it's not Dance Moms without one final episode without your favourite people!
woooo!
_____
we head to the building where we are shooting our encore episode
and we get professional dressers to help us
it's fancy
Camilas outfit:
"so you were away for a couple of years and i think that this moment we're about to have is important to the both of you" Bryan says
"yeah, absolutely" mom says
"why is that?" Bryan asks
"um because i want people to understand why we left why that was the only option at the time and why we we needed to come back." mom says
"people just think that they know like out story but i want to explain why we came back and why we left" Chloe says
"yeah and why you deserve to be here it wasn't even an option to come back it was like we had to we never really got to talk about what happened behind the scenes so today the gloves are off i'm telling all the secrets" mom says
we finish getting ready and we head to the room with the costumes and stuff
i sit beside Chloe
"i feel such pressure." mom says
"why?" Bryan asks
"because everyone's here looking at us." mom says
"we are every excited to have you guys back and we are excited about this moment" Bryan says
i smile
"these are my daughters Chloe and Camila, Chloe is fifteen years old" mom starts
i start to smile
"yes i am" Chloe smiles
"and Camila is twelve" mom adds
i give a smile
"now that you have a couple of years to think about your time with Abby i'm sure you have plenty to get off your chest" Bryan says
"well yeah after east coast nationals alot of people have had the question why we came back." mom says
"yeah." Chloe nods
"and i've been very vocal about how leaving dance moms was the best thing i did." mom says
"a lot of people were not shy about posting on social media that we just wanted the attention because we couldn't not stand being on tv and we needed the fame we couldn't survive without and that was nothing to do with it." Chloe saysn
"it's about closure." Bryan says
"yeah for sure." mom says
"we didn't get closure at all." Chloe says
"alright i want to go back to the beginning how did you end up at Abbys?" Bryan asks
"i believe for two reasons on why i started going to Abbys it was ten minutes away from my house and because my cousin Greta was going there and my aunt didn't want to be there alone and she was like come take classes and my mom said okay." Chloe says
"i was there because Chloe went there." i say
"and you know who was at class the first day you went Chloe?" mom says
"who?" Chloe asks
"Paige." mom says
"you were in studio a and you and Paige walked in and you're both little blondes and you held hands."
"Paige and i, i don't know why but it was just meant to be she was my soulmate best friend and i remember we would sit on the bus for hours and we had these notebooks and we would design our houses and." Chloe says
"let's talk about what really happened at the back of the bus..what did you learn how to do on the back of the bus." mom says
"i learnt how to kiss" Chloe says
i start to laugh
"on the back of the bus! and who taught you?" mom asks
"Brooke!" Chloe says
"Brooke taught us a lot of things!" i pipe in
"the dance moms bus?" Bryan asks
"yes!" mom says
"it's not like i was kissing Brooke she was just giving me points things to remember" Chloe says
"she gave pointers...good thing you never had to enable any of those pointers." mom says
i laugh
"sweet sixteen..stop smirking! you smirkiinsten" mom says
"that's not a word?" i say
"okay one of my favourite things from the very first competitions that no one knows is that the moms all came and we all dressed very cute because you know where going to be on tv and this is very exciting expect for one all of a sudden Melissa shows up in the most horrific mom jeans you ever seen in your life and this pink t shirt and like frumpy hair because Abby had told her dress down so that she was more relatable on television." mom says
Bryan laughs
"speaking of Melissa so the Maddie, Chloe and sometimes Camila rivalry it was a huge deal in the world of dance moms even from the very beginning" Bryan says
"i mean Maddie was definitely favoured but it was more of an even playing field because Abby didn't hate me when the show started." Chloe says
"no Abby hated you because you would win and your sister would win an awful lot." mom says
"we would go to competition and it would switch back and forth who would win sometimes i would win sometimes Maddie would win" Chloe says
"and i can remember times when you of Cami would beat Maddie and they would announce second place by a tenth of a point would be Maddie first place by a tenth of a point would be Chloe or Cam and Melissa would be sitting in the audience and go see you freaking serious? and she would scream once the cameras started rolling the stakes were even higher..Abby did not just want Maddie to win Abby could've cared less if Maddie would've came in twelfth as long as my kids came in thirteenth." mom says
"Chloe there was alot of pressure on you season one competing against Maddie but also it seems like the pressure got to you Christi the fourth competition of the first season." Bryan says
"yes yes..Maddie had and extra solo that day and everyone knew it and that she won because she didn't really win because the solo that she had done that day she had practised for an entire year." mom says
"it was a really brutal fight between you and Melissa it's hard to look at but let's take a look" Bryan says
they then play the fight
i do not remember this.
