Interview with Miguel Zarate from "Step It Up & Dance"

It was the way they edited it that made you look bad.

NOT the things that actually came out of your mouth.

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in what "context" would these statements be a good thing?

"This is a world that I bathe in. I will be Tina Landon. My genius is at her stature"

"I wish it was just me and you. We could figure it out as a duet. It's like having two dolphins and then a pig. You gotta hide the pig somehow, in the water, and make him look like a dolphin. How do you expect me to look good? And here I am again, someone with talent, looking like I don't have talent, because I'm with idiots who don't know how to dance"

"The decision i have to make is compete for the hundred thousand dollars and win it, but risk possibly getting hurt which will affect my career. I'm better than these three dancers, and you know what, it would suck for those three dancers to know they won by process of elimination because I couldn't dance."

that's just the tip of the iceberg. the point is that the "editors" didn't magically make these words come out of his mouth.

in what context would saying "i'm with idiots who don't know how to dance" be good?

he's playing the blame game. "oh, it's not my fault, it's the editors who took my innocent 'Mike sucks. He is still here, solely based on luck, not on talent' statement out of context to make it look bad".

I rolled my eyes, when I saw the interview and once I read it, ME-guel still hasn't proven me wrong in my opinion of him. He's still an a**hole. He said some pretty harsh things about his fellow and far more talented competitors, but he's not going to have the balls to stand behind what he said and blame it on editing?

Typical.

 

Love me less, but love me a long time - Les Chansons D'Amour

I've disliked this show from the get-go, and Miguel has shown himself to be the epitome of why. As I've blathered on in my blog and the media column I write, So You Think You Can Dance? is about talent and Step It Up and Dance is about histrionics...maybe I should just call it emo masturbation.

Maybe if Miguel spent more time in class -- gaining some of the technique that he claims he's lost (did he ever have it?) -- instead of opening his big fat pie-hole and making "good television," he might have something authentic to offer the world. We already have enough Omarosas, darling.

 

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A reality show with a self-absorbed contestant. How new and original!

 

I watched every episode of this show, even though I didn't really like the way it worked. I hated the challenges, the judging, and the way people were selected for elimination etc... BUT I don't doubt that Miguel said the things he said in any way but the way they appeared. I think he's a talented dancer and choreographer but he was kind of outclassed. Cody, Michelle and Nick were all good dancers in a variety of styles including Hip-Hop, Miguel was a one trick pony.  I still wonder why he didn't get into a ballet class while he was on the break before the finale.  The judges constantly told he and Janelle that their tequnique was weak--so why not work on that when you have the chance?

He's a jerk. There's a reason that Cody and Mochi are on Broadway and you're dancing in "clubs."

I've sat behind a desk with 40 hours of footage to edit down to 40 minutes with a producer breathing down my neck. The "bang for your buck mentality" drives it.

A good editor can make anyone look like an ass or a prince. . .my thoughts here are that the producers threw a contestant under the bus for ratings, however that doesn't mean he should have won the comp. . .just that it's common. They saw a conflict with the judge early on and concentrated on that.

I think Miguel was too conscious of playing himself up as the "villain" (as Snicks points out, some of Miguel's quotes are pretty long to just have been taken out of context).  Remember, on Bravo shows, the "villain" is the one who usually gets the most airtime; case in point: Miguel. It's a longshot that these contestants win, but a pretty sure thing if you act like a jerk that you'll get lots of publicity.

Regardless of what you think of Miguel, though, he's absolutely right about two things. 1)  the judges rushed through the end-- there was no suspense and it felt like they had a bus to catch.  Cody's winning seemed like a foregone conclusion since episode one, and the judges sure didn't surprise on that one. 2)  The judges--Vincent and Nancy-- and their weird frankly homophobic obsession with masculinity.  It wasn't just Nancy O'Meara.  The worst offender was actually Vincent, who, after James was eliminated made the utterly reprehensible James Dobson-like statement on his Bravo blog about James "trying to force his homosexuality down everyone's throats." Vincent's a creep.

