Speaker 1: You're listening to Jojassee one now with me Jojo Seua
Speaker 1: and iHeartRadio podcast. Welcome back to Jojo See One Now.
Speaker 1: I feel like I should do a whole episode in
Speaker 1: an accent like he might Welcome back to jj C. Now.
Speaker 1: See the problem is, I used to commit to a
Speaker 1: British accent, but now that I listen to g Flip
Speaker 1: all the time, I commit to an Australian accent. And
Speaker 1: then I'm like, Nah, it just doesn't work. It just
Speaker 1: doesn't work, all right, I gotta stop. I gotta move
Speaker 1: on from that. Anyways, Welcome back to joj Just's one Now. Today,
Speaker 1: I am going on a eleven year old Jojo time
Speaker 1: travel mission, and we are going way back to the beginning.
Speaker 1: I am gonna tell you about my very very first
Speaker 1: TV show experience. What was like getting on the show.
Speaker 1: Maybe even like a little bit about my life before
Speaker 1: the Show's gonna naturally come up life during the show,
Speaker 1: and I I feel like, you guys know me, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna ramble. We know how that goes. I feel
Speaker 1: like I have like a topic that I want to
Speaker 1: talk about and then it's like, oh yeah, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna talk to myself for thirty minutes about this topic.
Speaker 1: Oh easy, let me ramble on happily. So that's what's
Speaker 1: happening right now. Buckle up, get your seatbelts on, because
Speaker 1: we are going down Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition memory Lane.
Speaker 1: I am nine years old. I honestly, okay, let's go
Speaker 1: back a little bit further. My whole life since before
Speaker 1: Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. Grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. I
Speaker 1: was a very very different child. I was not normal.
Speaker 1: I don't really know how to explain it. I've only
Speaker 1: met one kid that my mom has been like, this
Speaker 1: is what you were like, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Actually, I'll tell you who the kid is.
Speaker 1: It's little Titus, who we love so very much. He
Speaker 1: started out as Minni Jake Paul. I feel like Titus
Speaker 1: still does a little Minijake Paul gig every every so often.
Speaker 1: But my mom, you know, we just had Titus performed
Speaker 1: with my exog pop girls. She was like the tightest.
Speaker 1: That's like pretty similar to how you were when you
Speaker 1: were a kid, and it's just you just tell that
Speaker 1: there's just something in that kid that like he just
Speaker 1: he understood something on a different level. And that's that's
Speaker 1: basically what my mom told me. I was like my
Speaker 1: whole life, and everyone that knew me when I was
Speaker 1: little would say that too. People used to tell her mom,
Speaker 1: They're like, you just need a driver into the Disney
Speaker 1: building and just set her on the ground and don't
Speaker 1: know what to do with her. And my mom was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how it works, but I know that's
Speaker 1: not how it works. Uh now, knowing what I know,
Speaker 1: that's definitely not how it works. You would get kicked
Speaker 1: uf O security in an instant. Anyways. So growing up
Speaker 1: in Omahana Rasca, I always danced my mom on a
Speaker 1: dance studio and I always loved it. But I always
Speaker 1: knew that I wanted more. I always knew that I
Speaker 1: wanted to be Hannah Montana or I Carly. I always
Speaker 1: said that I wanted a show called I Hannah Montana
Speaker 1: because I loved I Carly and I loved Hannah Montana. Uh,
Speaker 1: but you know you're you're in on Nebraska, Like what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen? You know what I mean? And so my
Speaker 1: mom brought me out to La when I was really little.
Speaker 1: I was four years old. Did this thing called AMTC.
Speaker 1: A lot of child stars do AMTC when they're really little,
Speaker 1: and it's just like a big competition where a bunch
Speaker 1: of models and nectars and dancers go and they compete
Speaker 1: and they perform in front of agents and managers and
Speaker 1: it's it's basically long story short, like it's not it's
Speaker 1: it's legit, but it's a little like it's for the
Speaker 1: right people, but not really anything comes of it, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense. But it's a massive experience that like
Speaker 1: everyone does. It's a very strange thing. Anyways. So then
Speaker 1: after that, like went back to Nebraska nothing. I was
Speaker 1: homeschool in my whole life so I could dance more.
Speaker 1: And just because I was too smart initially for school
Speaker 1: in kindergarten, I got tested and they were like, yo,
Speaker 1: she is at a third grade level. And my mom
Speaker 1: my school wouldn't let me grade up, and so my
Speaker 1: mom made the decision to homeschool meets that way I
Speaker 1: could grade up. And then it ended up working out
Speaker 1: because then I could dance more, and then it ended
Speaker 1: up working out even better for my TV career. So
Speaker 1: cut to Dance Moms comes out. I think Dance Moms
Speaker 1: came out when I was like six or seven, and
Speaker 1: my mom was like, why are we not on this show?