i gasp when mom yells at Melissa
"look at her grabbing at the trophies and running like a wenius." mom says
"i'm sorry what." Chloe says
"a wenius." mom repeats
"do you have any regrets from what you just saw?" Bryan asks
"no i don't, i have no regrets about that fight." mom says
"you made Maddie cry." i say
"yeah you should regret making Maddie cry." Chloe agrees
"i didn't make Maddie cry her mother should have regrets because i said let's go in the hallway how many times did i say that in that clip i don't have regrets her mother made her cry not me." mom says
"it doesn't matter how many times you said it..you yelled at her mom and Maddie reacted to that..she wasn't crying beforehand." i say
"i didn't make Maddie cry..it was her mother if she went to the hallway Maddie would not have cried." mom says
"Chloe things got so tough for you during season one there was a time you wanted to quit." Bryan says
"i was ten years old i wasn't used to this gruling schedule i wanted to quit i wanted to be done." Chloe says
"Abby realised that not all your moments were bad with Abby let's take a look" Bryan says
they show a clip of Abby having a really nice conversation with Chlo
i wish she was always like this.
"that time all that mattered was Abbys approval and..i was ten years old i just remember being so happy that she gave me one sliver of a good moment to remember and yeah." Chloe starts to cry
"something happened the next week" Bryan says
"i did the Lux music video!" Chloe beams
they show the clip of Chloe getting the lead
"you're so cute." i laugh at her interview
"huge moment." Bryan says
"that was the first time um one of you guys were trending..yayChloe was trending number one on twitter like when that video aired it was like how did we get here?" mom syas
"i will never forget that moment." Chloe says
"i forget half of it" i laugh
"well you were seven." mom says
"so it's season two not only does Chloe have to worry about Maddie as a rival you have to keep and eye out on new competition with Kendall." Bryan says
"what do you think of Jill?"
"Jill is not an OG will never be an OG she was no idea what season one was she loves to pretend that she does Jill you didn't come on until season two you're not an OG." mom says
"you used to love to make fun of Jill" Bryan says
"who doesn't love to make fun of Jill? that voice alone!" mom says
we then see the clip of Jill's first appearance
"oh my god!" i squeal
"it is nine hundred number! oh my gosh Abby is it K K part? is it time for K Ks special part?" mom mocks
i start to laugh
"it's hysterical how we saw the arc of Jill nine hundred voice Jill to shrill Jill"
"now Kendall in town you have more competition and even for Camila sometimes and Abby wasn't paying attention to your kids..Christi you had to take it into your own hands and you were pretty tough on Chloe" Bryan says
"listen here's the bottom line is i never i have never not pretended i'm not tough on you guys i know what their best us and if they're not bringing the best to the table then shame on me as a mom if i don't encourage them." mom says
encourage?
we then watch mom scream at Chloe !
"oh this." i say
"that's my mom" Chloe says as the clip ends
"and i didn't deal with this that week because i had a solo!" i fake cheer
"okay but let me ask you both a question did you guys win that year?" mom asks
"did we both win because you sat with me and yelled at me about pecking or pooping no i won and i'm sure Cami won because we wanted it for ourselves!" Chloe says
"preach" i high five Chloe
we then talk a bit mom being more tough than the show showed
and we then talk about our relationship..
we also talk about that stupid beef jerky commercial.
mortified.
also very humbling.
"after your kids won nationals Abby made it everything in her power to not let their reign last long." Bryan says
"when my kids both won nationals season two it only created more problems with Abby it out a target on their backs and it made Abby furious and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure my kids never rose to the occasion again" mom says
"Abby kept throwing stuff at you that Chloe wasn't really comfortable with an acro number." Bryan says
"i was only not good with acro because Abby decided i wasn't an acro girl she was just like oh you're not one." Chloe says
"i remember her trying to give you a standing back tuck you threw a fit." Bryan says
we then see the pyramid were Abby like throws a routine onto Chloe and Abby gets really mad
and then the acro class
and then Bryan goes into saying how mother wasn't perfect !
"then next thing we have is Camila booking her first job, Frozen." Bryan says
my face lights up
"tell us how that happened."
