I really like this show - I've always loved gymnastics. Make It Or Break It returns with new episodes tonight!
Moderator Since
this is a gymnastic show, do you think it's going to inspire girls to be more
active in sports?
A. Kell
I do
think so. That's one of the things I
love about the show is that it isn't showing just the boys’ side. Something like Friday Night Lights does where only the boys are achieving and the
girls are a side note to the boys achieving.
This is more about the girls going out there and getting at their
dreams. They're capable of achieving
anything and their strength is more than the boys have, I'd say, for
gymnastics. So I love that it shows
strong women at their best. I do think
that girls will want to go out and get some sports after seeing this because I
know that after I watch an episode I have to go move my body and do something.
Moderator Would
you and the other girls on the show consider starting a program for young
girls, maybe touring schools and talking about proper diet and exercise?
A. Kell Oh yes, that
would actually be a great idea. I know
that we've gone to a couple of gyms already just to be a presence and make sure
that we're being a positive influence with those girls because we know that gym
girls especially do look up to us. But
that would be a great idea to be able to expand that even more.
Moderator We
really love the dynamic of where Season 2 left off with the girls finally
getting Team USA together and fighting so strong. But now with Jordan thrown into the mix, how
do you think that's going to skew the dynamics?
A. Kell Well I think
it skews the dynamic in, actually, a really good way. It posed this problem for the girls of what's
more important: the individual medal, the team medal, or us three making it to
the Olympics. So we have this kind of
battle throughout the season of, is she competition or is she a teammate? It's a little bit of a struggle.
So
we start to finally figure out what it takes to win and what it takes to be a
team and what it takes to be in this sport.
I think that she added a great level of realness to this season. I think that, one, she's just gorgeous. She's just gorgeous. But she's also just a talented actress and
she had so many wonderful scenes. They
did so much with her character this year that is going to, I think, really play
as a real thing this year because it's been very prevalent in the news.
Moderator With
the summer Olympics just a few months away and gymnastics is always such a huge
part of it, are you and the cast going to watch and maybe get some inspiration
for your characters?
A. Kell Oh,
absolutely. We went to one of the
qualifiers for the Olympics, actually, right before we finished, just to get
pumped up for shooting the last episode.
Moderator How
did your training as a ballerina prepare you for playing the role of a gymnast
in the show?
A. Kell I have to
say, when I got the script it read so real to my life, just because I knew what
it was like to give 110% into something.
I knew what it was like to be able to focus on nothing but dance. Then when I saw Payson, who was that character
for gymnastics, I got really excited that I had some real life experience for
it.
Then,
I'm always used to be in a leotard so that wasn't a huge culture shock. Although, their leotards are way more spandex-y
than dancer ones are. But also, we use
our bodies a bunch doing the floor routines.
So I'm actually able to do all of my dance stuff, my floor routines, my
beam and stuff like that. So it really
helps when I have to do filming stuff as well.
Moderator How
much of the actual gymnastics do you perform on the show? Do they ever use any stunt doubles?
A. Kell We use a lot
of stunt doubles just because–these girls have been working at what they do
since they were four. We got cast when
we were like 19 and 20. We didn't have
time to go back and learn all that gymnastics they had been studying their
entire lives. But we have girls who do
all of these really, really amazing tricks.
I'd
say that I do the little stunts. I do
all the dance stuff. So any leaps,
turns, anything like that, it's all me.
Any kicks, extensions, it's all me.
But when it gets to flips like double backs or any type of gainers or a
double Arabian or anything, that's all going to be the stunt doubles.
Moderator Payson
is one of my favorite characters on the show because she's transformed so much
over Season 1, Season 2. What are the
core values and principals so that she's retained over the last two seasons?
A. Kell I think she's
really retained the core values that her family instilled in her. The fact that if she does keep working hard
and if she does strive for what she believes in and what she dreams about that
she's able to make it there. It's
through the love and support of her family that she's really able to make it
because otherwise her family wouldn't have been able to afford this. They've pulled all these strings to make it
happen.
Speaking
on the transformation of Payson in the last two seasons, though, this season, I
think, is the biggest transformation for Payson. She really starts to understand that it's not
just gymnastics. That she has to find
her voice as a woman and it’s thanks to a boyfriend, which she never thought
that would be the case. So we really see
a change in how she carries herself and how she handles herself and how she
even used herself, which really starts to benefit her gymnastics routines
because she's trusting her body more.
Moderator What
changes should we expect to see from Payson as she starts to prepare for the
2012 Olympics with her new boyfriend and things like that?
A. Kell She's
starting to prepare for the 2012 Olympics.
