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GoGo Juice is
so last season.
The latest Toddlers & Tiaras scandal was born last week when pageant mom Tori Hensley was
shown on-air giving a mix of Mountain Dew, Sweet Tea and Pixie Stix to her two-year-old daughter, Alexa, before a beauty pageant — and now, Tori is speaking exclusively to RadarOnline.com to defend her parenting, and announce her plans to market an energy drink geared toward children.
“We were approached to do an energy drink about two weeks after the show aired and we’re in the negotiation period with it,” Tori confirms.
“We’re gonna gear it for pageant kids and dance. And for hyperactive children, to help them.”Tori says, “A lot of studies show that caffeine reverses the effects of hyperactive children. Instead of medications and pills and nasty chemicals, why not give them caffeine?”
For Tori’s daughter Alexa, however, Tori’s sugary concoction is the key to energetic pageant appearances. “We tried everything else to pep her up and it wasn’t working,” Tori explains. “So we came up with the mix.”
“I’ve tried it,” Tori says. “You know when you’re a kid and you’d mix everything at the soda fountain? It tastes like that. Not bad.The drink’s effects on children, however, is not always so fabulous. Toddlers & Tiaras star Eden Wood‘s former manager, Heather Ryan, tells Radar, “I’ve been around the pageant world for 20 years, and I’ve seen the side effects of jacking your kids up on caffeine and sugar. There’s so many bad things I’ve seen to kids who have parents shoving sugar down their throats.”
“Massive tooth decay,” Heather says. “Obesity. And then, they crash and they’re cranky and overindulged. The parents bribe them to be in a good mood. It’s a mad cycle. It’s never-ending.”
But Tori insists Alexa is perfectly fine with Tinker Tea as part of her diet. “She’s totally healthy!” Tori said. “Everyone’s all, ‘She’s going to be a stripper with diabetes!’ and that’s crazy. She’s a normal two-year-old.”And while Tori does admit Alexa is “a popsicle junkie,” who plows through several boxes of popsicles a day, “Her regular diet consists of grapes and cheese. Green beans. She loves asparagus.”
“Anything green, she’ll eat,” Tori says. “She loves vegetables and she’s always loved them.”
But her favorite food growing up? Slim Jims, says Tori, who gave them to her daughter as a newborn.
“Alexa was born with her two bottom teeth,” which runs in the family, Tori says.
“And as a newborn we’d let her gnaw on Slim Jims. She loved them.”Check out this photo of Alexa around 9 or 10-months old chomping on a Slim Jim:
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“She always had her own little quirks,” Tori says. And it’s only now that they’re coming under criticism. But Tori’s undeterred.
“We’re still doing pageants,” she reveals. “She’ll continue to do pageants until she tells me she doesn’t want to do them any more!”
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NATURAL B E A U T YMeet Alexa Hensley or, as most call her, Lex.
This sweet pageant queen may be only two but she’s very bright, talented and funny. Alexa loves to play on her iPad, being outside and do pageants.
This lack of grammatical parallelism is bothering meThis adorable sweetheart will be featured in the Premiere of the 6th Season of Toddlers and Tiaras – but that’s not the only interesting thing about this contestant!
The 2 year old princess is the holder of the “Tinker Tea” phenomenon!
Whenever it’s pageant day, mom Tori mixes Mountain Dew, bottled sweet tea and Pixy Stix powder in a pretty pink sippy cup!
But don’t worry – Alexa is very healthy and the doctor has stated that it’s alright as long as the little tot is not taking it on a daily basis.To know more about Alexa and the journey through the making of her episode, I sat down with her sweet mom, Tori Hensley for a quick interview. I hope you enjoy!
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Maria: Being on National Television is certainly a big deal, especially when we’re talking about such a big hit show as Toddlers and Tiaras. Why did you want your child to be featured?Tori: “Lex is only two and has so much potential, most agencies won’t even look at her because of her age, so I figured why not do a show that highlights all of her amazing talents so her name will get out there. She loves to do pageants and you’ll see in the episode how amazing she is for just being two.”
M: Did your family support you with this decision?T: “Absolutely. My family supported her and myself with this decision. My parents have been there since the first pageant. Her father actually had no idea we even got casted ’till the day after the pageant. He is in the military and was in California for training where they don’t allow phone calls for a month.”
M: I believe that several cameras around a young child can be very distracting and exciting. How was your kid’s first reaction to the filming crew? How was the team to you and your child?T: “Alexa did great with the film crew and they were AMAZING with her. It took her about 10 minutes to warm up to them, after that she didn’t want them to leave.”
M: I know that sometimes things go wrong. Did any mishaps occurred during the competition your child was in while being filmed?T: “We had mishaps before the pageant, her dress didn’t show up ’till the night before the pageant and we had no idea if it fit or not. One of her hair pieces never showed up either, so we were dealing with one hair piece for the whole pageant.”
M: There has been several kids in this show with unique ‘signature marks’ such as Honey Boo Boo’s “Go Go Juice”; MaKenzie Myer’s “NiNi”; Samara Ash’s “Chooky Moves”; Taralyn’s “My read hair lights the stage on fire!” line. What makes your little one stand out in the crowd and what do you think people will remember her for?T: “Lex has a few thing – she has her “Tinker Tea” & ” Coffee mornings”, she also has her yuckie (pacifier) and her fuzzy (blanket) she has a liking to make up and wants you to focus only on her. I think that most people will remember her for how amazing and bright this two year old is.”
M: Sometimes the show ends up by portraying the families in a less favorable manner by twisting their words or acts. Are you worried that this might happen to you?T: “Signing up for the show we knew what all they could do with editing but we are prepared for it. Our friends and family know what is true with us.”
M: Do you fear any criticism after your child’s episode? As you might know, there are several websites that review Toddlers and Tiaras episodes and most of them in a not so very nice way. Are you concerned that people may judge you or your lifestyle because of this episode?T: “I actually find most of the reviews funny because I’m usually thinking the same thing. It’s in our DNA to judge people, it’s just what humans do. I know I’m a great parent and most children do not have the opportunities that my child has.”
M: Overall, how do you feel about this whole experience? Would you ever consider do it again if given the opportunity to?T: “We loved doing the show. It was such an honor that Lex got casted. We would definitely do it again if it was offered. We couldn’t of
Couldn't of, really asked for a better Pageant Director, film crew, and everyone else that helped with the pageant. It was wonderful.”
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I want to thank Miss Tori for taking her time to do the interview and for being so nice. Don’t forget to tune into TLC on the 5th June at 9PM ET/PT for the PREMIERE of the 6th Season of Toddlers and Tiaras.
Watch out… Here comes Alexa!12Visit Alexa Hensley's official page for more cute pics!I hope this is vegan b/c I'm definitely interested