"well i got a call and i was asked if Camila would like to be a disney princess and it all went from there." mom explains
"how was it for you Camila?" Bryan asks
"it was incredible, everyone was so nice and it was so much fun getting to be a younger version of a character and Anna as a character she's so spunky and she has a huge heart so i really enjoyed putting a little me into her young self." i say
"was Abby happy for you?" Bryan asks
"um..not really i think at the start she was bothered but after it premiered and became a huge hit..it's like the most famous movie disney has ever produced she envied me for it that i'm apart of its history that i'm on the soundtrack for the film." i shrug
"you know after Cami sung for disneys expo after we left..Abby slandered her on social media, if Abby had her way Mackenzie would've been in that film not Camila." mom says
"oh really?" Bryan asks
"yes she did, she's jealous." mom says
"another thing that happened this season was for the very first time Camila was up against Maddie AND Chloe" Bryan says
"i was always against Maddie before the show because of how the ages went but then Maddie moved up..then the show happened but i was never against Chloe." i explain
"how did the scores go for you guys before the show?" Bryan asks
"i'd say it would go back and forth it just depended how well we remembered the routine like i was against Maddie when i was four, five and six you can't really score on technique." i say
"one thing i hated about the show is they made Cami seems like this little thing trying to keep up with everyone and Abby made it look like it's this huge thing when Camila went against Maddie that one competition in season one but Camila went against Maddie before and beat her so Abby was desperately trying to make Camila look worse than she was." mom says
"one example of that could be when Abby had Maddie and Camila do the exact same solo." Bryan says
i sigh and nod
"oh my god." mom groans
they then play the clip
"we will be attending Powerhouse Dance Competition in Fortweign Indiana." the onscreen Abby starts
"Maddie, you will be doing a solo this weekend the name of your routine is Be Anything..and my last solo will be going to Camila, Camila the name of your solo is called You Can."
"notice how she said it out of order so we wouldn't know know." mom points out
"i have something crazy planned i've decided that Maddie and Camila should do the same exact solo, why? because i am sick and tired of hearing Christi go on and on about the choreography if you want to do what Maddies doing game on." Abby says in her interview
"why does she always make it about what you say?" Chloe asks
"it's her only defence." mom says
"wait play yours." a little Chloe says on the screen
"it's the same." a younger me says
"it is the same?" Kelly asks
"we're in the den and Maddie decided to play her solo music and i'm like woah that's Camilas solo music so then it finally hits me that Abby is giving the two of them the exact same solo!" mom says in her interview
they then show me and Maddie doing the solos
"it sucks i really loved this solo, and the music." i sigh
"your elite high points for the junior solo division." the onscreen announcer says
"second place entry number 20 from Abby Lee Dance Company Be Anything."
"Maddie looks so upset." Chloe says
"she was." i say
"i don't remember that." Chloe says
"she was like almost crying backstage." i say
"and in first place junior solo in the junior division entry number 19 from Abby Lee Dance Company You Can." the onscreen announcer continues
"i was so happy, i was like just so happy." i choke up
"we had a goop, one of our judges they gave Camila a 99.10 she actually had a 99.66 because they gave her 275 in a category with 25 points." the announcer says
"so that means that the overall winner would've been Maddie."
"thank you so much we appreciate that" my old dance teacher says
"i'm sorry." he says
"hey you know things happen." Abby says
"she's so halfhearted." Chloe says
"everybody congratulations on the group..Maddie and Camila congratulations on being great sports mistakes happen." Abby says
"the director of the competition came into the dressing room and said their was a mistake with the scores for the solos so Maddie actually won..and i am a little upset but of course i'm really happy for Maddie." a younger me in the confessional chokes up
i sigh
"how was that?" Bryan breaks the silence
"i was sad..like really sad but i was and i am happy for Maddie." i say with my voice quivering
"but it's hard to know that your dance teacher would go to that length to not let you win." Chloe pipes in
thank you, Chloe
"yeah! and it just sucked because i really liked that dance and when i won i felt like i showed her i could do it but she just didn't let me have it and you know it's whatever it happened and that's that." i shrug
thankful we continue on with the New Orleans fight..
and then we got kicked from nationals!