Speaker 1: Like this is literally me, like what? And so that
Speaker 1: was kind of funny when the show came out and
Speaker 1: then turns out a few years later I ended up
Speaker 1: being on it. But then they made a spinoff, Abby's
Speaker 1: Ultimate Dance Competition, and it was a preview for it
Speaker 1: on Dance Moms and it was like, if you want
Speaker 1: to submit, you know, send your audition in a year.
Speaker 1: And so my mom did the first season and nothing,
Speaker 1: you didn't hear, We didn't hear anything. And so she
Speaker 1: did the second season and she she actually she didn't
Speaker 1: tell me anything. She didn't tell me that she did
Speaker 1: at first, and then because she didn't think anything was
Speaker 1: gonna come of it. It's just like go for it,
Speaker 1: but like hope for the best of Well, like obviously
Speaker 1: nothing's gonna happen. Well something happened. We got an email back,
Speaker 1: My mom got an email back, and I was like,
Speaker 1: we would like to do a Skype interview with you
Speaker 1: time when Skype was a thing. We love Skype. I
Speaker 1: love that, Like Zoom came in and like fully took over,
Speaker 1: but Skype was the og. Anyways, did a skype interview,
Speaker 1: and they loved my mom and I. So at this
Speaker 1: point in time, I'm nine years old. I'm very young.
Speaker 1: I believe the original age for the show was ten
Speaker 1: and older. But they liked me because I was I
Speaker 1: was fun I was funky, I was fearless, and what
Speaker 1: I would say, I could hold my own in the
Speaker 1: dance department. But it was more so about that personality.
Speaker 1: And they mentioned that I was very young, but they
Speaker 1: liked it, they were okay with it. And so then
Speaker 1: cut to we had another skype and then some paperwork,
Speaker 1: another skype, and then some paperwork, another skype, and then
Speaker 1: some paperwork. And on these skypes, they really would just
Speaker 1: interview my mom, interview me, interview us together, interview us
Speaker 1: without each other in the room, to like see what
Speaker 1: our dynamic really was, like, tell us scenarios and how
Speaker 1: we would react. And it was just it was really
Speaker 1: a good pat called. The casting agents were incredible for
Speaker 1: that show. And what's funny is I don't think we
Speaker 1: really knew what was going on at the time. Now
Speaker 1: knowing what I know about reality TV, they were looking
Speaker 1: for somebody who was going to make a good show.
Speaker 1: Without knowing it, I think That's what happens now is
Speaker 1: on reality TV, people think, oh, I want to come
Speaker 1: in and be the villain or oh I want to
Speaker 1: come in and be the good guy, whereas it's like, no,
Speaker 1: you just gotta naturally be that or do that. It's
Speaker 1: not something that you can fake, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So anyways, uh, then you have to do something called
Speaker 1: a psych test. Now, this is something that you have
Speaker 1: to do for a lot of reality TV shows because
Speaker 1: reality TV is very intense, it's very real, and it's
Speaker 1: very maneuvered. Maybe is the right word manipulated? Is not
Speaker 1: the right word produced? Maybe is the right word? Scripted
Speaker 1: is the wrong word. That's when people get reality TV
Speaker 1: very confused. Is it is real? There is no script,
Speaker 1: but there is some guidance in there of what's gonna happen,
Speaker 1: and the the producers you know, in all reality shows,
Speaker 1: will be like, hey, uh, Sarah said this about Jackie.
Speaker 1: What do you think about that? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And so there is some like side of our conversation
Speaker 1: on how you'll find out things that you didn't know,
Speaker 1: And so you have to do psych evaluations and Abby's
Speaker 1: Ultimate Dan's Competition was one that we had to do
Speaker 1: a psychic valve for another one is like UH special Forces,
Speaker 1: we had to do a massive psychic valve for UH
Speaker 1: special Forces. And it's these psych evaluations are actually like
Speaker 1: so deep and so intense. I the first one that
Speaker 1: I like really I guess was like able to comprehend
Speaker 1: what everything was was for Special Forces was the first
Speaker 1: time that I was like old enough to really like
Speaker 1: know what I was doing, and like when I was
Speaker 1: reading all these questions, it's just like a like sec
Speaker 1: the ABC or D type of thing. I mean, it
Speaker 1: is very very intense. It's crazy, it's it's a it
Speaker 1: takes it takes about an hour. It's very it's very intense.
