On a few of the dancers having a crush on Cat:

Cat     

Clearly, their sanity level needs to be checked. I think the men in white capes are probably about to come and take them away.  Listen, I mean they're great dancers, but nobody said they've got any taste.  You know what?  They're a lovely, lovely bunch of ladies and gentlemen. 

When I say ladies and gentlemen I mean it in the nicest sense of the words.  I do feel very protective over them.  That's my job; to be kind of the cheerleader when the chips are down and maybe Nigel is not being so nice and they've put everything that they have into a routine that's a minute long and they want to stay on another week.  I'm kind of the big sister/cheerleader role that kind of squeezes their hand and goes, "Come on, we can do this."  I think it's something that they appreciate maybe, but yes, they're so nice.  I love hanging out with them just generally anyway.  They're a lovely, lovely bunch of people.  If we can get dancers who are even half as charming as the dancers were from last year then we're doing a very good job. 

Whether fans will see more fighting with the judges this year and her part:

Cat     

I want to be on the dancer's side because I see what they go through and I see them in rehearsals and all of that kind of stuff.  To be honest I don't know how harsh the judges are going to be this year.  I mean, of course, every single year the bar is raised.  It's one of those things where you've seen a breaker spin on his head.  Now we want him to spin on his head, do a triple summersault backwards, and land on one arm because the bar is raised every single year.  My job is kind of team leader, supporter, etc. 

Daniel On different trends Cat's seem through the years in the kinds of dancers entering: 

Cat     

You know what it is?  It's not necessarily dance.  It's not necessarily trends of dance I've noticed, but definitely the dancers are becoming more aware that this isn't just a dance competition.  It's to find America's favorite dancer, so it's not necessarily about who's the best technical dancer or who has the most training.  It's actually about the person that America connects with the most and it doesn't matter how brilliant your dancing is. 

If you don't let people in and you don't show them your personality and vulnerability and that real human element that we all have that people can identify with, they won't pick up the phone and vote for them.  That's what I've noticed is that the trend seems to be that the dancers are much more open, obviously, hoping to connect with the producers, who are casting the show, and fundamentally the American public. 

On her connection with the dancers more than the hosts:

Cat     

I absolutely thought that it was a very important element of the show before I even started doing the show actually.  I thought it was very important that I became part of their journey so that there was a connection, because what we're doing is we're essentially taking ordinary people and putting them in this most extraordinary situation where people know their names and we put them in this live TV studio and there are cameras and lights. 

It's a lot to ask of the dancers and to get the most out of them I think they've got to feel as though they've got somebody on their side and someone supporting them.  That's very much what I wanted to do.  I didn't want them to kind of turn around, because I'm involved in all of the audition practice as well, Gina, so I didn't want them to turn around when we got to the studio and go, "Hold on a second.  Who is this English broad who's suddenly on stage with us?  I wanted to definitely infiltrate myself in there, but it kind of happened more than I expected to.  It's almost like once you dip your toe in the water you can't help but dive in because they are so charming and they're such a nice bunch of people. 

I don't know what it is about dancers, but there's this real sense of camaraderie.  I thought before I started the show it was actually going to be very tough.  I thought there'd be a lot of competitiveness and it would get a little bit kind of tense.  Actually, it's not.  I think it's because dancers are normally used to being part of a troop or a group and being a team player.  Normally they support another artist, like either the prima ballerina or the singing star or whoever it is.  So there's a real nice sense of camaraderie that happens and I wanted to be a part of that. 

To be honest, because they've all been so great you can't help but get involved, both emotionally, personally.  I mean it's the toughest thing for me on a Thursday when I have to send them home.  It's horrible.  I hate it.  They always come into the studio and they're always like, "Oh, no.  It's a Thursday."

I'm like, "I know.  It's terrible."  It's always very tough. 

On how the pace is for Cat on the show. Hectic or not?

Cat     

It's fairly hectic quite often, because I'll go in and write scripts and do all different things and go in and see them.  I do really involve myself in the show because to me that's what works.  If I can do lots and lots of preparation then when it comes to actually doing the show you kind of prep, prep, prep, prep, prep and then you let it go and that's when the good stuff happens. 

That's just how I like to work.  I like to put lots of time and energy and preparation into it, so it is quite busy; nowhere near what the dancers have to go through because theirs is not only emotional.  It's physical too, because obviously, you have to learn so many routines every single week.  As we narrow it down every week they obviously have to learn more routines because the numbers are going down, so we need each person to do more routines per show.  I mean in comparison with the dancers' job I have it easy. 

What viewers can expect in terms of new styles coming up this year:

Cat      You know what?  It's kind of the same.  I mean it's the same show.  It's kind of if it ain't broke don't fix it, but it is everything that you know and love, but back bigger and better.   Because the bar has kind of been raised, we're used to seeing people spin on their heads.  Now we want triple back summersaults with extras and a run up the wall because we just get blasé about it.  There will definitely be another amazing Mia Michaels routine that's going to give you chills.  Wade Robson is also going to do something very special for us.  But it's kind of the same.  We are looking into other styles of dance because, obviously, what we want to do is keep it fresh, too.  We aim to surprise and delight, but we've also got Mary and Nigel and there will be ballroom and breaking, all contemporary, all of the normal styles will be there too. 

Her opinion on the advantages of being a summer program: 

Cat      Goodness gracious me.  Well, I think that the schedule seems to work for us.  I don't actually know why so much, but it seems to just work for us.  I think a lot of the kids are off school, who obviously know that that's the demographic that's a large part of our audience.  I don't know.  I just think it's a very upbeat, very kind of shiny floor, big set kind of show and it feels good, which I think is what everybody wants all of the time, whether it's summer or not.