we also talk about Chloe and Maddies duets
and we watch their duet we're alright
"that's pretty." i say
_____
"so you're here today to tell your side of the story on why you guys left..season four was the beginning of the end of the ALDC as we knew it." Bryan says
"we kinda knew everything was sort of wrapping up we didn't realise as that the super secret privates and all this manipulation was just getting started." mom says
"you turned into a detective " Bryan says
"oh fuck! the detective! oh god!" mom says
i laugh
"i had to take matters into my own hands and do a little investigating in the studio." mom says
we then watch mom and Jill be utter idiots
"role model!" Chloe says
"a terrible one." i say
"i want to know did the proof actually work because i don't remember" Chloe asks
"no! did you know Jill refused to turn the tape over to producers." Bryan says
i gasp
"no!!" mom gasps
"she was scared of repercussions from Abby she would not turn over the tape!" Bryan says
"oh my gosh!" Chloe says
"Kelly would turn it over! why didn't Kelly do this?" i ask
"so we have no proof." Bryan says
"never trust a pouf." mom says
"another super secret moment is when Abby brought on Kalani." Bryan says
"oh i hated this week." i sigh
"it wasn't just Abby who was super secretive and brought Kalani on..Melissa totally knew what she was doing" mom says
we then watch a clip from this day
"this day was terrible." i say
"has she talked to you guys since you left dance moms? no. then she's not your friend." mom says
"but she was." i say
"i feel like the whole world would love to see Maddie, Chloe and Camila be friends" Bryan says
"yeah i would love to be friends with Maddie but i know her mom would never allow let that happen because our relationship was strained even back then because her mom was always involved and her mom was friends with Abby and Abby didn't like me so it was always a vicious cycle i think if everyone else was out of it Maddie and I would still be very good friends." Chloe says then she looks to me
"um..i fought with Maddie that day and that really threw for weeks then we were friends again and we just acted like it never happened..but yeah i'd love to be friends with Maddie again." i say
"Christi would you allow them to contact Maddie?" Bryan asks
"no they're not contacting Maddie the day we walked out of that studio Maddie was never allowed to talk to my kids but she was allowed to lie about them so in my mind you don't need friends like that that's not a friend." mom says
"but if you're not letting us talk to her that's basically what Melissa is doing" Chloe says
"no because i never manipulated a situation like her mother" mom says
"this was the end for Kelly the secret duet." Bryan says
we then speak about the Kelly fight.
and we talk about Kelly, Paige and Brooke
"Camila this season is also known was the season you found you voice." Bryan starts
huh?
"that's what we're calling it?" i ask
"fans started to notice a rift between you and Maddie then not long after you and Eloise." Bryan says
"yeah..so i wasn't thrilled with Maddie the week of the duet drama and we had this whole argument or the argument was me yelling at Maddie and storming off i honestly don't remember what i said but we weren't exactly besties after that." i say
"how did you fall out with Eloise?" Bryan asks
"Eloise came to me in the den and asked about Maddie and i told her then she tried to like defend Maddie and i got mad and like i just remember sobbing that day and after that we just weren't the same..and it sucked because it was me and Eloise against the world and now she was like my worst enemy..she hated me and i hated her." i explain
"it caused a lot of fighting and yelling with Elizabeth also." mom sighs
"now when you came back you became friends with Eloise..are you guys still close?" Bryan asks
"i mean yeah sure..we like follow eachother again and stuff and for the last couple weeks we were close enough but we aren't like we were when she first came, yeah she apologised and so did i but you can't come back from what happened you just can't..and it's not like it's all her fault because i've certainly told her things i shouldn't but i don't think we'll ever be best friends again." i shrug
"there was also a time where you spoke back to Abby, has that ever happened before?" Bryan asks
"no." Chloe says
"absolutely not are you kidding?" i laugh at the thought
"take me through it." Bryan says
"Abby gave us like a duet or whatever to go against Eloise and Evelyn and i knew we've already lost like are you kidding she gave us like a day and expected it to be flawless and i just fought with Eloise so i think i was just really mad and i just got some weird nerve to say something." i say
"i was really shocked when she did..she's terrified of Abby..or was." Chloe says
"i was terrified that i did it! and she got mad obviously and like yelled but like i was telling her what we've all sat through for years so i don't know" i shrug
"i felt a bit sick when she spoke back to Abby because at that point i physically couldn't do anything but go comfort her after it all went down." mom says
"did it feel good?" Bryan asks
"now it does because everyone like says on my comments and stuff how brave it was and i told her what she needed to be told..like i humbled Abby at ten, but at the time it absolutely didn't it was the end of the absolute world back then" i say
"so at the end you left dance moms." Bryan says
"i think our departure from Dance Moms was a long time coming Abby had made a few comments that i don't think you realise throughout the season and as a mom i was protecting you guys because she would use things against you on the final day you know emotions were very raw." mom says
Bryan then shows the final fight
i cringe when Abby calls me not talented.
