Nia danced the lead in the winning group dance last week. Will she make the top of the pyramid? I’m not holding my breath. We go straight to pyramid. Kendell had a small issue with the group dance. She owned it and Abby moved on to Chloe. Chloe was “fine.” Mackenzie is next because she didn’t win her solo. Next is NIA. Because Abby is a horrible, horrible person. Maddie is on top. Because, Maddie.
The Candy Apples will be at competition and Maddie was supposed to do a solo against Gino. So Kendall and Chloe will understudy her solo because it looks like Maddie may be called away on another assignment. Maddie will be the lead on the group competition and if she gone they will do the routine without a lead because no one compares to Maddie and they may as well all give up.
The moms begin to keep a tally of put downs for the girls versus compliments for Maddie. Abby is not thrilled with the tally board. 
Maddie makes it to the competition so she will be dancing the solo. The moms suggest letting Kendall and Chloe dance the same solo. There is no way in hell Abby would go for that. A true head to head with all three girls doing the exact choreography to the same music? What if Maddie lost? That is not allowed.
Solos are first it’s Maddie versus Gino.
Gino was good, and boys always seem to have a scoring advantage. He danced in nothing but black shorts. It was all very primitive. I just wasn’t impressed. Abby mocked the “booty shorts.” And I do have to agree they were, um a poor choice.
Maddie was even better than usual. Her choreography seemed a little more elevated.
Backstage Abby confronts the moms about the tally board, which they brought with them to the competition. Abby goes off on Holly and says that Nia is 12! She can have kids! (wait whut?) She can get married in some countries! Holly tells Abby she is a horrible person and walks out of the dressing room. All the ladies follow her. Holly proves she is serious by saying she is not going to have this conversation on camera. The moms all return to get the girls ready for group. The room is thick with tension. The girls know something happened but they don’t know what.
Abby leaves. She is furious that Holly spoke to her that way. Um what way Abby? She was a million times nicer than you are to her 12-year-old child. The moms walk out to the auditorium and Abby is sitting there and they join her.
First up is the Rotten Apple Cores! OMG When Kathy talked about the routine in practice she mentioned it was like that movie with the two young lovers who are both terminally ill. SHE HAS HER GIRLS WEARING OXYGEN LINES ON THEIR FACE. It’s ridiculous. That said the choreography was great and they were really precise and in sync. But really, WTF with the oxygen crap?
Just when the girls are set to go, there is an announcement that the group number has been withdrawn. This is news to the dancers and their mothers. Abby is a petty little thing. The choreographer comes out to tell them that the reason the number was pulled has nothing to do with them. It’s because how your mothers treated Abby in the dressing room. Oh, how ironic is this. The bully can’t take any criticism?
Maddie’s solo won. Gino was second. Candy Apples group dance came in fourth. The moms think Abby was afraid to go up against Candy Apples. Abby and Holly go at it again after the comp, but apparently 61 minutes was not enough for this episode and my recording ends.
http://www.ibtimes.com/dance-moms-behind-scenes-what-really-happens-competitions-abby-lee-millers-reality-series-1681812
http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/21257/1/maddie-ziegler-pre-teen-drama-queen
Tamara,
Thank you for posting the top link. Your Dance Moms re-caps don’t have the usual sources and insider info that I’ve come to expect (respect) from the best investigative reality TV blogger. The faux reality of Dance Moms has been an open secret for years, and the predictable reaction from viewers “poor Chloe”, “Abby’s an abuser”, “Maddie’s always the star”, just reflect the storyline. It would be great if you found sources who could get us tea about the characters’ real lives and behind the scene issues.
I’m pretty sure I’ve covered that with Abby and Kelly’s legal woes, the auditions for “new team members” etc. I don’t think anyone really thinks this show isn’t scripted.
On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 2:17 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
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Yeah. This is a grain of salt, guilty pleasure show. It’s been discussed here many times. The point being that we all get the fakeness of the drama, but you can’t fake the dancing. And that’s what sets it apart and makes it interesting. I feel like I have typed those exact words here before.