She's going through this other side of the battle which is her coach
thinks she's safe, which is something she never thought she would ever hear. Because of her back injury she went into
ballet. So now all of the sudden she's
being called safe.
So
she has to do something to completely blow the coach out of the water. So her solution is to try going to a salsa
club scene because going to a ballet class that Sasha had me go to, helped
then. So she's hoping that going to a
salsa club will help. So we'll see if it
does.
Moderator I'm
excited to see that.
A. Kell It was my
favorite scene to shoot, I have to say. That and the make-up fight. Those are my favorites.
Moderator Payson
had such a strong relationship with Sasha.
Will she click as well with her new coach at the USA Training Center?
A. Kell Well, anybody
who knows Payson will know that she is going to be a resistant to the change at
first; at the change of style and the change of how he views the girls and all
of that. I think the hardest part is
having the Rock title ripped away from her because that's been her home for
such a long time. But as always, Payson
is respectful and tries to work her hardest and tries to be the best she can
be. Essentially, in the long run she
ends up clicking with the coach, but still needs Sasha to help her get to the
Olympics.
Moderator What
kind of changes, if any, will we see this year between Payson and Kaylie and
Lauren?
A. Kell We have such
an exciting storyline between me and Lauren where we start to really rely on
each other because we're confiding each other’s secrets in the other
person. So it becomes this little bit of
a sisterhood between the two of us because Kaylie and I are on the out.
So,
me and Lauren become very dependent on each other, and then have a big falling
out after I think I'm doing the right thing by telling one of her secrets. So then we have to work back our relationship
because we are on a team, so we have to work as a team. I have to say, the whole secret about who
sent the kiss cam—it comes out this year.
Moderator Payson
had a lot of love interests on the show with Nicky, Ike, Max and Sasha. Who do you think is most compatible with her?
A. Kell I think that
the one you're going to see this year is the most compatible. Every time it's been somebody who didn't
quite understand what her goals were.
Because with Max, the problem was he has his own issues, obviously as we
saw when he kissed Austin which, you know, kind of unexpected. Then with Ike, obviously, he was in high
school and was offering me drugs and wanted me to go to the Prom and stuff like
that. So he wasn't really quite
compatible either.
Sasha,
obviously, that's a long shot; although that was one of my favorite scenes to
shoot last season. But I think that the
one you see this year, because we're at the USA Training Center where everybody
there is going to the Olympics. Finding
a boyfriend there was, kind of, the perfect spot for her because it's somebody
who has the same Olympic drive and that same 'go get them' attitude. Wants her to achieve everything she can in
gymnastics and just wants to support and help her. I think that this year it's that kind of
relationship that she has this year that really brings her out of her shell and
really starts to show her the world outside of gymnastics.
Moderator Would
you like to see her settled down with one character or remain single for awhile
and play the field?
A. Kell I like her
settling down a little bit just because it's so new for her. Both of the other girls have had boyfriends
long term, and Payson never really did.
So I think that the security in that; it's almost like a little bit of a
security blanket for her.
I
kind of want to see her stay in this relationship. Plus, I just really like this year. I want to stick with this year's feel that we
had; the way that the whole season ended up coming together. It was just like all of the pieces fell into
place this year.
Moderator If
Payson had to choose between gymnastics or love, which one do you think she
would choose and why?
A. Kell Well, she's
worked so hard for gymnastics that gymnastics will always win out. But on the flip side of that, in this year
it's the first time she hasn't had to choose between having gymnastics, or
having a boyfriend, because it's not against the rules to have boyfriends at
the USATC. So she's not breaking rules
here.
But
if she had to choose it'll always be gymnastics because that's her love. But I can't wait to see what people think
about the whole relationship. But the
whole relationship between the two of us ends up being this very, very sweet,
very heartfelt—it’s not like the other girls relationships is what I'm trying
to get at.
It's
not like Johnny and Emily. Damon and
Emily, or Nico and Emily, or Carter and Kaylie, or any of that where there's
all this drama in between them. We're
very settled. We're very calm. We don't fight. We don't go back and forth or anything like
that.
It's
literally–we get together, we talk about what we're doing. Like, they do vent a little bit, talk about
the other girls and I'm off. It's just
this great, like, it's a normal relationship.
That's what I like.
Moderator If
Emily doesn't return for Season 3, how will that affect the dynamics? You've talked about the relationship between
the girls, but what can we expect between the three Rock girls this season and
the trials and tribulations they go through?
A. Kell With no Emily
this year it left us with a little bit of a hole. But it kind of forced then the three Rock
girls to kind of step it up. Then all of
the stakes get higher because we realized how easy it is to be–how quickly it
can happen that you're gone. So it makes
it kind of real for us that there's no room for error.
Have you watched this one?
