Anti-Bullying Special: Come Together The Next Step

There are many different types of bullying, and I think it's super

important for everyone to know every single one of them.

Because once you know, then maybe you can avoid those situations

or maybe even know how to handle it.

I've asked Michelle and Richelle to perform this little exercise

for everybody.

-We're going to be really mean to each other.

-But we don't mean it.

OK, Richelle, you go first.

Michelle, your hair looks kind of dumb.

-CROWD: Ohh!

-That's right!

Your hair is basically the same as mine, so...

-That was weak.

-What?

-Weak! You're so weak.

Well, your only dance skill is to flip your hair.

-CROWD: Ohh!

-That's right.

-She got you!

I'm pretty sure you're still too young to be on A-troupe.

-What was that?

-Who is she?

Can you even do a backhand spring?

CROWD: Ohh!

When I'm sitting alone, and everyone else is on the other side,

and Richelle is, you know,

making insults towards me, it's really painful.

I feel super alone,

it was a scary feeling and it's a feeling that

no-one should ever experience.

Can you even put any emotion into your dancing?

-What was that?

-Are you kidding me?

Can we even see your emotion with your hair flying in your face?

-CROWD: Ohh!

-That's right. It's so true.

And, what about you, Richelle? How did you feel when you had

all these people powering your insults behind you?

Well, when you have everyone behind you,

you just feel amazing, you feel like,

"Oh, I'm just going to keep doing this," like everyone's laughing,

everyone's enjoying it, everyone's rooting you on. Why not be mean?

Richelle, you have an attention span of a goldfish.

-CROWD: Wow! Ohh!

-So true.

You're as smart as a goldfish.

-What?

-What?

-What?

-You need to stop.

So, how did you guys feel being on Richelle's side, egging her on

to insult Michelle even further?

It was the worst feeling. Even if in the moment you feel powerful,

seeing the other person's reaction

just makes you realise it's not right to do that.

So what made you feel like you had to keep going?

I think it's the fear of wanting to speak up, because if you do speak

up, they could turn on you, and then you could be the one that's left and

-being insulted.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Of course, you just want to be part of the cool group.

-Yeah.

It doesn't feel good singling someone out.

You don't realise that in the moment but it really is just not

-a good thing.

-Mm-hmm.

Now we're going to switch things up a little bit.

Richelle is going to be the one who gets bullied.

# We

# We are gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off this place. #

# Stand up! #

# Don't you worry about the rise and fall

# Cos every moment has a place in time. #

OK, OK, we're going to try and switch things up a bit.

I want every single one you, one by one,

-to pretend you are joining Michelle.

-OK.

-OK?

-Sure.

-Whenever you're ready.

Richelle, you have the personality of a hamster.

Good job! That was great!

That was great! That was good.

It's true, you have to work on that.

So do you. You put so much time and effort into dance for no good reason

at all. You are like a hamster on a wheel.

-Ohh!

-That was funny.

Well, as soon as Amanda moved over,

and then Alfie started moving onto my side,

automatically I gained this power over Richelle.

For me, it felt great to have everybody behind you, because

everyone's cheering you on and you're no longer alone, in a way.

I've been dance captain

and you'll probably never, ever be dance captain anyways.

-CROWD: Ohh!

-Did you hear that?

-That was nothing. Nothing.

Well, you may have been dance captain,

but that didn't really help you since you were an alternate

-at internationals.

-That's cos they save the best for last.

At least I've been to internationals.

You've never been to internationals.

-Woo!

-That's it.

When you're alone, it changes up completely.

I mean, you can't even think, you don't even know what to say.

It's kind of scary how easy it is

to lose yourself to the power of the group.

As soon as you have people behind you, you feel amazing,

but the second all those people leave you and you're all alone,

you actually really feel so awful.

So, it's really important to understand that, you know,

-bullying is just never the answer.

-Never.

I've always been impressed with your dancing.

It's so beautiful and strong.

Thanks. Us tall girls actually have to stick together.

Really? Well, not today.

Yeah, that's true. Riley asked me to bully you.

-What are you going to do?

-You'll see.