Speaker 1: And I'm not a tester because I was always homeschooled
Speaker 1: and so for tests, I get super stressed out. And
Speaker 1: so anyways, that's a story for another time. We'll get
Speaker 1: into that another day. Bags at E DCY So we
Speaker 1: did our cycle val and we were all good, good
Speaker 1: in that department, and then they did a final audition
Speaker 1: in New York. So they ended up being twelve of
Speaker 1: us on the show, but they brought twenty four of
Speaker 1: us to New York. We did not see each other.
Speaker 1: One would go in, one would go out, and so
Speaker 1: like we like we just no one. No one crossed paths.
Speaker 1: We don't know who anyone was. But we all were
Speaker 1: in New York at the same time. This is my
Speaker 1: first time ever going to New York. We stayed at
Speaker 1: a really cool hotel. My mom drug me everywhere. We
Speaker 1: went on the subway. We went to a Rockefeller, we
Speaker 1: went to Times Square, we went to freaking Central Park,
Speaker 1: we went we went literally every where. We were the
Speaker 1: tourists that to have lived you named the New York
Speaker 1: Tourist Attraction. We saw it in forty eight hours. It
Speaker 1: was actually really fun. Looking back at the time, I
Speaker 1: was like, Mom, can't we just go chill. She's like no,
Speaker 1: because we don't come to New York. Like, this is
Speaker 1: crazy that we're in New York City. I think it
Speaker 1: was actually maybe her like second time in New York
Speaker 1: City and it was my first obviously, and so it
Speaker 1: was a very very big deal. Anyways, cut tol We
Speaker 1: go back home and we didn't think anything because we
Speaker 1: didn't hear anything. It is about a month later and
Speaker 1: we were like, all right, it just didn't happen, right,
Speaker 1: And then one day we were at the homeschool store
Speaker 1: buying new homeschool books for me. This was in a April,
Speaker 1: March March, I think maybe March February, February, March or April,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it doesn't matter. We'll we filmed the
Speaker 1: show in April, so it would have had to have
Speaker 1: been in March in February either way. We got a
Speaker 1: phone call and it was like, hello, is this Jesselyn.
Speaker 1: It was a little English girl and my mom was like, yes,
Speaker 1: this is she and she was like, oh, well, I'm
Speaker 1: just calling to inform you, and so we were like shit,
Speaker 1: like we didn't make it, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because I'm just calling to inform you. And then she
Speaker 1: was like you made the show, and I just started sobbing.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was my like ultimate dream to be
Speaker 1: on Abbey's Ultimate Dance Competition. I just watched season one
Speaker 1: and so I was just so stoked. And then from
Speaker 1: there it was like, oh, this is real, Like this
Speaker 1: is really really happening. Okay, Okay, what do I do now?
Speaker 1: How do I prepare now? And then it was kind
Speaker 1: of like no, We've spent nine years of our life
Speaker 1: preparing for this, like this now we just got to
Speaker 1: go and do it. So then we had we had
Speaker 1: a few weeks at home, and then we flew out
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles, California, to film Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition.
Speaker 1: It was nuts. I couldn't tell anyone that I was
Speaker 1: doing it, and so for like friends back home, they
Speaker 1: were like, where are you going? And I was like, nowhere.
Speaker 1: How long are you gonna be there? I don't know,
Speaker 1: like it was so we had to be so download.
Speaker 1: The only people that knew were my mom obviously cause
Speaker 1: she was about three, and my dad and brother. There's
Speaker 1: were the only people that knew. Everybody else we had
Speaker 1: to keep it a secret from uh. So then we
Speaker 1: got to California, we landed, we went to a hotel
Speaker 1: and they came in and I remember this so vividly.
Speaker 1: I don't know how or why because there's no pictures
Speaker 1: or videos of this anywhere, but they had me try
Speaker 1: on all of my dancewear, and they had my mom
Speaker 1: try on all of our outfits so they could take
Speaker 1: pictures of it and so they could know what we're
Speaker 1: going to look like on the show. And now the
Speaker 1: process of the show is it's an elimination show, so
Speaker 1: you don't know how long you're going to be there for,
Speaker 1: so you don't really know. You could be their twelve weeks,
Speaker 1: you could be there one week, and so you didn't
Speaker 1: really want to like unpack in the hotel. But then
Speaker 1: they were like, try on all your outfits and they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's unpack, right, So we unpacked and got all settled,
Speaker 1: and then like two days later, it was time for
Speaker 1: our very first day on set and they were like,
Speaker 1: pack up all of your stuff and bring it to
Speaker 1: the lobby. You're moving. And we were like what what,
Speaker 1: And so we packed up everything, we brought it all
Speaker 1: down to the lobby, and we ended up living on set,
Speaker 1: so that was crazy. Once we got to the set,
Speaker 1: they were like this, this is your bungalow. You can
Speaker 1: go put all your stuff in there. And so there
Speaker 1: was two houses that each had like four families in it,
Speaker 1: and then there was these bungalows that was like apartment apartment,
Speaker 1: apartment apartment, and it was more like a studio apartment.
