Ilisa appeared to be the fan favorite on Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious, which made her elimination during last night’s episode extremely shocking. Creator Robin Antin came down on her for not having the right combination of sex appeal and vocal prowess during her performance of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart.” We had the chance to sit down with Ilisa today to discuss her elimination, how she was treated by the other girls in the loft, and what we can expect from her in the future.
Read on for the complete mp3 and transcript of the interview. Check back tomorrow for our exclusive interview with last night’s other Girlicious cast-off, Jamie.
Hi, this is Don with BuddyTV, and today I’m talking to Ilisa from Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious. I was pretty shocked at your elimination last night, because you seem to be kind of the fan favorite on the show. Did you think the judges made the right decision? Did you think it was fair?
Yes, actually. Everybody has their time when they’re supposed to go, and I don’t necessarily think that last night should have been my night, but you kind of have to trust what the judges are trying to do. So yeah, why not?
How long have you been performing?
This is going to be a really big number, but I’ve actually been performing for 17 years.
On the show we saw some drama in the loft, and some of the girls were kind of mean toward you in the beginning. Was that a big problem for you, or did they get over that pretty quickly?
Like a normal show, there’s always going to be drama, and you have to kind of expect that. It didn’t bother me at first, and obviously it was played up more than what it really was, but I got over it pretty quickly. I’m very much myself, like you see on the show, and I don’t really take cattiness in girls very well. Things change quickly though, and then we became friends, and now we’re the best of friends.
Did you feel that they treated you differently after they found out about your heart condition?
For a minute I did, which was not my favorite thing. I don’t want to be treated differently just because they know what’s wrong with me. Charlye had mentioned in the show, right after I told my story, that the girls should not have treated me differently just because they found out about my problem. They should have accepted me from the beginning, which is true. I do believe their minds changed a little bit when they found out, which wasn’t necessarily the greatest thing, because they should have accepted me from the beginning. Then again, it’s kind of hard to deal with that and find out about a story like mine.
Which of the challenges that you had to do was the toughest on you personally?
None of them were really tough, they were more fun. I mean, I wanted to win one of them. I was kind of upset that I didn’t. I think the hardest one out of all of them would have probably been, not to say that I’m not charismatic, but maybe the charismatic challenge.
Was there anything in the editing of the show that bothered you, or anything you felt should have been in there that was cut out?
Oh my gosh. I was flipping out, on the episode where I did tell my heart story, how they were showing me at the beginning. I was like, “No! What are you doing?” It was horrible, but you gotta laugh it off. Things they should have put in? I wish they would have put more of our funny stuff in, and us getting along more. That was really cool stuff.
I talked to Cassandra and she was saying how you composed a song and played it on the piano, and there was dancing and singing and all of that stuff that they didn’t show.
Yeah, we were pretty upset about that. We have a bloopers episode coming up, and I really pray that they put that on there, because it was the most beautiful thing. I was playing one of my original songs, and I don’t know, she just started dancing. This girl is one of the most amazing dancers I’ve ever seen. She’s just so beautiful. It just started turning into this moment for all the girls, because they heard me playing my music and singing, and this girl dancing to it. It was just such an amazing moment. I really, really hope they’ll show that.
Do you have any favorites who you hope will make it into the finals?
Everybody is my favorite, and I really mean that. These girls are my girls now. Just keep watching, you’ll find out soon.
What are your future plans now? Are you going to keep performing, or do you have other plans?
Oh, of course. I’m going to do my solo deal, and get my record deal and get out there and perform. Expect some stuff soon, for sure.
Were you always interested in going solo, or is that something you decided after the show?
No, I actually went into the show wanting to be solo. I’ve always wanted to be a solo artist from the very, very beginning. Even through the show I wanted to be a solo artist, so it worked out for my benefit, for sure.
– Interview conducted by Don Williams
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
