Exclusive Interview: Jennifer Ellison talks Dance Mums and Seven Days With

Jennifer Ellison became famous for appearing in the Channel 4 soap 'Brookside'. She left the show and pursued a career on stage, since appearing in various stage shows, Jennifer has contineud appeared more sporadically on both TV and stage. But has made a triumphant return to the limelight this year, as the boss of her own dance academy in 'Dance Mums with Jennifer Ellison' on Lifetime. The show is the UK version of the hit US Lifetime show 'Dance Moms' which features Abby Lee-Miller. I had a chance to have a quick chat with Jennifer this morning, who is also appearing on new reality series 'Seven Days With...' with her husband Rob Tickle, tonight on itvBe.

What can we expect from tonight's episode of the show?
There’s a little surprise in there and again it’s a fantastic episode full of ups and downs and we’ve had a really bad week last week and it’s whether I’m gunna return or whether I’ve had enough.

Are you surprised by the reaction you've had from doing the show?
I think the reaction has been really positive, it’s been kind of the other way round, Abby Lee-Miller tends to be the baddy in her show and it’s the other way round, it’s the mums so I’m really pleased with the reaction. I care about the girls and I think that shines through.

You seem a lot more mild-mannered then your US-counterpart Abby-Lee Miller. The Dance Mums who I'd previously spoke to (Charlotte & Danielle) said they weren't expecting her to turn up. Were you aware she was paying you a visit?
I was aware yeah, I think I was the only person that actually knew that she was going to  be coming and saying hello. So yeah, I was in the loop.

Would you like to teach one of Abby's classes?
Er, It’d be interesting, I’d like to do my girls against her girls, I think that’d be really good, really exciting, we’ll just have to see.

Had you watched much of the US version of the show?
I had watched the US version, yeah, it was something, you know been a dancer and having my own school, it’s something that I’m passionate about a dance show. Any dance show, I love to watch. So I was a huge fan of the American version, yeah.

What made you want to do your own version of the format?
Just the challenge and letting people see what talent we’ve got here in this country and obviously been a world champion myself I just wanted to get back into the competition scene.

How many more classes do you run as well as the class that are featured in the series?
Well now, I’ve just opened my own school, 9 studios and you know, we run every day of the week there, so it’s totally separate to the ‘Dance Mums’ schedule.

Can you tell us how the class was made up and what made you want to feature these girls?
I basically auditioned and found who I thought was the best possible team. You know, the team were going to the world cup in Portugal and were dancing against the best in the world, not just in this country. So I had to choose carefully and I chose who fitted best and who would win titles.

Would you be open to returning to film a second series of the show?
I’d be very interested, very excited to film a second series.

Overall who would you say progressed the most over the duration of the series?
I’d say probably little Leah, because she was the own who had the most progression. She started not very well and really had a journey to go through, so I’d say Leah.

Do you understand why there is so much conflict between the mums and yourself sometimes?
Its just one of those things, they are really passionate about the children and about the way they dance. They live, eat and breathe it, so their’s going to be conflict. When you get 7 people and we all want the same thing, there’s going to be fireworks.

What about the conflicts between the Mums?
There wasn’t any really major… apart from Carol and Danielle, there wasn’t any major fallout so we were quite lucky.

The first series wraps up in a few weeks time, can you tell us much about what we can expect in the final two episodes and the way the series ends?
The series ends on a massive high, I don’t think anybody who’s watched the last series hasn’t cried, it’s a fantastic, fantastic ending to a fantastic series and something I’m very, very proud of.

Have you got many competitions coming up?
Yeah, we do, we’ve got loads of competitions coming up. Competition season is about to start again, so it’s exciting times.

You also feature in tonight's episode of 'Seven Days with' with your partner Rob. Can you tell us a little bit about what to expect in the episode?
It was nice doing a job with my husband, just basically following our life, no airs, no graces, just a real honest look at how we live our day to day life. Very boring.

Was you filming both shows at the same time?
I finished ‘Dance Mums’ and then filmed ‘Seven Days With’ and then went onto film the Abby Lee-Miller special, so it was kind of back-to-back.

Thank you for answering my questions!
Thank you!

'Seven Days with...' airs on itvBe tonight at 10pm.

Catch 'Dance Mums With Jennifer Ellison' at 9pm on Mondays on Lifetime UK.