Speaker 1: Like they were very tiny, but it was My apartment
Speaker 1: was in the top left, Colonnie was in the top right.
Speaker 1: Then the twin boys, Chaps and Tyler were in the
Speaker 1: bottom left. And then Ali and her mom Tiffany were
Speaker 1: in the bottom right. So we all lucked out by
Speaker 1: getting those apartments. Everybody else was all in the house together.
Speaker 1: Now the houses were nice, but like no, no, no way,
Speaker 1: no way, would not have wanted been in that house.
Speaker 1: And we also were lucky because my side of the
Speaker 1: apartment had a shower, and then Kolanie's side had like
Speaker 1: a little kitchen, so we we shared that and so
Speaker 1: we could use the kitchen, they could use the shower.
Speaker 1: We didn't care who used what. And then but the
Speaker 1: houses they had to use like poor to potty showers
Speaker 1: and like porda potty bathrooms. They did have a nice kitchen,
Speaker 1: but like oh so happy, and then all the other
Speaker 1: people were like, can we use your shower? And so
Speaker 1: everyone would come up to shower once they learned that
Speaker 1: we had one. Anyways, so it's the first day on
Speaker 1: set and they say the first thing that I remember
Speaker 1: them saying is everyone's on hard ice. And I said,
Speaker 1: what's hard ice? And they said this is you're on
Speaker 1: hard ice. And I said what's hard ice? Because I
Speaker 1: didn't know what that meant. And on set, ice means
Speaker 1: to be quiet. Hard ice means be dead, silent, do
Speaker 1: not speak, do not speak a word, like you cannot talk.
Speaker 1: And that is just because cameras aren't up. They don't
Speaker 1: want to catch anything. They don't want to miss anything
Speaker 1: that they would have wanted to catch. So hard ice,
Speaker 1: do not speak ice is like yo, don't talk unless
Speaker 1: it's an emergency. And then there's a thing called slush,
Speaker 1: And if you're on slush, it's like talk but don't
Speaker 1: talk anything interesting. That's more of a thing that they
Speaker 1: use later, more so on dance moms, like all right,
Speaker 1: y'all are on slush right now, Like during lunch, for example,
Speaker 1: we would be on slush, So that would be like
Speaker 1: you can talk, but like don't talk about like what's
Speaker 1: going on on the show or during filming, talk about
Speaker 1: like your crush. That's fine. So we once you kind
Speaker 1: of knew what you couldn't couldn't talk about, then they
Speaker 1: started to imply slush, but ice and hard ice. All
Speaker 1: the time on ADC, we were either on ice or
Speaker 1: hard ice if we weren't on camera. So then we
Speaker 1: went outside for a long, long long time, and then
Speaker 1: they finally brought us into the building one by one.
Speaker 1: I feel like I was like I was towards the middle.
Speaker 1: I didn't really go in first, and I didn't really
Speaker 1: go in last. It's definitely towards the middle. And I
Speaker 1: was the youngest one there, and everyone from the get
Speaker 1: go hated me. I looking back, I know why. At
Speaker 1: the time, I definitely didn't understand why. I was like,
Speaker 1: why don't these people want to be my friends? Like
Speaker 1: I am confused, and genuinely, it's just because I was
Speaker 1: nine and the rest of them were thirteen fourteen, and
Speaker 1: they just they weren't the type of girls that were
Speaker 1: going to be friends with a nine year old, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, And they're actually there was a
Speaker 1: lot of bullying to me that went on on that set,
Speaker 1: but I never never really let it affect me. I
Speaker 1: think it actually helped kind of strengthen me. I had
Speaker 1: my priority super straight on that set. I knew what
Speaker 1: my goal was there, and it didn't really bother me
Speaker 1: that no one besides Clawnie in the kid department really
Speaker 1: cared for me, if that makes sense. I did have
Speaker 1: one person going into the show that I knew beforehand
Speaker 1: that I was a little She was kind of like
Speaker 1: a big sister figure to me actually, and I was
Speaker 1: a little that was kind of hard for me to realize, like, oh,
Speaker 1: why is even why is she not wanting to be
Speaker 1: my friend? Like she was my friend literally a week ago,
Speaker 1: what the heck? But it was just because she wanted
Speaker 1: to be with the cool thirteen year olds, And so
Speaker 1: I think I really realized that once I hit thirteen
Speaker 1: and I was in a position where I wanted to
Speaker 1: be friends with the younger people. I thought it was fine,
Speaker 1: like you can be friends with anybody, but I saw
Speaker 1: other people my age being like, ew, why are you
Speaker 1: hanging out with them? And I would be like, cause
Speaker 1: they're cool, Like I don't care. It's like it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And so I really understood
Speaker 1: then once I kind of aged up and other people
Speaker 1: were like that, I was like, oh. And then I
Speaker 1: also think that translated to why I surrounded myself my
Speaker 1: closest friends with adults my whole life because they didn't
Speaker 1: they didn't have any of that cattiness that other kids
Speaker 1: my age did. You know, other kids my age wanted
Speaker 1: to be cool, whereas the friends that I chose and
Speaker 1: got grew close to were like, no, it's not cool
Speaker 1: to be like that. It's cool to just be chill
Speaker 1: and like hang out with anybody. And I was like,
Speaker 1: oh oh, I like this, like this vibe is more
Speaker 1: my vibe. Anyways, back to AUDC, So the very very
Speaker 1: first day on set, me and Klawnie actually though we
Speaker 1: became so close on that show, we told our moms.