# I know this mountain's high... #

Hey, Amanda. What are you doing?

I'm actually just doing a dance that you would never be able to do.

See, Cassie, when you dance, you flop all around the place.

Your arms flop, your legs flop,

you have no control.

When I dance, I'm strong.

I guess I know what you're saying, but I'm working on strengthening up.

Well, I hope you have a million years to do that.

Because that's how long it's going to take you to dance like me.

Sorry, I'm actually a little experienced at being mean.

I've heard all about when you were dance captain at Elite.

Yeah, I remember those days.

-What did you even do?

-Oh, you don't want to know.

-It was that bad?

-Yeah.

But, then I found The Next Step, and I met Noah,

and now I'm just some big old softie.

-Well, not today.

-Yeah.

Let's watch some more.

Nothing you can say can hurt me.

Are you sure about that?

Riley has asked me to be mean to Piper over the internet.

So that's exactly what I'm doing.

I start sending her mean texts and e-mails, and basically just trying

to freak her out.

It's called cyber bullying.

It's harder than ever to avoid it because it's always there,

and it's so hard to disconnect from every social media.

It feels like an invasion of privacy, and anywhere you are

in the world, you can't escape it.

Home should be your safe place, and now, because of internet and cyber

bullying, that's not the case any more.

We're going to be exploring some physical bullying,

and I'm going to be bullying Henry.

Which is weird, because you're not that much bigger than me.

-Yeah, dude, I am, actually.

-Do you not see these muscles

-right here?

-Put them away, man. Put them away.

It's all good. I got dread power, anyway.

Oh, hey, Henry. How you been?

It's time for us to have another one of our little talks.

Where are you going? You're going to sit right there.

Nah, man, I have to get up...

-Yeah, I don't think so.

-Dude, I really have to go.

Yeah, I don't think so, man.

You're going to stay right there.

Oh, uh...

You know what? See, it doesn't even matter about size

or how big you are.

Bullying can happen in so many ways.

Yeah, it doesn't matter who you are,

it's just on what you're doing and how you're doing it.

That can be very intimidating.

-Dude, I have to babysit my sister.

-I don't care about your sister, man.

-Oh, my gosh...

-You're going to stay right here. Don't make me make you,

because I will.

Is something funny?

-Do you have anything to say?

-No.

-Exactly.

That's what I thought.

# Take you to the top. #

-I can't believe she'd say that.

-Yeah.

What?

Hey. You guys wanted to meet?

The 0% Club is ready to help.

Cassie, you go first.

OK.

Well, earlier I was with Amanda

and she basically told me I didn't deserve to be here.

Well, sometimes the person who's being mean

doesn't know that they're being mean

because they're caught up in their own problems.

So, you need to tell them how they're making you feel.

-OK.

-You just need to draw a line in the sand.

Sometimes someone who's being mean will back off

if you just stand up to them.

Sometimes standing up can be very scary and hard,

but you just have to have the confidence

to go up to them and tell them to stop.

Now, when you do tell the person who's bullying you to stop,

they actually might back off.

So, I just thought that she should give it a try.

Thanks, Amy.

Look at these messages that Skylar sent.

Wow. These are really mean.

What do I do?

Have you tried talking to her?

It's too scary to talk to her on my own.

Do you want me to come with you?

Maybe I can help you talk to Skylar.

Actually, yeah, that would help.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, of course.

People who cyber-bully may think

that because they're behind a screen,

there's less of an impact,

or that it's not hurting the person,

but it's affecting them just as much

as if you were right in front of them.

So, it's important for you to speak up, to talk to anyone

that you can really trust.

A friend, family member, an authority figure, anybody.

And that's why I brought Sloane along with me to confront Skylar.

# Buckle up, buckle up

# Hey, hey, hey

# Oh, yeah

# Buckle up, buckle up

# Hey, hey, hey

# Oh, yeah! #

What are you doing there? What are you doing there?

-I'm calling my...

-Yeah, I didn't think so.

-Dude, I'm calling my mum.

-What are you going to do now?

-It's my mum.

-Hey, what are you going to do now?

