed an uncovered unpressed uniform

Well... considering she gained 11 pounds during tc last year and this year she’s OMG SO MUCH BETTER AND TONED AND MATURED, how exactly does that work? Did the uniform shrink on it’s own when it detected the new and improved Victoria plus plus plus in the room?

6 hours ago, nrskim said:

Today on "DCC Kat, Making the Team", we get to watch Kat get a manicure while taking a phone call that her host family won't let her stay because she has a cat. Ho hum. 

We get to watch Kelli and Judi meet with their CORE personality test rep who analyzes the women. This helps Kelli and Judi pick group leaders and 2nd leaders. I admit, I liked seeing them talk about picking the leaders, it's about time!! But seriously, we do the stupid personality tests on all new hires, they bore me in real life, they bore me on TV. 

In the first little bit, Kellii randomly calls in 2 of the many nameless, faceless women that are on this season (I'm BORED with all of them so far!). She cuts them without fan fair. Kelli seems over it already. One of them has bad kicks, the other I don't remember. When one tried to say how hard she is working, Kelli shut it down and said "tonight will be your last night".

Uniform fittings. Kat is over dramatic and doing whatever she can to grab that screen time. Kelli randomly asks some of the women "what does your Ancestry DNA show". This feels (as does the Core tests) like product placements. I fully expect to see Kelli say "Excuse me while I read the Core tests while drinking a Pepsi at the Star and waiting for my Ancestry DNA tests. I'm a little hungry too, so I'll eat a PowerBar, that come in 30 delicious flavors, while I wait". I mean, beyond ridiculous. 

Travis Wall comes. I thought his choreography was interesting but to me, it depicted a seizure patient getting stabbed. He thought Victoria was the best of all of them (and I agreed! I did not have my glasses on so I couldn't see her face but I didn't take my eyes off of her, then I put my glasses on and whoa, it's Victoria!) I also thought Amy did a fantastic job. She's come a long way. He was NOT impressed by Kat. At ALL. He doesn't think she belongs. For some reason, Kelli and Judi do not agree. I don't know why, she is by far the worst there. She looks like if I, age 50 with no dance training and no rhythm, randomly decided to dance professionally. He did amuse me when he had the opportunity to do a DCC routine with them "Every gay man's dream!" And Amy taught him, she was cute, especially with the booty bounce. 

Overall, I give this season a total F. I've rewatched every single season and this one absolutely sucks compared to the rest. I mean, we have Kat playing the role of Morgan, Breelan, the other Kat, and those seasons where it was all about ONE person, we didn't get to know any of the other women. I'm not impressed, I'm tired of the random product plugs, Kat gets 99% of the screen time and she deserves none of it. I'm just bored. 

First of all, I LOVE your recap. Can you please promise to recap all episodes for anyone like me who’s trying to avoid certain people and will only watch episodes that get good reviews? 🙂

Also, like hell they’re using this stupid test to choose their leaders. They already knew who the leaders were (have already shown them teaching in the background) and yes it’s as always a groundbreaking method: past year’s 2nd leaders become GL with very few exceptions and then seniority plus looks plus teaching experience for the 2nd leaders.

[Route66]

Ugh. I hate it when they cut a girl for something they'd already seem during auditions. They do the kick line in the studio and on the field/jumbotron, so they'd seen Ashley kick before.

Did everyone else cringe when Kat said [during uniform fittings]  how great it was that "Kelli wants to get to know ME better" as if she's not doing it with everyone?

It's clear whenever Victoria's name gets announced there's excessive cheering and loud clapping. You saw it when she's called into camp and when Travis pulled her out. Does anyone else think it's odd? As if everyone is more enthused about VK than anyone else. 

[ClosetMTTfan]

I noticed on the kick line that there was a blonde on the end whose belly jiggled terribly badly when she came down on the jump split. I need to rewatch to figure out who it was. I mean - mine would be worse— but it was very noticeable particularly for an end of the line girl so I’m wondering why it didn’t get noticed or mentioned. (This was when only rookies were doing it, in case someone gets to rewatch before I do)

[Mardo2044]

1 hour ago, Route66 said:

Ugh. I hate it when they cut a girl for something they'd already seem during auditions. They do the kick line in the studio and on the field/jumbotron, so they'd seen Ashley kick before.

