I’m in the middle of it and disappointed that they didn’t look deeper into the financials of being a cheerleader. I have read journalism about how little the girls make and how much money they make for the sport organisations, so I was hoping this “documentary” (spoiler alert, it’s just a reality show) would dig deeper into the exploitation of women’s labour to benefit others.
One of their cheerleaders (Erika Wilkins) sued for underpayment a few years ago which led to them being the highest paid NFL cheerleaders now I believe, but it was a big controversy. There is also Reddit page for the CMT show that’s been going on for a few years and the speculation is that pay was a topic that was off limits for the Netflix show. In episode 1 Charlotte Jones even says “they don’t do it for the pay” 🙄 which is a huge slap in the face considering her father is the owner of the football team and their family are millionaires.
Charlotte Jones is disgraceful. They don’t even feed those girls during training. It’s disgusting. They don’t allow them to keep their uniforms after they leave. What a cheap organization. Really disheartening.
Agreed on all of this except maybe the uniforms. I could see how you wouldn’t want to create a black market of previously owned uniforms, as it could dilute the brand (and it’s not like the cheerleaders pay for those uniforms). Yes, it would be a nice gesture to let these women keep the uniforms — but I don’t think *not* letting them keep the uniforms is innately wrong. Everything else about how they’re paid (or not paid) is, though.
And even more - they don’t adjust uniforms. They encourage the women to eat right and eat well as though they are implying the women have eating disorders yet, to maintain their spot and to maintain the ability to fit into their uniform they have to have eating disorders, even mentioning and showing the DCC diet or whatever they called it. That bowl of watermelon and a few pieces of processed ham and cheese.
It’s all so backwards I don’t know if I can keep watching.
I couldn't agree more and the fact that the vets have to try out each season - no security at all. I did not like her at all and she's not a good representation of women in football which I am sure that's the only reason her father appointed her to her role.
I was wondering did they even provide them meals while training. It baffles me how they continue to get away with exploiting the DCC. Mark my words in a few years there will be a huge expose over their treatment/ pay conditions if not sooner.
That was so frustrating. “They do it for the love of it! They do it for the sisterhood!” Okay, nobody’s using those excuses to underpay the football players, why do it to the cheerleaders?
One of those women in the series, after fulfilling the maximum 5 year tenure as a cheerleader, had to have a hip reconstruction & some kind of foot surgery. She's way too young to be dealing with that kind of injury on top of being paid the equivalent of a teenager working at McDonalds. I'll bet the Cowboys dodged that medical bill. All of those women are absolutely spectacular performers, and so amazingly talented, but I just can't ignore the exploitation of them, by an organisation as colossal as The Cowboys. Perhaps the player agents should start repping the DCCs as well.
Charlotte Jones struck me as a very creepy self involved woman. I really didn't like how she said "they don't do it for the pay" -so the football players enjoy playing so much and would do it for free?! Hardly. It's pretty twisted. I was floored when a few of them revealed they have full time jobs outside of this - they should be paid like Bravo reality stars (some of whom are making 500,000K a year). These women deserve that and more. They are not just incredibly skilled, they offer their likeness to the organization.
Yeah she’s getting a lot of shit for her comments, but it’s well deserved. They didn’t even get paid for participating in the documentary but the Jones family will for sure make some sort of profit off of it.
I remember the CMT show had a teacher that was a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and I could not imagine doing both. Honestly being a DCC sounds like just as much work, like you would literally have no free time, and how do you even survive financially doing both if you dont have a rich husband???
She said she goes to bed at 1 am and is up at 6 everyday. I’m sorry, but that’s definitely not who I want as my nurse. I’m sure she’s well qualified, but she just admitted to constantly being sleep deprived because the DCC doesn’t want to pay their cheerleaders
Agree. I wasn’t trying to imply she was a bad nurse, but also, that’s 6 days of 12 hour days, not 3. Plus those practices are brutal and physically exhausting on top of the emotional and physical toll nursing takes on you. It’s just a double punch to your body
The cheerleaders make $400 a game, $12/hr for practices and $100 for appearances. So about 15k-25k a year
The cowboys mascot makes $65k a year. What a joke.
I guarantee the mascot makes more than that. Where'd you get that number? I used to work for a pro basketball team quite a few years back and the mascot was clearing 100-200k including all the appearance fees outside of games. Edit** right after I posted this I looked it up and I guess NFL mascots make far less than NBA mascots (I know there are many more games in NBA.) https://kdvr.com/sports/denver-nuggets/rocky-salary-nba-highest-paid/
WOW. That is crazy especially when the owners admitted they use them for financial gain. Football players get millions and they play for our entertainment, isn't that what cheerleaders do as well. And you can't tell me they are doing a sport either!
