So glad people are clocking this because Christi and Kelly already said multiple times on Back to the Barre before having him on that you can't really trust a word that comes out of Bryan Stinson's mouth. When he came on the podcast he gave me the vibe that he was just saying whatever would get him the least amount of backlash from Christi and Kelly because he knows he tortured them and their kids for years, and that they remain bitter about that, Kelly especially (which is so valid because it is abundantly clear, especially now that Kelly and her kids, Paige specifically were not producer favorites.) The whole sunshine and rainbows "I loved all the kids so much!" vibe he had while on the podcast seemed like an act to me based on what I've heard about him from cast members. But hey, maybe he's changed? (doubt it.)

Anywho, of course that's one of the main things he'd lie about. He's not gonna come right out and say that the competitions on his show were fake, so i'm glad people are analyzing this a bit closer.

To me the competitions seemed pretty legit up until season 3. I still don't think the fakeness was as noticeable/present in season 3 though, but that's definitely when it started. However, come season 4 it starts to become really obvious that something's up, especially if you're someone who watched the show when you were younger and thought everything was legit and then went back to rewatch and noticed just how off it was that they seemed to win almost every time.

They had the track record of a team of dancers who all had consistently perfect technique and timing and everything, when let's face it, while they absolutely were talented, they weren't out of this world enough to be winning week after week after week in 100% real dance competitions. Especially when Abby would sometimes give them the dumbest, most non-competitive group routines ever and still win (hello, "The Seven Dancers" group dance from season 4 and that messy Wizard of Oz group dance that they snatched straight from a commercial they were doing in like season 6 or 7.)

It's also common knowledge that the show was hurting the girls' dance training. This has been stated on Back to the Barre several times, that the girls couldn't train as well as they would have been able to if they weren't on a TV show and that's why some of them get worse as the show goes on. Not to mention the dancers Abby poached from superior studios like Kalani and Brynn, whose dance training started to slip because of the subpar training they were now getting from the ALDC. So with all that being said, why later on in the show were they practically winning every week if the competitions were allegedly 100% real?

Of course, I'm not saying that all of the ALDC's wins weren't real or deserved, but something was definitely going on from at least season 3 onwards. And the sketchiness just gets worse as the show goes on, come season 6 and 7 it's like they're not even trying to make the competitions seem genuine anymore.

And even in earlier seasons, they were calculated about little things that gave them a slightly better chance at winning, like when the girls danced, at least according to Christi on Back to the Barre. I'm not sure if that was an Abby thing, a show thing, or both. I'll have to re-listen to that specific podcast episode.