Speaker 1: On the very first day, we walked up to our
Speaker 1: moms and we said, we decided that we're be best friends,
Speaker 1: so you guys have to be best friends, and both
Speaker 1: of our moms were like okay. So then from then
Speaker 1: on out, it was like we were blue, like we
Speaker 1: were just best best friends. We had each other's back,
Speaker 1: we were there for each other. And Klannie was the
Speaker 1: next youngest. Actually that's why I think Hayley was the
Speaker 1: next youngest, but then Klannie was just they were the
Speaker 1: same age as a few months older, and so she
Speaker 1: was also on that kind of end of like the
Speaker 1: older girls didn't really want to hang out with her,
Speaker 1: and that was okay, Like she and I became really
Speaker 1: good friends. Anyways, So AUDC, the way ADC was structured
Speaker 1: was kind of crazy. It was so real. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of reality shows that I'm like, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: this is like, how real is this? Right? AUDC and
Speaker 1: Special Forces are the two reality shows that I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: Like I can't even like I can picture being on set,
Speaker 1: but I can't picture seeing a camera, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Like Dance Moms, for example, I'm on set, but I
Speaker 1: see the cameras, you know what I mean. It's real,
Speaker 1: but I can see the cameras and see the producers
Speaker 1: dancing with the stars. It's very real. But I can
Speaker 1: see the camera and see the producer, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. AUDC and Special Forces have one thing in
Speaker 1: common and that it's very real, but you can't see
Speaker 1: the camera or the producer. It's all just happening. And
Speaker 1: I do think that was because I was a contestant
Speaker 1: on the show. I think like the judges and the
Speaker 1: host definitely, I mean had an idiot and they walked
Speaker 1: in the video village and they saw these things, whereas
Speaker 1: the contestant, you know, we were sheltered from all of that.
Speaker 1: We could only go in specific areas. But there was
Speaker 1: so many rules on that set. We could not go
Speaker 1: anywhere without an escort because they didn't want us running
Speaker 1: into the judges or the host or producers. We couldn't
Speaker 1: go into crafty. We could get any food we wanted,
Speaker 1: but they would have to get it for us. A
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of rules we had to ask for,
Speaker 1: like to go anywhere, to do anything. We couldn't just
Speaker 1: like go. The very first day, we're all on stage,
Speaker 1: and about two hours into that first day is when
Speaker 1: we actually met Abby for the first time. So we
Speaker 1: were all on stage warming up, dancing, improving, jumping, and
Speaker 1: Abby comes out and then she had to go back
Speaker 1: to do her entrance again. So she comes out right,
Speaker 1: we all freak out, and then she's like, oh wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: so then she leaves again. Now nine year old me,
Speaker 1: I don't know why I did this, but I turned
Speaker 1: around and I started dancing for Abby. No one told
Speaker 1: me to, no one gave that like suggestion. It was
Speaker 1: just something that I did naturally. I knew she was
Speaker 1: back there now, and so I just started improving or
Speaker 1: warming up and facing her, whereas everyone was still facing
Speaker 1: the front. And Abby came out on stage and again
Speaker 1: and she said, there's one of you here that's really smart,
Speaker 1: and it's the one that turned around and started dancing
Speaker 1: for me and everyone. Then from that point I was
Speaker 1: like that little shit, you know what I mean. It
Speaker 1: was one of those things that like I just found,
Speaker 1: don't I don't know, there was one of those you
Speaker 1: just like no one told me do, no one taught
Speaker 1: me to do that. It just it just happened. Anyways,
Speaker 1: we do the first Group Dance Challenge and let it
Speaker 1: be known that I was out first. Now spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: I was out first every single week on the Group
Speaker 1: Dance Challenge. There's this really funny video of me from
Speaker 1: like week six where I'm like, honestly, because in interviews
Speaker 1: they'd be like, how do you feel, how do you
Speaker 1: feel about that Group Dance Challenge? Like you were out
Speaker 1: pretty pretty early on, and you know, every week I'd
Speaker 1: cry about it and be like, oh yeah, it was
Speaker 1: so sad, like I thought I did good. Finally on