The mom’s should’ve never brought that board to the competition. That started all the drama but knowing the producers, scripted (or as the article you linked says, TT, “enhanced”) for the show to stir shit up. I feel like the girls can handle Abby much better than the Mom’s can. The only time Nia seemed to really be suffering was that season where she got the Most Improved award cos she was at one point really down in the dumps.
I think Abby hates that some of the moms (that is Christie) are stuck in contracts and she still has to deal with them.
Nasty Abby pulling out the girl’s group dance from completion. Nasty Abby
Abby said she’s had several students become successful. When Maddie was a new student, was she compared to any of these successful students?
Thanks for posting the additional links.
By the way, you would be surprised at how many “live” shows are actually taped in advance. When I worked at Disney World, ALL of the holiday parades that were aired “live” were taped at least a week in advance. Tapings were done early in the morning, when the park was still closed. The cheering crowds were actually cast members and their families, picking up easy overtime.
So is this show completely scripted or does Abby really get away with talking to children that way? I cannot relate to any mom on that show who would subject their child to the horror that is Abby. If she were my daughters coach she’d either be dead or missing a body part by now! I just don”t get it.
I did used to think it was obviously scripted until I saw a clip of what appeared to be a real battle between Abby and one of the moms. Their anger at one another seemed pretty real from what I recall. After I saw that I began to wonder if these moms were putting up with their kids being what I would almost consider abuse from Abby. I was confused, still am. I guess from these comments it is scripted. Noted.
No, some of the moms really do hate Abby. Kelly for sure wasn’t scripted. There is reality there with the relationships, it is just amped up for TV. Like it seems that Abby did not in fact pull the dance routine. According to the link they used fire in their first runthough and were not allowed to do the second one.
On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 4:49 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
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I read the linked articles and I have to say, the first one makes me think it’s not as scripted or fake as we think. We’ve been told that there are no real competitions, etc. But that sounded real, if convoluted.
It’s interesting that the group number was disqualified because they used fire, but they made it seem like Abby was being a bitch and squashed it.
Just discovering your site. I am thoroughly enjoying!
I know how incredibly petty this sounds (especially since Maddie pretty much gave up her childhood to slave away in a studio every day) but it kind of annoys me that after being dangled as ‘the star’ in front of all the girls for so many years, she’s actually starting to ‘make it,’ which gives Abby even more ammunition.
In my naive mental imitation of went down, I saw Abby pushing maddie to do the Sia video without even considering anyone else; now to read that Sia specifically wrote Maddie herself, it’s disappointing she wouldn’t entertain another girl if she was familiar with the format of the show.
I would have loved to see Chloe, Kendal, or even Nia play that part in the music video (since the choreography isn’t especially difficult in that video I think they could have easily done it) just to get some exposure. I guess most pull for the other girls because the majority of people know what it feels like to be the underdog.
Anyways, back to the show, I loved how when Abby says “it’s her method of teaching” that holly said “then it’s a shame maddie misses out on the Abby lee experience” or something like that. Everything else aside, she’s really not doing maddie any favors for when she starts doing actual auditions and will face actual rejection – the hypocrisy is annoying, and I often wonder if Abby realizes it and/or just doesn’t care.
I know it’s par for the course on reality tv blogs to see commenters complain about everything and vowing never to watch again, but in this particular situation I am seriously BORED of the same thing happening over and over again.
I’m so tired of watching Abby bitchily ignore Chloe and Kendall dance, I’m so tired of maddies name being brought up, and I’m so tired or the moms desperation and hopelessness regarding it all – it seriously is contagious sometimes.
It’s not even the morality at this point, I’m just sick of feeling the same visceral disappointment for the girls – any of the above mentioned scenes could be pulled from any random episode and you would never be able to guess which one – it’s just the same over and over.
They SERIOUSLY need to shake up the format of this show.