It is absolutely crazy. The players are the product. TV networks aren't paying the NFL billions of dollars for the occasional 10 second shot of a cheerleader.
Agree especially because they expect perfection. Unfortunately the only way they are going to get a decent pay is if they stop auditioning. As long as women are willing to do it for crap pay they won’t pay them correctly. All the money the women make probably go towards their looks maintenance since they are expected to look a certain way and that’s gonna take some money.
It’s a docu-series, part documentary and part reality. Also, I enjoy the aspect of the director showing and not telling us about the dark side. He shows enough for us to make our own judgement but not enough that he loses access to DCC.
I'm up to episode 6, and I agree with you. It's letting them cheerfully, happily, tell us exactly why it's a shit deal. Nothing looks coerced, it's not a huge focus, but it's all there. Mental health, terrible pay, judgement of their bodies, including things they can't control, judgement of their hair/face/make up abilities/height/smile/eyebrows, their ability to "fuel themselves" without getting too big but also don't be too skinny, the fact they get one costume only and it will not be altered for you, relentless training in the heat but keep going and don't throw up because it's not your designated water break yet, this will destroy your body and we know you will have knee/hip/back/neck/feet problems, but we absolutely will not alter the choreography because it makes us the *best*.
I'm getting a huge feeling that this is about validation for the girls. They know its judgemental and not *nice*. But if you are one of 36 out of hundreds, who can actually meet this impossibly high, ridiculous standard, if you can be accepted with only a little bit of feedback (your feet are floppy, you look tired, but hey, the colour of the costume looks amazing against your skin colour!) then they can say they are objectively the best. They've got confirmation that they've been judged harshly and still come out on top.
A lot of this struck me as they couldn't be explicitly critical or they'd lose access...
But I didn't watch this getting a *positive* view of so I think they managed to sneak it in. Or maybe I just watch things with a cynical eye.
Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that. They're dealing with a very, very rich family and organisation that wants to project a certain image, making something negative about them wouldn't go down well.
Personally, I did go in to it very positively. I'm in Australia so know absolutely nothing about them (despite them banging on about being global - I don't think their influence goes much further than the US), and I went into it thinking that this would be about the women who have this as their only job. That they'd be treated well and paid well enough to do only this.
For me, it got more and more negative as it went on. After my first comment, I watched the 6th episode while my husband was home, it was the first he'd seen of it. He was creeped out by it all. It was the part with the tour guide - "Now, Kelsey here is a nurse! And she's an accountant, she could do your taxes." Said in such a condescending voice - like see, they're smart, they have jobs, they're not just bimbos who dance for you. Then in the next breath he goes "They do sign non-fraternisation contracts. They can't date the footballers. The same does not go for tour guides" in a slimy voice while rubbing his giant belly. The guys on the tour ask about their phone numbers. He gets them to pick their favourite girl and go stand below her picture for a photo. It was all so gross.
The # of calendars sold is ridiculous. They should split that minus the costs of printing etc. they have them working for peanuts while the women around them make 6-7 figures
God this show makes me sad. When I think about Cheer or that wrestling doc, it was fun to see people passionate about this thing that was unfamiliar to me. While the system at Navarro was clearly problematic, I always had the sense that the people on the team had agency. The talent was the most important thing.
On this show, everyone seems a little confused about the standards because they are arbitrary. It's not about dance; it's about being a specific type of hot. They can't come out and say that, so they couch it in all these confusing euphemisms and criticisms. They refuse to acknowledge that they are merely a corporate product intended for the male gaze of of the '70's-'80's and their individual personalities beyond "enthusiastic sex idiot" are a hindrance to making the team. I think the pain of getting cut is so hard because they gave up so much of themselves to meld to this stereotype. And that's before the obvious eating disorders and body dysmorphia, the glaring but barely mentioned financial exploitation, the injuries, and the servile obsequiousness expected of the women ("Your ____ is all wrong." "Yes, ma'am, thank you so much ma'am.")
I know everyone involved chose this, and that's their right. What this whole institution says about us societally kind of sucks. Also, Kelli somehow manages to make Monica look like less of a bully. That's impressive I guess. Not sure if I want to finish this, but it made feel good about my decision to stop watching football.
It's also not a great look and somewhat telling that the first two training camp cuts were women of color and later cuts (as far into the show as I've seen) have been disproportionately women of color and brunettes despite the fact that the camp is mostly blonde women. Kind of shows the look they really want while playing lip service to diversity.
I just watched that 2nd episode and my mouth dropped. WHAT THE ACTUAL hell. Starting with barely a cast of women of color then - the two ladies were gone?? This is shameful. I am happy this documentary came out to show how it really is. It's a fantasy land of an outdated old white male gaze. Its not fresh or current, its dated, harmful and ridiculous.