Speaker 1: week six, I was like, you know, honestly, like it's
Speaker 1: my fiftieth time being out first. I'm used to it
Speaker 1: by now. I found out this from the producer of
Speaker 1: Abby's Alton Dance Competition, who I've become very good friends
Speaker 1: with over the years. His name is Brian Stinson, and
Speaker 1: he told me that they used to whenever they were
Speaker 1: bored on sets. So what would happen is they would
Speaker 1: pull you in to do these interviews, right, and they
Speaker 1: would pull the moms in for about thirty minutes at
Speaker 1: a time, and they would pull the girls in for
Speaker 1: like ten minutes at a time, right, And so my
Speaker 1: mom would be like in the room with the other
Speaker 1: moms like doing their mom thing, fighting, making costumes, whatever
Speaker 1: it was they were doing that day, and I would
Speaker 1: come in there and my mom would be like, oh, honey,
Speaker 1: how's your day. And I'd be like, oh good, I
Speaker 1: just got done doing like a three hour interview. And
Speaker 1: my mom was like what And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was great, Like I was chilling about it, and
Speaker 1: all the other moms were like uh huh, and everyone
Speaker 1: was like, she's just making shit up like that. She's nine,
Speaker 1: she doesn't know time yet, right, And I kept saying
Speaker 1: that and kept doing that every single day, and I'd
Speaker 1: be like, oh, yeah, I had rehearsal, and we rehearsed
Speaker 1: for like thirty minutes. But then I went into like
Speaker 1: a three hour interview, or I went into a two
Speaker 1: hour interview, and finally my mom was like, honey, are
Speaker 1: you actually doing this long of interviews? And I was
Speaker 1: like yeah, all the time, and she was and she
Speaker 1: was like, that's where you've been all days in an
Speaker 1: interview and I'd be like yeah, And turns out I
Speaker 1: find this out ten years later. Whenever the producers of
Speaker 1: the show were bored on set, they would all go
Speaker 1: to craw get a snack, go to what's called video Village,
Speaker 1: which is where they have all of the monitors, right,
Speaker 1: and that's like where they like normally watch the show
Speaker 1: and stuff, and they would turn all the audio off
Speaker 1: except for the monitor in my interview, and they would
Speaker 1: pull me to do an interview, and they would make
Speaker 1: one producer go interview me and one camera vengo sit there.
Speaker 1: Everybody else on set would go in video village, turn
Speaker 1: on the monitor and just watch. They called it the
Speaker 1: Jojo Show, and they would just watch me talk for hours.
Speaker 1: They would have an ear with the producer and they
Speaker 1: would say what to ask me, and they like, I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess I was just young, and I would spoken
Speaker 1: and honest and kind of funny and like said what
Speaker 1: everyone was thinking, but like with no fear, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why I had such long interviews because I was
Speaker 1: personal entertainment. I guess, No, honestly, I look back though
Speaker 1: at my journey on AUDC and I truly do have
Speaker 1: some really fun memories. There was this one time where
Speaker 1: we all me and all the girls we watched a
Speaker 1: scary movie. It was I don't know, God, I'm never
Speaker 1: gonna remember the movie. But then it was I said,
Speaker 1: all the girls is if it was all the girls?
Speaker 1: It was not all the girls. It was me, Colonie
Speaker 1: and Haley. And then Haley had to walk back to
Speaker 1: her apartment and it was literally like twelve feet away,
Speaker 1: not far at all. She had to walk back. She
Speaker 1: was in one of the houses and she goes to
Speaker 1: walk back and she's like, guys, I'm scared. So then
Speaker 1: Klannie runs around, hides in the bush and scares her.
Speaker 1: She comes back. I hid in the other version. We
Speaker 1: scare her and like just like so many fun silly
Speaker 1: memories like that. Then we ended up walking her back
Speaker 1: to her apartment. We weren't good at some point. There
Speaker 1: was this one time me and Colonney were obsessed with
Speaker 1: making video stars. We are obsessed with it. Video star
Speaker 1: back of the day was like cap cut now, but
Speaker 1: it was like so much better. We love video star
Speaker 1: and so we'd make them all the time, and this
Speaker 1: one night it was like freaking midnight, right and we
Speaker 1: were outside making a video started Gangnum style and I
Speaker 1: was like, Colonie, I have an idea, and Colonie was like, Geral,
Speaker 1: I have an idea, and like, who's all my own idea?