they then show Chloes last thoughts
"no one came out hug us no one came out to ask us if we were okay." Chloe says
"i will we be forget standing in the parking lot feeling the way i did it wasn't a tv show like that was real it was time for us to go." mom says
"she used everything against me..i was heartbroken that day because i just felt like a totally failure to everything and that i just sucked at dance.. i hated it for a long time and hearing what she said about us.." i say as i choked up
______
"we spent a whole lot of time talking about during your time on the show so let's talk about your guys time away from dance mom..you both accomplished a great deal" Bryan says
"well i'm in this entertainment business and i don't sing i've already tried the dance thing so why not try acting so i got into acting classes and i ended up doing three movies and now four movies and i started a youtube channel and i won a teen choice award" Chloe says
"i did a movie and a tv show" i say
"then the teen choice nominations came out we were all shocked and Chloe was nominated" Bryan says
"Maddie was nominated aswell and for the first time i think the fans of the show really felt they had control" mom says
"and because you were the most voted on person in the entire awards they aired your category do you got to go up and give a speech." mom says
"did you hear how Abby reacted to it?" Bryan asks
"i know Abby kinda give Maddie a look and they were like..." mom then shows clapping
"i think a lot of people wanted to know if you were speaking to Abby" Bryan asks
"when i said i wanted to thank all of my dance teachers i've ever had that would include her i will give her credit she made me the dancer that i am today but i also wanted to give inspiration to other kids out there i don't doubt for a second there's a litttle kid out there who's going through exactly what i went through." Chloe says
"so you guys came back." Bryan says
"we came back because that was my childhood we were there from the very first episode from the very first competition i know i put in the blood sweat and tears and so did Cami after we left they came to LA and got all this great stuff." Chloe says
"yeah like we started it and we had to figure out how this was gonna work..people who came after didn't." i say
"we never had closure." mom says
"we left and we didn't talk to anyone and i knew that i needed that to move on to the next step." Chloe says
"i said i didn't i was very much against it at first but i'm glad i did it and got the closure i think my mind needed." i say
"Jill was admitament that Kendall reached out to Chloe and she didn't not respond." Bryan says
"i saw the girls special when they all talked about it..Mackenzie put us in a group message with all the girls the day before we started filming nobody directly talked to us they were talking about going back to the show and i never answered personally because i didn't know i could say that i wasn't going back or anything..Cami talked in it but she never said we weren't coming back." Chloe says
"and then they used that as an excuse to say like oh i never answered."
"but it was really hard to sit there and watch Kendall specifically say on camera saying i called Chloe and Camila so many times and they never answered i..Kendall has never called them once she walked off that show..once." mom says
they then play the fight with mom and Jill
we then talk about going back but with MDP
and us going back
"so the first week back the dance was contversial" Bryan says
"i still keep my streak i wasn't in the inappropriate dances besides one!" i say
we then watch electricity
"look at you! oh my god!" i squeal
_____
"at this point i think we covered most of your journey on dance moms so i'm going to throw out fun stuff to talk about." Bryan says
"Cathy!" Bryan says
"Cathy! oh my god!" mom says
we then watch mom and Cathy reunite
"i love Cathy!" i say
"our time has come to an end we are running out of time..do you have any last words?" Bryan asks
"i am going to say this..when i leer this team i was very bitter i felt like we were very intergual party of everything and the show went on without us and it was hard." mom says
"it feels like a slap in the face like you did all this work." Chloe says
"and people got the benefit from it..i never thought i'd be sitting here in a million years..but when we had the conversation you guys wanted to come back to say goodbye we came back i can put this whole thing to bed because it was the best decision i've ever made it's amazing to me i got to be apart of something that was so much bigger and...like we fight and what have you but you girls grew up on tv people got to see a real relationship and see real struggles and i'm very proud that you both have had a positive impact on someone and maybe i made someone laugh" mom says
"i'm glad i came back to Dance Moms because i've blocked it out for so many years and not even thinking about it because it was always so much bad stuff but now i went back and i got to have a good time doing it and now i can think off all the good things that happened and now when i went of Dance Moms i don't cringe and say that's not what i wanna be known as i'm proud of it now." Chloe says
"uh yeah same as Chloe, i lost myself along the way and i wanted nothing more to leave but i'm glad i came back and i'm proud for what i did because now i can face anything because i proved people wrong time and time again that i could do something and when i came back i got to show the world that i'm back and that people can not give up and finish things they find really hard and im proud." i say
________
but for now there may be a future for the Irreplaceables
or maybe there isn't..
maybe we'll just go back to be girls from pittsburgh
or maybe we'll get jobs in the industry..continue on the legacy of Dance Moms but in a better light
or maybe..the girls get back in touch
and we're all friends like how we started off
the girls who started it all
Chloe, Me, Maddie, Mackenzie, Nia, Brooke and Paige
but also Kendall, Eloise and Evelyn.
but that's all for the future,
and believe it or not i'm excited to see what it holds.
The End.