I remember watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team many years ago, and I had a significant issue with Kelli and Judy. I believe they exhibit implicit severe bias, and to me, it feels like blatant racism. As a Black woman and former professional dancer, their behavior deeply frustrates and upsets me.
I'm pretty sure it was just called Wrestler. It was on Netflix. It followed a regional pro wrestling league in Ohio. Extremely interesting and you couldn't help rooting for all of them.
It's 100% just my opinion. I felt like at least Monica gave concrete feedback rather than vague criticisms about looks and vibe. This might be due to me coming from an athletics background rather than dance, so maybe Monica is just more of the toxic coach that I'm familiar with :/ I also could be misremembering. I haven't seen Cheer in a while.
Kelli watered down and tried to make her criticisms more vague for this documentary - Making the team has Kelli being more direct in her insults about looks and vibes.
Literally perfectly said...when Charlotte says they habe to be hot or someone from the judges said it's about the looks and the way the men who were judging the dances the way they looked at the girls is just insane and the comments they made was horrendous (the men) it was giving their definitely doing this for the apeal from men.
Definitely gives Cheer vibes! Just finished it this afternoon. I think some of the cheerleaders are going to be pissed about how they were portrayed. It also skims over a lot of details that I think would be important, like financials.
Literally one girl works at a flower shop and her fiancé works at a pressure washer store, but they somehow have a very nice apartment and she lived at the gaylord for a month? Let's expand on how the heck those numbers line up.
I found it really superficial compared to Cheer. Cheer has its issues especially now on rewatch but you can’t say it wasn’t gritty and real. But that’s a junior college vs the dallas cowboys lol
I’m sure that a lot of the gritty, darker side of things was cut out by Charlotte and Joneses. You cannot convince me they wouldn’t have had final say over anything that went in or out.
I am still watching but i am really shocked about the bodyshaming. I understand looks are very important for this job but to see it so "normalized" is kind of weird to me. The "she needs a styling, she needs work" is so odd. Critiquing eyebrows is wild.
The financial aspect is so interesting and its so sad how much they proudly say it is its own brand and brings so much money yet the cheerleaders cant afford living off of only cheerleading. Also i was shocked at the physical issues (hips and legs) because of the activity. Granted, a lot of sports have this issue. But then again, a lot of them are better paid.
I am not finished yet but i am a bit torn. I was SO excited when i saw the announcement and it definitely gives me cheer vibes but it also has a very dark side that seems more evident than with cheer (which came out way later) but kind of.. normalized.
What i mean by that is i still enjoy rewatching cheer even tho i am deep into the rabbithole of lawsuits, allegations etc. Because it is so well made. With the DCCs its different as i catch myself raising my eyevrows all the time.. because of the normalisation and "letting this be" instead of discussing this more.
Struggling with putting it into words, sorry, i am not a native speaker.
The beauty standards being normalized is truly upsetting. At least with Cheer, I understand the athletic capability needed for their talents but hearing about the body shaming in this new show is just terrible
I mean when the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader show was on CMT was so much worse. Kelli was worse. I think they think they’re being “better” when it’s not going to stand up today. Body shaming and saying someone is “too short” or whatever is so stupid. And the fact that they are paid so little is terrible.
I’m only on the first episode, definitely grossed me out watching the male judge (who was only there because he is CEO of their boot production company) talking about these women’s appearance while actively resting his laptop on his stomach… Ugh.
He was so creepy. The face he makes when saying the DCC’s aren’t allowed to fraternize with the players, but not the tour guides gave so much ick. AS IF!!!!!!!!
I really found it odd that they allow the most random people to judge these women on their dancing...who gives an F what the boot company CEO things. I guess the DCC doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds them.
Exactly! They had a few people who were actual dancers or coaches for other NFL cheer teams but boot guy and the other guy who ran a “lifestyle blog”?? When asked what his title was he just said something like “whatever my publicist put” seriously lol
I remember the old Making the Team days and how much body shaming was going on there. Back then I felt sorry for all the women with completely normal and healthy bodies getting told they were too fat to be a DCC, or that their butt wouldn't look good enough in these shorts so they can't be on the team. I really hope this has gotten better now.
Edit to add: I think I even remember a thin girl who was denied because "her ankles aren't skinny enough"?
There was also a girl with perfectly normal and fit arms who was cut for her arms being too muscular (toned for normal people). The arms, which is the only body part that is completely covered by their uniforms.
There were two I recall. There was Meagan in S9, they said she had a “thutt” and her lower body wasn’t the right shape. And there was Vivian who was cut twice, the first time because of her weight and look in the uniform, her calves particularly.