Speaker 1: I had idea, let's do this. I have an idea,
Speaker 1: let's do that. And Cheryl the Twin Boys mom opens
Speaker 1: her door and she goes, I have an idea, go
Speaker 1: to sleep, and we like died laughing and ran upstairs.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was so funny. We didn't need to
Speaker 1: go to sleep. There's just so many fun little memories
Speaker 1: like that. There was definitely a lot of hard times
Speaker 1: on Abbey's Altoman dance competition. I think every week I
Speaker 1: was fearful that I was going to go home. I
Speaker 1: think every week I was fearful of messing up, not
Speaker 1: maybe not messing up, but maybe maybe not being to
Speaker 1: my greatest potential. I think that was something that my
Speaker 1: mom was really good at of making sure she was
Speaker 1: because I mean I was little, I was only nine,
Speaker 1: and so making sure that she pushed me to my
Speaker 1: potential without pushing me to my limit. There is definitely
Speaker 1: a big difference. And I always say there's a difference
Speaker 1: in good stage mom and psycho stage mom, and a
Speaker 1: stage mom's a stage mom. But there are stage moms
Speaker 1: like Beyonce's stage mom. There is stage moms like Christian Jenner,
Speaker 1: and there's Jess Siah's. And my mom was always, always
Speaker 1: a good stage mom. And if anybody out there doesn't
Speaker 1: believe that, look at the history of my career, look
Speaker 1: at the companies that I've worked for and continued to
Speaker 1: work for. You know, I can guarantee that I would
Speaker 1: not have worked for the biggest child network for eight
Speaker 1: years without if my mom wasn't a good stage mom.
Speaker 1: I can guarantee that Fox, who is now my number
Speaker 1: one network, who I work with all the time. I've
Speaker 1: done seven Fox shows, and I started working for Fox
Speaker 1: when I was a minor, guarantee Fox would not have
Speaker 1: continued using me if my mom was not a good
Speaker 1: stage mom. And it's it's actually crazy. That's something that
Speaker 1: they say can really make or break a child star's
Speaker 1: career is their parent behind them, because it is it's
Speaker 1: important that their parent has a lot of checks and balance.
Speaker 1: You know, there's the balance of school, there's the balance
Speaker 1: of childhood and there's the balance of career and stardom.
Speaker 1: And I think for me, my mom saw something in
Speaker 1: me that I couldn't see because I was just too young.
Speaker 1: But looking back at it, I would have done everything
Speaker 1: she did. She always just fought for what was right
Speaker 1: for me, and at the same time, she always knew
Speaker 1: she was making a TV show. Now that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: she's staged anything or faked anything. It just means that
Speaker 1: she knew what she got herself into and she was
Speaker 1: there to do her job. So that's my that's my
Speaker 1: little mom tangent that I'm going to go on really quick.
Speaker 1: She was good. There was only there was one week
Speaker 1: on ADC and it was the Vampire Dance that I
Speaker 1: did with Clonnie where that was the one week where
Speaker 1: I really feel like I wasn't wasn't at my best.
Speaker 1: I think I was intimidated. I think I was tired.
Speaker 1: I think I was exhausted. I was just I was done.
Speaker 1: And my mom and I had a really good talk
Speaker 1: and I told her, I was like, I'm just sick
Speaker 1: of it. I'm sick of everyone telling me that I'm
Speaker 1: not doing good. I'm sick of everyone all the other
Speaker 1: girls being mean to me. I'm sick of everyone telling
Speaker 1: me I'm not dancing mature enough. It's it's hard and
Speaker 1: I'm a kid, and I don't like hearing this. And
Speaker 1: she was really good at that point then of reeling
Speaker 1: it in and reeling it back and being like, yes
Speaker 1: you are. And then she was really good at being like, so,
Speaker 1: do you want to go home? And I was like,
Speaker 1: well no, and she was like, okay, so then let's
Speaker 1: figure it out, you know what I mean. That's that
Speaker 1: was something that my mom was always good with me,
Speaker 1: Do you want to go home? And I always said no, absolutely, not,
Speaker 1: even back in the day when I left dance Moms
Speaker 1: my mom. My mom actually said the reverse of it.
Speaker 1: She was like, say the word. Well, she would say
Speaker 1: this on the one. She'd say, say the word and
Speaker 1: we'll go say the word and we'll go home. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it. I am not saying it. I want
Speaker 1: to stay. And she'd be like, it's so messed up
Speaker 1: here say the words a week and go home, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I'm not saying it. I like it.
