This season, VH1’s new and addictive scripted series Hit the Floor, is keeping fans glued to their screens courtesy of the baddest mafia, ahem, dance team in LA—The Devil Girls. These ladies may not be scoring baskets, but trust, their calling the shots on and off the court, especially when it comes to three of the show’s breakout characters—Jelena, Kyle and Ahsha—who somehow always find themselves in the thick of chaos. Fans were thrust head-first into the cut-throat world of the Devil Girls, when resident mean girl and dance captain, Jelena, reveals to the spirited Ahsha in the very first episode that Coach Davenport is her biological father. Many of us quickly became seduced by Kyle’s unapologetic pension for a man and his wallet, and throughout the season, we’ve witnessed Ahsha’s ongoing struggle to fully commit to her life as a Devil Girl without compromising her values. It’s evident that the tangled web the series has weaved, has enthralled viewers with secrets of sex, lies, heartbreak, and scandal.
Sadly, fans of the show will temporarily have to say farewell to the backstabbing and hi-jinx, and let’s not forget the over-the-top dance numbers—as the highly anticipated finale of Hit the Floor airs tonight, revealing the answer to last episode’s cliffhanger: which Devil Girl has been killed off?
As we brace ourselves for Devil Girl withdrawal, VIBE Vixen chatted with Logan Browning (Jelena), Katherine Bailess (Kyle) and Taylour Paige (Ahsha) to see how well they know their fellow castmates. We interviewed them individually to keep them honest, and compiled some of their most revealing quotes for you.
Of course, we attempted to squeeze some juice out of each of them about tonight’s finale episode which Katherine Bailess reveals, “I can’t give away specifics, but I will say that there’s pretty much a cliffhanger for every character’s storyline. There’s a lot of cliffhangers. It’s going to leave people sweating til’ next May.”
Think you know which Devil Girl’s had her last dance? Tune in tonight at 9pm on VH1, to find out if you’re right.—Jackie Smith
The Funniest Person On Set
Taylour: “It’s a toss up between Katherine Bailess and Jonathan McDaniel (German). Katherine’s from Mississippi and has her hilarious twang. She’ll just says things like, “C’mon ya’ll” and we’ll just start crackin’ up. It’s just the way she is naturally. and then Jonathan, my boyfriend on the show—we have so many inside jokes. He’s always having a good time, dancing, rapping—he’s just fun.”
Katherine: “I’d say that Taylour is pretty funny, but everybody has their own sense of humor. Rob, who plays Terrence, is hysterical and even Logan who plays Jelena. She’s one of the nicest, most genuine girls I’ve ever met and she is so fun, and funny. The whole cast actually has a great sense of humor. I think everybody comes to set in a good mood. Valery Ortiz [Rauel], she’s got her own little vibe; she’s got her little Latina thing. Every character that anyone brings to the screen has a bit of themselves in them. I turned Kyle into what she is, and that’s why Kyle’s southern. They didn’t write her southern, I came into the room maybe my third callback and they were like, ‘Where are you from?’
I said, ‘Mississippi. Why? Can ya’ll tell?’
Logan: [Laughs] “Katherine. She’s so funny. Kat doesn’t even have to say anything to be funny. Her aura is funny. When she opens her mouth, she doesn’t actually have to say anything funny, her personality is hilarious on its own. But then, now I’m thinking James our creator is a top-notch comedian. He’s hilarious. I’m probably the least funny.”
Taylour Paige and Katherine Bailess
The Greediest Castmate
Katherine: “I’d say Taylour or even Logan. She’s not greedy, she just doesn’t care, she’ll eat whatever. She’s got a fast metabolism.”
Logan: “I was about to throw the boys under the bus, but to be honest, us girls are always moving and shaking and burning calories, so we always want snacks and need energy to keep us going. The boys are so good about eating right and working out all the time. Rob always has some beef jerky. [Gasps!] I remember the day of our sex scene in the pilot I saw him with a roll and I was like, ‘You’re eating carbs.’ And he was like, ‘This is all I had to eat today. Wait ‘til you see me later.’ After we finished our scene, both of us were eating burgers. Trust me. We cheat a lot. We’re like, ‘Margaritas and tacos, please.’
Taylour: I’m probably the greediest. I’m always fat and eating all the time. I always run to go to crafy…
Most Social Media-Saavy
Taylour: I think everyone’s gotten really into it. Logan does these really creative Vines. She was really into it for a while and then they took Vine away. I only have Twitter and Instagram because I get so overwhelmed; Logan has Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, whatever that is. She’s really adept with it.”