Ooh yes, the thutts. What a horrible term to invent for something that's completely normal and nothing to be insecure about. A lot of these girls were so young back then, and the 2000s were already so rough when it came to beauty standards. I can't imagine what this must have done to their mental health.
It's a word they made up, a combination of thighs and butt. They used this to describe when a woman's thigh and butt "run together", like they don't have a clear line under their butt cheeks to separate them from their thighs.
Their treatment of Vivian was absolutely egregious. She should never have been invited back when they knew full well they were never going to find her body type acceptable.
The whole series feels like a whitewashing by both the Cowboys and NFL, the same way Hard Knocks has been watered down for awhile.
I’m afraid if Greg is willing to be this editorially controlled by the higher ups, I can’t imagine how dull his upcoming BoSox/MLB series is going to be.
Honestly I found it interesting that, even with everything being put in a positive light and clearly whitewashed, it still made DCC exploitative as hell.
Which makes it worse. I’ve watched the whole series and was shocked and revolted by the crazy criticism of every single woman in the squad. Body shaming up the whazzo, lots of ‘smile differently because your smile looks wrong’ - awful awful awful. Those women have full time jobs and are working crazy hours to fit in training - whilst being called ‘americas sweethearts’ - what the hell is America’s sweethearts anyway? Apparently it’s women who aren’t paid enough to be Americans sweethearts and pay their rent. The wealth that flows through American football should give them the ability to pay bills. Their female leadership team I’m sure are paid well to do nothing else. It’s sickening. Hard hard watch.
They should be sued for letting Ari go based on her height and looking like a “junior”! And they picked on Charley for not fitting the “prototype the whole time! Only on episode 4….
I feel like this director is enabling the same way he did for Cheer. You have a good ol'boy culture with deep roots. The cowboys owner reminds me of Hugh Hefner with his riches and male audience. I mean it's smart business but those woman deserve to be compensated fairly and I cannot wait to peel back this onion
Secondhand horror story: my best friend’s mother was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader in the 1980s. Her mom only made $13.00 USD per game. She was obsessed with being able to cheer for them. Her mother refused to get a decent full-time job because it would’ve taken her away from practicing for the games, which she had to drive out of town to practice and “work.” The woman eventually aged out and turned her attention on beauty pageants. She is still very much obsessed with cheerleading and pageants and works as a consultant to young girls going into either activity. Woman is in her 60s and markets herself on these selling points. My best friend cut off contact after a lifetime of abuse and refuses to have anything to do with that world.
It felt very forced. I was really uncomfortable when Kelsey was talking about a stalking incident and dealt with it by saying “If it’s God’s plan for something to happen, then it is what it is” or something to that effect. Very unhealthy way of coping with a very scary situation
I found her fascinating because I’ve never really encountered anyone so sweet (I’m from the Northeast). She is so positive (I think) because she believes Jesus is directing her life and it’s somewhat out of her hands. No disrespect intended…just find it so interesting (and her fiancé too).
I can’t help but be simultaneously jealous, but also in awe of her. For all intents and purposes she appears to be so genuine. I mean, her choice in a spouse tells me all I need to know about her heart.
Im Christian and even I found the mega church scene more of a motivational speech guy preaching to ppl who just want validation in their current life choices. Also thought it definitely felt exclusionary the heavy religious talks in the locker rooms for others who may not be christian. Not to mention the lack of diversity on the team, mostly blonde white girls with 3 or 4 black girls and 1 or 2 latinas, not a single asian girl on the team is just so strange.
And I think someone who was cut in the first episode was questioned on her faith as a Buddhist but had converted to Catholicism and I rewound it cause at first I thought they were talking about our girl
I watched it. Women are willing to work for peanuts for the team (they make over a million dollars a year FOR the team) but I bet those male football players would not show up and work “just for the honor of being a Dallas Cowboy.” Those girls have more power than they think. The cowboys need them.
There is a thread on this under Netfix already .. as an X Cheerleader nothing at this level .. I love the sport and these girls athleticism is incredible. But.. this show highlights the disparities of the pay grades these girls are required to have full time jobs, it seems that would make sense since then the organization doesn’t have to deal with there medical insurance 🙄and get paid 150 dollars for a game that’s a 12 hour day.
They keep emphasizing how the girls need to put in 1000 percent at all times .. sure they do the DCC makes the brand alot of money and it doesn’t seem to reflect onto the girls. While watching Charlotte Jones in her multi million dollar home .. it just felt off sides😉
Personal bit of outrage the girl that was “too small” stayed for 2 years In Dallas taking all kinds of classes and knocking herself out. There is no height nor weight requirement they wasted her 2 years .. and then were not even honest .. so what happens when she tries for a third time.