Speaker 1: I like being on TV. And my mom was like,
Speaker 1: you're crazy, and I was like, I'm crazy, and then
Speaker 1: on Dance offic when I left Dance Moms, my mom
Speaker 1: almost like, say the word and we'll go back. If
Speaker 1: you want to go back that bad say the word
Speaker 1: and we'll go back. And I was like for the
Speaker 1: first time, I was like, word said, I want to
Speaker 1: go back, And my mom was like, well no, she
Speaker 1: was like I didn't expect that, sorry, because she knew
Speaker 1: what was best for me, and so I gotta I
Speaker 1: gotta believe her in that world. Now, I could deep
Speaker 1: dive into my elimination on AUDC, but that, honestly, if
Speaker 1: I watch that clip, it gets me to cry, and
Speaker 1: so I'm afraid when I start to talk about it
Speaker 1: that I'm going to start to cry. But here's the
Speaker 1: thing is, I want to do a whole Jojo See
Speaker 1: would Now podcast on all of my eliminations because I've
Speaker 1: done so many elimination TV shows. Let's say I've done
Speaker 1: Abby's Alto my dance Competition, I've done the Mass Singer,
Speaker 1: I've done Sea Was Dance Proper Revolution, So you think
Speaker 1: you can dance Dancing with the Stars, Special Forces America's
Speaker 1: got talent. I don't know if I'm missing Eddie, but
Speaker 1: I for sure no I've done those seven and I've
Speaker 1: been on a few different ends. So Mass Singer, Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars, Special Forces, Abby's on the dance competition,
Speaker 1: I've been the one actually myself competing, and then she
Speaker 1: was Dance Pop Revolution and two seasons of So You
Speaker 1: Think You Can Dance? I've been the one on the
Speaker 1: judging side, and then uh uh with America's Got Talent,
Speaker 1: I've been the mentor. My girl group did America's Got Talent.
Speaker 1: And what's crazy is all of those shows I have
Speaker 1: never won. I have never walked away victorious. I think
Speaker 1: Special Forces I did walk away victorious in one way,
Speaker 1: but I did not get the Badge of Honor at
Speaker 1: the end. It was fully my choice. But I think
Speaker 1: it'd be kind of fun to talk about all the
Speaker 1: different elimination experiences and what they've all kind of taught
Speaker 1: me and meant to me, because they each do have
Speaker 1: such a massive part of a learning curve of my life,
Speaker 1: because they've all affected me in the deepest ways possible.
Speaker 1: I mean the Mass Singer, I'm not joking you. I
Speaker 1: cried for three days, like actual tears, actual sobbing, actual
Speaker 1: could not pull it together, like cried more than I
Speaker 1: did during my breakup and then I mean Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars. Dancing with the Stars, I wasn't so much
Speaker 1: said that I got second. I was more so sad
Speaker 1: that it was over, and so that was a massive
Speaker 1: learning curve. But there's so much that I could deep
Speaker 1: dive on with just my elimination stories. And so if
Speaker 1: you want that on a Joke's and Now podcast, let
Speaker 1: me know, everybody. I truly enjoyed deep diving into AUDC
Speaker 1: that that show has such a special place in my heart.
Speaker 1: It always will. I feel like AUDC was the start
Speaker 1: of so much, and it was. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: without it, I don't know how my career would have started.
Speaker 1: From There's when I went to Dance Moms. From there's
Speaker 1: when I went to social media and music, and now
Speaker 1: I'm here, you know what I mean. It's been a
Speaker 1: lot of work and it's been a lot of journey
Speaker 1: in my career. Timeline is absolutely crazy, and I do
Speaker 1: truly a credit all of it to a UDC being
Speaker 1: the start. I mean, it's it's physical proof. It literally
Speaker 1: is the first thing that I ever did publicly. But
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I always I'm curious about where my life
Speaker 1: would be without it. I think I would be headed
Speaker 1: in med school right now. I'd be in my last
Speaker 1: year of college and I'd be going into med school
Speaker 1: as much as I love that. Very grateful that I
Speaker 1: am here in Atlanta right now filming So You Think
Speaker 1: You Can Dance? Season eighteen. Uh. Anyways, everybody, I love
Speaker 1: y'all so very much. Thank you for hanging out with me.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this Joe, Just You and
Speaker 1: Now podcast. If you're ready for the eliminations episode, let
Speaker 1: me know and I will see you all next time.
Speaker 1: Deos is. Thank you so much for listening. Everybody. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Jojoes
Speaker 1: to a Now podcast, be sure to write us a review,
Speaker 1: and maybe, if you're feeling to leave us five stars,
Speaker 1: I'll see you next week.