Step It Up and Dance was a miserable failure of a show.  Kudos to Snicks and also the vodcast for watching and commenting on these episodes.  Masochist and/or Bravo reality competition junkee that I apparently am, I ended up watching all of them and after every one it was all I could do not to throw a brick or potted plant at my t.v.   If Bravo decides to bring this steaming pile of whatever back for another season, they need to make some major changes, not least of which is firing Vincent and Nancy.  (Keep Jerry Mitchell, and make him a judge. He's much more competent and one of the few things that worked.)

I think that db's post says exactly how I felt about this show, so I'll just focus on Miguel. I am shocked that after watching how he came across on TV, he manages to come across as even more annoying and out of touch with reality in a telephone interview.

B-I-T-T-E-R is an understatement and I actually was coming around not to dislike him so much because of the editing towards the latter part of the competition. He did not see Cody as competition? He won't talk about the out of this world Mochi as he's saving it for some book? Is he kidding?

Miguel also shows himself to be quite the idiot as Colin asked him some great questions that would have given him an opportunity to shine, but he does not even have the self-awareness to put on a "show" to give credence to his beef with the show's editing. Every one knows that these shows are edited and that if you give them enough material to be a "type," you'll have to own it. Most who've gone through the experience at least cringe at seeing their less than stellar moments and allege that it served as a wake-up call.

Not even if Miguel were slapped across the face by Michael's gigormous package, would Miguel get a clue that he really is an Omorosa (sp?) wannabe but without a manual or an audience.

Side-note: I hope that if this show ever comes back that it gets retooled in a huge way to stop mining the "Top....." formula. Dancing shows need to wow us with dancing and this one really seemed determined not to show us any dancing. All edits and bad dancing. Only in the finale was I able to see how truly amazing Mochi and Cody are. If only they could team-up and get moved to So You Think You Can Dance as I'd love to see Cody getting feedback from a live audience. Lastly, if the show comes back, hand it over to Jerry Mitchell in it's totality and ditch Elizabeth as she was total filler. One semi-cat fight with that annoying Kathy Griffin lookalike judge does not make up for taking up space. She's no Heidi or even Nikki :-)

Guillermo's Media Guillotine: My take on entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.

http://springintoaction.typepad.com

Wow!  This interview was horrible.  Why did you gush over this guy.  He was arrogant, obnoxious, rude, disrespectful and whinny.  I didn't care who won this show, but I was certain I didn't want him to win.  I couldn't stand his little "confessional" moments.  Plus, please don't go on a reality show act like a total tool and then blame editing.  Stand up and be a man and stand behind what you say.  If you don't say horrible and nasty things you won't come off like a total jerk.

 

That's right, Miguel just keep doing and saying pretty much the same stuff in a one-on-one interview that you did for 9 weeks on an unimpressive dance competition series -- and expect different results.

Anyone else curious how this interview actually ended? It just sorta stops after Miguel's final monologue...

  

Your headline about the AA definition of insanity made me laugh, Boyd, 'cause it made me think:  I watched week after week of "Step It Up and Dance" and every single time expected that it had to get better (it never did).  So maybe I'm insane!

A few hours after I wrote that,Bobbyjoe, I thought the same thing!

While I enjoyed the show enough from episode 1, I kept thinking I was going to see more Elizabeth Berkley and that the producers were going to stop editing the hell outta of the actual dance performances. (For the love of God, I just wanted a shot of these amazing performers that last longer than .5 seconds!)

Look at me getting all worked up... So yeah, I guess I'm a lil' insane too.... 

Maybe if you rewind the clip of that elf/gnome at the end of every show, you'll hear not only the usual demonic messages that were a staple of conspiracy theorists but also a voice saying "You will watch every produced by us no matter how terrible it is."

Unless the show is retooled with Jerry heading the show, Elizabeth being kicked to the curb, and the inclusion of challenges that make you want to dance or appreciate the amazings that some of the contestants could do, they have lost this fan. Tyra lost me 4 cycles ago, so these elves better know that I am not one to make idle threats except when it comes to ATWT ;-)

Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.

http://springintoaction.typepad.com