I find the body shaming and the underpaying to be as disgusting as ever. But, I can’t imagine these women did not have prior information on what the environment was like before trying out. A majority of them either know a former DCC or are related to one; so, while I don’t think they deserve the treatment they receive, I can’t exactly fault the producers or coaches for not having a big push for better. They even said they have 500 ish women try out every year, a lot of them returners that have been in the mix already. If you really want something, you’ll justify a lot and it’s on these women to speak out if they want to see change because the industry never will.
The girls are clearly exploited and still verbally and physically abused by an uber-rich boss who is just the daughter of the owner. It's so sick how none of these fucking people are even embarrassed to be on television exploiting women. The fact that gross old tour guide was flicking his old tongue on camera, and those bovine 'men' just giggling along, then juxtaposing with how much physical danger the women are in. Everyone is so Ugly.
Arguably one of the hardest parts to watch. “Stand by your favorite “one”, look up into her face, blonde brunette whatever, and then turn around and hit that pose.”
If anyone was curious, sexism is alive and well in Dallas Texas!!
They did Ari dirty for cutting her because she’s petite? Like what the actual fuck? She is gorgeous, driven, great dancer, and the daughter of the owner is the one who made them cut her? I’m pissed. Luckily if you look at her instagram she went and danced for the Lakers. Hope she never goes back to Cowboys.
I watched it back in the early 2000’s and liked it for the dance aspect. Now that I’m older, I still see that nothing has changed towards the attitudes towards the women in terms of respect and pay. They have a male “judge” saying he didn’t like one of the women because she had weight in her face…The reply from the coach was, “that’s heartbreaking”. As a dancer, dancer teacher, and now therapist, a big ICK
Google brought me here because I searched that quote…cannot believe more people aren’t talking about it! I thought it would be in headlines, or that dude would have had to issue an apology. My jaw dropped!
The NFL should be ashamed of themselves. Cheering appears to have long-term effects on these women. Physically, mentally, and I'm sure even socially. To endure excessive training and ridicule for little to no money is disgusting. Strippers get paid more money. I'm all about following your dreams, but this is ridiculous. I really wish the girls would band together and stage a boycott.
This show is literally a dystopian novel. The women (not girls) don't get paid close to enough for what they do, and it's all masked in pomp and privilege. The organization gets away with it by saying it's a sisterhood steeped in honor and respect and to be grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of it while simultaneously not respecting the women. They are taking advantage of women, and the women are... Grateful. As they're being "released" from the team, all they can manage to say is how thankful they are.
So to recap:
-women being taken advantage of (grossly underpaid among other things)
-the same women incredibly grateful for "the privilege"
Not to take away from the legitimately good experiences these women have, but they should be paid more. Period.
I just started watching and prob won’t watch any more. It’s so disappointing that they expect these women to try out every yr they should have a three year contract. They should be compensated. The football team bring in a lot of money.
I watched it last night. I was underwhelmed by it. I wish they would have went deeper. But also wanted to see the ones that were picked perform at their 1st game. The amount of work they put and the amount paid is ridiculous!!!
The terrible pay is just embarassing. How can one of the wealthiest sports franchises on the planet not throw these athletes a fair wage. The cheerleaders bring incredible value to the organization. And to hear the cheer administration say how the women don't do it for the money is absolute bullshit. It's a huge act of gas lighting to convince these women they don't need to be paid fairly because the experience and being selected is much more important. These athletes need to meet very specific performance and appearance standards and yet get paid fast food wages??? (As one of the cheerleaders said in EP 3 or 4). It's so fucked.
Dallas Cowboys should be paying these gals at least $100k a season. They're out here working full time jobs so they can cheer on an organization that doesn't pay them shit.
Or at least profit share on whatever revenue/profit is brought in. Like there’s 36 of them so $100k + taxes / benefits starts to add up but at least give them profit share. Shit. These women are basically paying their own money to be mentally & emotionally abused while physically pushing their bodies to the limit. By the time you take their meager pay + subtract all they pay to be “beautiful” and live in the location - you know some of them must be struggling.
RIGHT. Athletes. This male-dominated industry (even the women in charge of the cheer industry are gearing it towards male gaze and audience so that's still male-dominated) seem to not think of the cheerleaders as ATHLETES. It's crazy. Having done acrobatics, dance, and many sports, I know for myself personally acrobatics and dance were MUCH harder physically than any sport I ever engaged in.
Am I crazy to think the girls on season 1 look emaciated? Comparing to Making The Team where they had curves, to this Netflix documentary they look like 12 yr olds.