When I took out my phone, I was calling for help,

maybe to ask my mum to come and get me,

or for someone else to come and help out, you know?

You know what, and that's the right thing to do.

Always try and call someone if you can.

But then I took your phone away from you. How'd you feel then?

That's the part where I felt powerless.

Like I couldn't do anything. Like I had nothing else there.

-Like stumped, right?

-Exactly. You're at a stopping point,

you're at a dead end.

Hey, no, no, no.

I didn't tell you to stand up, did I? Did I tell you to stand up?

-No.

-No, I didn't. No, I didn't. No, you're going to stay right there

-in the middle.

-Can I lean forward?

-No.

-Can I lay down?

-No.

-Can I lean back?

-No.

You're going to stay right there,

-you're going to do what I tell you do.

-OK.

When someone does this to you, that means they're trying to isolate you,

and that's really a sign of bullying,

which means that you should get help because you can't do this alone.

SHE SIGHS

Of course you're eating lunch by yourself.

No surprise.

Amanda, I refuse to be picked on.

You're being really mean, and I don't want to hear any of it.

SHE CHUCKLES

Sorry, Cassie, what are you going to do about it?

What are you doing?

So, I'm sitting in Java Junction eating my lunch,

and Amanda comes up behind me.

-And I start picking on you.

-Yeah.

And you even take my sandwich out of my hands.

-Yeah, it was a good sandwich.

-Yeah, it really was.

CHUCKLING You would know.

Did your mummy make this for you

last night when you were crying to her?

Is that what you did?

You went home and you cried, about me?

SHE SIGHS

Honestly, you don't even deserve to eat this sandwich.

I'm going to take your mummy's sandwich and eat it myself.

Do you have something to say?

Oh, you're just going to cry again. OK.

# No start

# No ends

# A fire burns in my hands

# The two... #

-We need to talk.

-What do you want?

So, when you came in with Sloane, what were you trying to do?

I was trying to confront the person that was bullying me face-to-face.

I want you to stop sending me mean messages online.

That's what you'd like, isn't it?

Sometimes face-to-face doesn't work,

and, Skylar, you kept sending me messages.

SHE SCOFFS

And that is called feeding the troll.

The troll is the person that's picking on you.

People who bully want to see your reaction,

so when you give them that, it will have two effects.

It will either make them stop,

which will have a positive effect,

or it'll make it continue and get worse,

a very negative effect.

You're unbelievable.

We're going to find another way to stop you.

-Good luck with that.

-SHE SCOFFS

You can do this.

-Just have confidence.

-OK.

-Can I have a juice, please?

-There she is.

Yeah.

So I walk into Java Junction, and I turn around

and Cassie and Amy are behind me.

Oh, hey.

Yeah, Amy was kind of helping me figure out a plan

of how I was going to stand up to Amanda.

Amanda...

What you did to me wasn't cool.

-OK...

-Zip it! I don't want to hear it!

If you talk like that to me again, there'll be consequences.

I'll tell Riley, Riley will tell a teacher,

and a teacher will tell your parents and you'll get in trouble.

You hear her, Amanda?

Being mean to someone is one thing,

but when you start to be mean to a group of people,

it doesn't become so easy any more.

You become shy and scared and...not powerful.

So, having that best friend is really important.

It's true.

Will you be that friend that helps someone who's being bullied?

OK, I'm sorry.

You should be.

That was so fierce!

Thanks for all your help.

-I couldn't have done it without you.

-I'm always here for you.

Thanks.

You can find support, not just in a friend,

but you can also find support in your parents, in your teachers,

in someone else that you trust,

because if you have someone else on your side,

then that's one more person who's helping you

to stop what is happening, to stop that bullying,

-because it's so important to find help.

-Yep.

-You want your phone?

-Yes, please.

-Yeah, you want it? You sure?

I took Henry's phone and I'm just playing with him,

and along comes...

The golden warrior to save the day, Alfie.

Hey, what's going on, guys?

Hey, yeah, everything's fine here, isn't it? Right?

Right, Henry?

-HE CHUCKLES

-Yeah.

It was certainly obvious.

I could definitely see there was something wrong.