Very good point.  So the yes, no, maybe system has some flaws! Hee Hee

[Mardo2044]

6 hours ago, PrincessLeia said:

I just can’t with Maddie anymore. The scene when she’s talking to the rookies about going out and trying the jump split just completely answer why she SHOULD NEVER BE POINT. She looks like a 12 year old playing dress up. 

I agree, but I honestly don't think they will select her.  I know they like her personality but She doesn't have the face, body, or command to fill those boots.  

[cherryblossom]

Two things I noticed: one, Kelli said something about this being a strong rookie class...what???? Second, I see Cheryl brings the girls into the boardroom by one door & they exit by another door so they don’t go to the locker room via the rehearsal studio.  I think they believe there will be no muss no fuss that way!  Although once they call the first person and she never returns......I think the jig is up!

[Mardo2044]

15 minutes ago, cherryblossom said:

Two things I noticed: one, Kelli said something about this being a strong rookie class...what???? Second, I see Cheryl brings the girls into the boardroom by one door & they exit by another door so they don’t go to the locker room via the rehearsal studio.  I think they believe there will be no muss no fuss that way!  Although once they call the first person and she never returns......I think the jig is up!

I noticed escorted by security.  Which is protocol for most corporations when someone is dismissed.  It probably happened before but we just didn't see it.  Well, hopefully some will come back to the studio after "a talk" with J&K.  

[ExtremeFajitas]

Travis learning the DCC routine and dancing with poms was EVERYTHING. 😍

[heckkitty]

8 hours ago, PrincessLeia said:

Gina killed travis’ choreography. #ginawasrobbed #stillnotoverit 

And didn’t at all get shown being noticed for it. 

That CORE thing is some made up fake psychology bullshit 

[Route66]

2 hours ago, Mardo2044 said:

Very good point.  So the yes, no, maybe system has some flaws! Hee Hee

Especially since she said very firmly that kicks and flexibility can not be improved in such a short time. Maybe there's more to that cut than we saw, if only because she's constantly been seen giving girls multiple warnings about kicks. It also seems like kicking is a lot more technique based than just plain flexibility. If it were just plain flexibility anyone could do it with a couple extra bar or yoga classes.

[DragonFlyzz]

I think I may now be in the minority but I still like Kat.  To me she seems likable, sweet and a little goofy.  Apparently TPTB have never heard that familiarity breeds contempt. They are doing her no favors by shoving a camera in her face every five seconds and having her on air every ten.  Fortunately for her prospects as a DCC it’s not up to the viewers.

Clearly there are others willing to be featured and speak on camera.  It would be great if they would be more even handed with their coverage of training camp and they would rotate through the participants and get a different perspective of the various elements of training camp.  I would like more Chandi, Amanda, Lisa, Kristen, Taylor and others we barely get to know due to the producers, editors or whoever’s heavy handedness with featuring one or two girls.

I have now officially stepped down off my soapbox.

23 minutes ago, ExtremeFajitas said:

Travis learning the DCC routine and dancing with poms was EVERYTHING. 😍

I agree.  He picked up the choreography in no time flat.  He also looked super cute doing it with the squad.

Edited August 31, 2019 by DragonFlyzz

[DragonFlyzz]

4 minutes ago, DragonFlyzz said:

Sorry. Double posted.

Edited August 31, 2019 by DragonFlyzz

[ATLGirl]

I had to turn away when Meredith was trying to do the the jump split and her back leg kept catching on the turf. I was waiting for the pop, scream, crumple into a ball on the ground horror show. 

The Kat nail salon scene was one of the most scripted, set up fake moments I think I’ve seen in the show. Near the end of the episode, I was thinking all Kat had to do was take over poor Gina Marie’s lease since she got cut and won’t need it now.

I do think it’s raw that Ashley and Gina Marie got cut in the middle of practice so there was no hug and cry time with the other TCCs. They just got pushed into the darkness with their bags. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out...