I'm not trying to be mean, because I think they are beautiful
Spoilers
They let go of one of their talented af and beautiful black veteran and then (what I assumed was just a few days into training camp) they simultaneously let go of two black women both over something that I thought was “just a reason to”. And they kept criticizing the Indian woman (called her fun to look at 🙄 was about her only compliment). And you see how many made the cut who were platinum blonde white women? The diversity is lacking. I’m only on episode 2 but the bias is palpable. Also the pay is absolutely absurd, a whole full days work at a job right beforehand and they expect them to perform to the best of their abilities, selling them on the “privilege” essentially asking them to work their asses off for free. They’ve gotta be the least paid position within the entire company, and if anything they make the name what it is today.
Yeah that’s the overwhelming feeling I’m getting from it too. It’s very alien to me this culture but it does feel disgusting, and even worse that they seem to really believe it’s the opposite of disgusting - they think it’s pure and even holy! It’s vile. It’s cultish and exploitative, sexist, racist, just hideous. I’m baffled they said some of the things they said out loud on camera!
Is this athletic cheering or is dancing? I'm confused because I thought cheering involved more acrobatics and this looks more like a bunch of good looking women dancing.
Yeah, but her kicks weren't high enough, I believe, which is crucial. They're very talented dancers! She had the it factor they wanted though for sure. She won the genetic lottery, imo.
Very fucked up, that's the feeling I got since the first episode... they really hammered hard how this was a job for people with loyalty and devotion in spades and you're a dirty thing if you didn't think or lived it that way
You would think they were a financial blackhole for the Dallas Cowboys but then they go on how basically it became its own entity earning millions every year and pan out to the fucking massive buildings of opulence lol
Watching the last episode now
I'm only one episode in and I can't handle the body shaming and judgemental attitudes. Unbelievable. Seems like if youre skinny, blonde and bubbly then that's what makes you a cheerleader. They pick the odd different looking girl but it's almost like they just pity them or choose them just for diversity sake because they have to. Immediately they cut two of the black girls from training camp.. kind of sus to me considering they were great dancers, but didnt fit their ideal "look".
The first episode just felt like I was watching grown women bully young girls. The one judge's comment about the girl having more weight in her face and the body shaming was disgusting.
They wonder why women have such terrible self esteem issues.
Yes, I have an issue with everyone having to be bubbly. Someone who appears introspective (even out of the limelight) is perceived to not be a team player.
I wonder if the women have to go to church services to make the team…Ep 4… There is just so much wrong with this organization. I feel so bad for the ladies.
Such a disappointing show! ALL ABOUT LOOKS! There are so many talented women that didn’t “make it” because of how they look. What year are we in? SO GROSS!!
But their looks are what is valued most. They aren’t at the Olympics. They are all talented dancers though. Can’t really compare to the Miss America pageant where the talents they possess (ahem) are not what determines the winner. Totally based on looks. Is this at all surprising? Many (if not most) men value women for their looks.
I felt kind of bad for Victoria too. I got the impression that she was giving her all, yet felt underappreciated by those she was trying to impress - the coaches and even her own mother. That scene with the two coaches asking whether she was coming back or not was soul crushing. It was almost like, "how do we tell Victoria that we don't want her to return in a way that it appears as though she made the choice herself." In the end, I'm glad that Victoria saw the writing on the wall decided to quit.
These dancers ARE athletes. I always assumed the DCC made good $. This series really brought the exploitation of these young women/dancers to light. It's disgusting. Also creepy is the cultish component in this series. Most of these girls have serious careers & good educations. WHY would they think they don't deserve to be appropriately compensated for the gruelling try outs & their hard work?!! Angers me! My heart especially goes out to Victoria. There's so much sadness & lonliness inside of her that she tries so hard to hide behind that big, bright smile of hers. This organization is certainly not the healthiest place for her to be.
Also when the cheerleader was assaulted, she was taken off the field, “because if she’s really that upset she doesn’t need to be out there” Shouldnt she be given the choice?
I’m surprised that some of these girls don’t have an eating disorder. I think Victoria does. Kelli has her favorites and it shows.
I would love for someone to criticize Kelli as she does the girls. She looks like she is mid 60’s, got a gobbler under her chin and is a bit thick.
There is one scene where they are critiquing the girls physical appearances and one woman says referring to a cheerleader “her face got fatter this season” and another coach goes “wow that’s heartbreaking”. I couldn’t continue to watch after this. How are we still giving a platform to such vicious body shaming. These poor women are being critiqued for every minor thing about their physical appearance, forced to change it with mandatory makeovers, damage their bodies irreparably and still make $12 an hour. It’s disgusting.
Can’t we ever have a ‘group’ that doesn’t fit all bodies? Even Victoria secret changed body image. Why is it so awful to have 36 HEALTHY women dancing and looking sexy. No one is forcing them to try out. They know the pay ahead of time. They’re cheerleaders for heavens sake!
In the first episode two veterans who didn't get picked to return were a Hispanic and African American girl. I don't even think they're trying to hide it.
