No Risk, No Story. (with Kim Chessler)
Leave It On The Dance Floor
Abby Lee Miller
3.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 103 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Abby is joined by Kim Chessler, former Vice President of Unscripted Programming at THE NETWORK, for a behind-the-scenes conversation you won’t hear anywhere else.
Kim and Abby reconnect over the early days of Dance Moms — from how the show was originally sold, to the moment it exploded into a viral pop-culture phenomenon. Kim shares what it was like to be on the network side as the series took off, offering a rare insider perspective on how reality television projects are developed, greenlit, and transformed into must-see TV.
The two also swap never-before-heard stories from production, discuss the many spinoffs that followed, and break down why — no matter how many versions came after — nothing can ever top the original Dance Moms.
If you’ve ever wondered how iconic reality TV is really made, this episode is a must-listen.Join us each week as we rewatch and recap your favorite moments/episodes of Dance Moms, Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, Abby’s Studio Rescue, and Mad House spilling behind the scenes secrets, exclusive never-before-seen content and more!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, |
| 0:01.0 | Hello, |
| 0:02.0 | My world is with my girls |
| 0:05.0 | Leave it on the dance floor |
| 0:07.0 | Because I have an unexpected guest. |
| 0:24.6 | I never thought that I would get this successful woman in the chair. |
| 0:31.6 | But I would like to introduce you all to Kim Chesler. |
| 0:36.6 | Yes. Kim Chesler was the woman at the network that was in charge of dance |
| 0:43.4 | moms. This was her show to get from production, us in a dance studio or in a competition |
| 0:50.9 | or whatever, all that footage to the air for you all to see it. |
| 0:58.1 | So she was the person that went in between the production company and it going on television. |
| 1:03.9 | Yes. |
| 1:04.6 | So please welcome Kim Chessler to leave it on the dance floor. |
| 1:09.5 | Thank you, Abby. |
| 1:10.1 | You have quite a way of inviting someone to your podcast. Your text yesterday, true story, said, you're never going to say yes to this. Or no, sorry, you said you're probably going to say no. Yes. You start from a place to no. Yes. But would you, you know, join me on my podcast or something and I said yes I know and I |
| 1:28.3 | almost fell out of my chair I almost fell out of my chair too that I actually was like I thought about it |
| 1:32.7 | and I said why not why not because you know I live by a new sort of motto now no risk no story |
| 1:39.2 | there you go so I looked at the text I read it out loud to my husband. |
| 1:44.9 | I said, why not? |
| 1:45.3 | Right. |
| 1:45.7 | So I'm here. |
| 2:00.1 | So thank you for having me. And how is your husband? He's great. Tell everyone what he does. My husband just started a new job. Oh. So my husband works in sports. And so he's doing very well in his new job. We're very excited. But he used to be in something with... Oh, he was in boxing for very long time. Like you were always in Vegas. |
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