-It was just a feeling I had.

-Some sort of tension.

Yeah. It was a tension that just wasn't right,

so if you see that, you should definitely do something about it.

-You want to get a juice, Henry?

-Please.

Yeah, no, you're going...

-We're going to stay right here.

-I think he's going to come with me.

-I agree.

-You sure?

-Let's go.

-Yeah. Well, OK.

What is this, pre-school? Come on.

I want my phone back, too.

Hey, you know what, I'll see you later, Henry.

And you'll see me, too.

So, Henry, when Alfie came in and asked you if you were OK,

you said that you were fine. Why would you do that?

Because I'm definitely scared of being bullied more.

-Yeah, you just felt unsafe.

-Definitely.

You felt that if you had said to this person, "I'm not OK,

"this person's bullying me," they would have done more damage.

And you feel like there's consequences

-that come with speaking up.

-How did you feel when Alfie came in

-and decided to save you a little bit?

-It's a sense of relief

because you know you're not singled out any more,

-and someone's actually there observing.

-Mm-hm.

-You know?

And, Alfie, you stepping in,

did you feel good about the situation

-once you came into the situation?

-I felt great.

Being able to help someone out,

especially in that kind of situation,

it really made me feel good as a person,

and it gave us a lot more power than just...

-You know what, I actually lost all my power.

-Yeah.

Once he came in, I felt like there was absolutely nothing I could do.

-Yeah.

-Henry just left.

POP MUSIC PLAYS

I brought the bullying to the attention of my studio head, Riley,

and I told her everything that Skylar's been doing.

Skylar, I hear you've been sending mean messages to Piper.

Um...

No. I haven't.

Look, nothing mean.

Yeah, it looks like there's nothing mean here.

Luckily, I've saved every mean message Skylar has ever sent.

And I was there as a witness when she tried to tell her to stop.

Well, Skylar, what do you have to say for yourself?

Lucky for me, I took screenshots of all the messages Skylar sent me,

so I had proof.

Yes, that's why it's always important to speak up,

save your messages if it's a cyber bullying.

-Yeah.

-And not be afraid of what people might think.

You just need to stand up.

Always get the help you need.

I think A Troupe learned a lot with this exercise today.

They learned how to deal with the tough situations,

whether it's just a big competition or everyday life.

The important thing is, is to watch out for bullying,

and if you see it happening, help someone.

And if it's happening to you, talk to someone.

And now that all the stress is behind us, let's have some fun.

Yeah!

-Ow!

-Whoo!

POP MUSIC PLAYS

POP MUSIC PLAYS

# Come with me this way

# I've gotta show you... #

I'm very happy that Piper was able to solve her bullying problem

by involving an authority figure.

It took a few tries, but I'm happy I learned what to do.

Nobody deserves to be harassed online, or anywhere.

Bullying Henry made me feel powerful and terrible at the same time.

I was able to solve my problems by getting help from a friend.

If I couldn't have gotten help from a friend I would have told an adult.

It was scary being bullied.

# All right!

# All eyes on you

# And you don't know what to do

# Well, we're all

# Yeah, we're all

# Yeah, we're all here for you

# Hey! #

I'm really glad that Amanda's bullying days are in the past.

Although being mean can make you feel strong and powerful

in the short-term, in the long-term,

it can actually make you feel hollow and sad.

I'm so glad I had Amy there to help me stand up to Amanda.

# Yeah, we're all

# Yeah, we're all here for you

# All eyes on you... #

The Next Step is all about working together to solve problems.

It's our OMD duty, our bro duty,

our 0% Club duty to work together to try and stop bullying.

If you know someone who's being picked on, then it's your duty

to get involved.

Be a friend, find a friend, or talk to an adult.

No-one deserves to bullied.

POP MUSIC PLAYS

# All eyes on you

# And you don't know what to do

# Well, we're all

# Yeah, we're all

# Yeah, we're all here for you

# All eyes on you

# And you don't know what to do

# Well, we're all

# Yeah, we're all

# Yeah, we're all here for you. #

CHEERING

ALL: Next Step! Next Step! Next Step!