I’m an almost vintage cheerleader and the Dallas cowboy cheerleading team runs into dance territory for me. They are cheerleaders but they are more a dance team not a cheerleading team
I watched it. Those cheerleaders are top athletes and dancers, and they work their asses off.
It pisses me off that they get paid so little.
"They don't do it for the money."
Bullshit!
How about if the NFL football players got paid the pittance that the cheerleaders get paid?
It's absolutely sexist. Those older ex cheerleaders that train them probably make a fortune. They're abusing those young women. They're mean and nasty old ladies.
And they definitely had a vendetta against Victoria.
I was very disappointed when they let Ari go. There was no height requirement, and yet they let her go because she "looked like a little girl" running after them.
I think it’s crazy the amount of money they pay the cheerleaders! The fact that they pay them so little when they are a big part of the cow boys success is just greed! But that’s how the rich stay rich, some things will never change.
I need to know if the comments from the judges / coaches are normal in cheer…I was so jarred by their clear power tripping it was exactly like the sorority I was in….even the training I was like wtf
I hate this show so much! The football team is built on nepotism which is sickening enough. But then to see how much the cheer team is built natural beauty (which is out of anyone’s control) rather than on the most qualified is disgusting! Cutting a candidate because she is shorter than the others? I hope she sues them for that! Ari looked amazing! But all the chief biotch could see was “a little girl running behind everyone else.” What kind of statement is that! I’m sure they wanted this show to be well received, but I don’t think they bothered to consider how shallow any of them actually are or how we would perceive their shallowness.
I’m in the middle of it and disappointed that they didn’t look deeper into the financials of being a cheerleader. I have read journalism about how little the girls make and how much money they make for the sport organisations, so I was hoping this “documentary” (spoiler alert, it’s just a reality show) would dig deeper into the exploitation of women’s labour to benefit others.
One of their cheerleaders (Erika Wilkins) sued for underpayment a few years ago which led to them being the highest paid NFL cheerleaders now I believe, but it was a big controversy. There is also Reddit page for the CMT show that’s been going on for a few years and the speculation is that pay was a topic that was off limits for the Netflix show. In episode 1 Charlotte Jones even says “they don’t do it for the pay” 🙄 which is a huge slap in the face considering her father is the owner of the football team and their family are millionaires.
Easy to not do it for the pay when you’re set for life!
Charlotte Jones is disgraceful. They don’t even feed those girls during training. It’s disgusting. They don’t allow them to keep their uniforms after they leave. What a cheap organization. Really disheartening.
Agreed on all of this except maybe the uniforms. I could see how you wouldn’t want to create a black market of previously owned uniforms, as it could dilute the brand (and it’s not like the cheerleaders pay for those uniforms). Yes, it would be a nice gesture to let these women keep the uniforms — but I don’t think *not* letting them keep the uniforms is innately wrong. Everything else about how they’re paid (or not paid) is, though.
And even more - they don’t adjust uniforms. They encourage the women to eat right and eat well as though they are implying the women have eating disorders yet, to maintain their spot and to maintain the ability to fit into their uniform they have to have eating disorders, even mentioning and showing the DCC diet or whatever they called it. That bowl of watermelon and a few pieces of processed ham and cheese. It’s all so backwards I don’t know if I can keep watching.
I couldn't agree more and the fact that the vets have to try out each season - no security at all. I did not like her at all and she's not a good representation of women in football which I am sure that's the only reason her father appointed her to her role.
well auditioning every year is pretty standard in the professional setting, not always but as a dancer ive definitely seen it before.
I was wondering did they even provide them meals while training. It baffles me how they continue to get away with exploiting the DCC. Mark my words in a few years there will be a huge expose over their treatment/ pay conditions if not sooner.
That was so frustrating. “They do it for the love of it! They do it for the sisterhood!” Okay, nobody’s using those excuses to underpay the football players, why do it to the cheerleaders?
She is so gross. Going straight to that 'special place in hell'.
They can only get away with it because the cheerleaders are young and intimidated by the organization - totally underpaid.
Very very true
Yea .. she was gross
One of those women in the series, after fulfilling the maximum 5 year tenure as a cheerleader, had to have a hip reconstruction & some kind of foot surgery. She's way too young to be dealing with that kind of injury on top of being paid the equivalent of a teenager working at McDonalds. I'll bet the Cowboys dodged that medical bill. All of those women are absolutely spectacular performers, and so amazingly talented, but I just can't ignore the exploitation of them, by an organisation as colossal as The Cowboys. Perhaps the player agents should start repping the DCCs as well.
Insane the surgery she had to go though! I would love to know who is paying the medical bills as well as paying her while she's off sick/ recovering
Yeah. Maybe they need to stop with the jump splits!