Logan: “I think that Taylour does a really good job responding to everyone. Rob [Terrence] does a really good job of making little fan videos, thanking fans and thanking people for watching. The show has made everyone so in tune with social media. Just because our show is so social media-driven; they keep the storyline going offscreen—all of the characters have Twitter accounts and there’s Devil Girls and Devils’ blogs, so all of us are pretty active online.”
Katherine: “Hands down, Taylour and Logan. Oh, and Valery. We all have our social media skills up to par, because that’s what’s kind of what’s driving our show. We are one of the top ten most tweeted shows of summer and we’re the only one in it’s first season.
Most Exersice-Obsessed
Taylour: “McKinley for sure. He’ll work out at literally 4am before set and then go home and work out. Also, Katherine. She goes to the gym a lot and she runs.”
Logan: “McKinley. [Laughs] McKinley works out in the gym like 5,000 times a day. I mean, clearly us girls are always dancing and we’re always rehearsing, but in terms of something you don’t have to do, it’s him.”
Katherine: “Oh, hands down. McKinley. When we were waiting to shoot the series, honey, I’d see him at the gym twice a day. Logan really, really worked hard, though because she was not a full-time dancer her whole life, like I was or Taylour was, or the other dancers, so she was at the dance studio every single day working her butt off, because she had a lot of catching up to do. I’m so proud of her and look up to her because she made it happen. You’d never know that she wasn’t a dancer growing up in college.”
Least Like Their Character
Katherine: “Uh, Logan. She is not like that at all. She is the nicest, kindest woman. It’s just so funny when people meet her, they’re just blown away. They’re like, ‘Wow, you are such a great actress, because you are not a bitch at all.’”
Taylour: “Bernie [Bernard Curry]; he plays Jesse, Raquel’s baby daddy, on the show. He is the nicest guy. He’s married with two kids. He’s just amazing, and so sweet, you would never know he plays the best douche on TV.”
Logan: “I really hope it’s me! I never want to say myself in any answer, but for the sake of people not throwing things at me in a store, I’m going to say it’s me.”
Most Like Their Character
Katherine: “Taylour.”
Logan: “I think I’m most like my character—naw, I’m just kidding. [Laughs] I think everyone is cast really, really well. I just don’t think there’s anyone that could play their character better than they could. So, in my head, everyone is their character just because they can bring it to life so well. It’s hard to say Taylour because Ahsha is so naïve that it’s almost rude to say it’s Taylour, but her and her character have a lot of similarities—Taylour was a Laker girl for three months, she’s like the rookie and she’s also very new to the acting side of the industry.”
Taylour: “Probably Kat. Not in terms of all the sexual stuff, but she’s extremely smart. She’s really witty. She knows what she’s doing. She has these real-life one-liners that are just like, did you really just say that? And we can’t help but laugh. And McKinley is pretty smooth and he’s really confident. In a sense, everyone has some similarity to their character, some obviously more than others. I think that Ahsha and I parallel in a lot of ways, where we are in our lives, where we are in our relationships. I feel like I’m a lot more self aware and I have that child-like enthusiasm but I’m like also aware this is Hollywood. This is the industry. I’m professional. This is a job, and I feel like Ahsha, gets swallowed in and isn’t aware of the repercussions of her actions. She doesn’t really stand up for herself. And at this point, I would’ve probably cussed someone out, punched someone in the face.” [Laughs]
Toughest Scenes
Logan: “I’d love to give you an actual scene, but I think that we’ve had some really tough dances and the TV doesn’t even show you half of how hard. Like, the fact that we did a dance in the pitch black; it wasn’t like they used special effects to make us glow. We just had on neon colors under a black light. We have to look like a cohesive team, which can be very hard because we’re not always in rehearsals together. Our choreographer’s really good. I think all of our dances are very unique, which I hope people enjoy.”
Taylour: “The hardest scene? It’s a toss up between my break-up scene with German, because I just got out of a relationship. It was hard because my relationship with my ex-boyfriend and the relationship between Ahsha and German were very similar in terms of them being together and loving each other for so long, and the circumstances overwhelming their relationship. That was hard to film because it was so real.”
Check back tomorrow for our post-finale Part II—the cast talks character swaps, audition flops, and boy props!