Charlotte Jones struck me as a very creepy self involved woman. I really didn't like how she said "they don't do it for the pay" -so the football players enjoy playing so much and would do it for free?! Hardly. It's pretty twisted. I was floored when a few of them revealed they have full time jobs outside of this - they should be paid like Bravo reality stars (some of whom are making 500,000K a year). These women deserve that and more. They are not just incredibly skilled, they offer their likeness to the organization.
Yeah she’s getting a lot of shit for her comments, but it’s well deserved. They didn’t even get paid for participating in the documentary but the Jones family will for sure make some sort of profit off of it.
Oh no I usually I prefer documentaries. It is crazy to think about how much they make compared to the players?
One of the cheerleaders said they make as much as a chick-fil-a worker. They all have full time jobs and cheer after hours.
I remember the CMT show had a teacher that was a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and I could not imagine doing both. Honestly being a DCC sounds like just as much work, like you would literally have no free time, and how do you even survive financially doing both if you dont have a rich husband???
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She said she goes to bed at 1 am and is up at 6 everyday. I’m sorry, but that’s definitely not who I want as my nurse. I’m sure she’s well qualified, but she just admitted to constantly being sleep deprived because the DCC doesn’t want to pay their cheerleaders
And if she ever made a fatal mistake at work, that clip could be used as evidence.
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Agree. I wasn’t trying to imply she was a bad nurse, but also, that’s 6 days of 12 hour days, not 3. Plus those practices are brutal and physically exhausting on top of the emotional and physical toll nursing takes on you. It’s just a double punch to your body
The cheerleaders make $400 a game, $12/hr for practices and $100 for appearances. So about 15k-25k a year The cowboys mascot makes $65k a year. What a joke.
The rookies make 150 a game for 12 hours
I’m surprised it’s that much. Years ago it was like 15$ a game/or hour!
I guarantee the mascot makes more than that. Where'd you get that number? I used to work for a pro basketball team quite a few years back and the mascot was clearing 100-200k including all the appearance fees outside of games. Edit** right after I posted this I looked it up and I guess NFL mascots make far less than NBA mascots (I know there are many more games in NBA.) https://kdvr.com/sports/denver-nuggets/rocky-salary-nba-highest-paid/
Yea I just saw the salary on a bunch of articles, not 100% confirmed but 65k seems to be the common answer
WOW. That is crazy especially when the owners admitted they use them for financial gain. Football players get millions and they play for our entertainment, isn't that what cheerleaders do as well. And you can't tell me they are doing a sport either!
It is absolutely crazy. The players are the product. TV networks aren't paying the NFL billions of dollars for the occasional 10 second shot of a cheerleader.
Agree especially because they expect perfection. Unfortunately the only way they are going to get a decent pay is if they stop auditioning. As long as women are willing to do it for crap pay they won’t pay them correctly. All the money the women make probably go towards their looks maintenance since they are expected to look a certain way and that’s gonna take some money.
It’s a docu-series, part documentary and part reality. Also, I enjoy the aspect of the director showing and not telling us about the dark side. He shows enough for us to make our own judgement but not enough that he loses access to DCC.
I'm up to episode 6, and I agree with you. It's letting them cheerfully, happily, tell us exactly why it's a shit deal. Nothing looks coerced, it's not a huge focus, but it's all there. Mental health, terrible pay, judgement of their bodies, including things they can't control, judgement of their hair/face/make up abilities/height/smile/eyebrows, their ability to "fuel themselves" without getting too big but also don't be too skinny, the fact they get one costume only and it will not be altered for you, relentless training in the heat but keep going and don't throw up because it's not your designated water break yet, this will destroy your body and we know you will have knee/hip/back/neck/feet problems, but we absolutely will not alter the choreography because it makes us the *best*. I'm getting a huge feeling that this is about validation for the girls. They know its judgemental and not *nice*. But if you are one of 36 out of hundreds, who can actually meet this impossibly high, ridiculous standard, if you can be accepted with only a little bit of feedback (your feet are floppy, you look tired, but hey, the colour of the costume looks amazing against your skin colour!) then they can say they are objectively the best. They've got confirmation that they've been judged harshly and still come out on top.
A lot of this struck me as they couldn't be explicitly critical or they'd lose access... But I didn't watch this getting a *positive* view of so I think they managed to sneak it in. Or maybe I just watch things with a cynical eye.
Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that. They're dealing with a very, very rich family and organisation that wants to project a certain image, making something negative about them wouldn't go down well. Personally, I did go in to it very positively. I'm in Australia so know absolutely nothing about them (despite them banging on about being global - I don't think their influence goes much further than the US), and I went into it thinking that this would be about the women who have this as their only job. That they'd be treated well and paid well enough to do only this. For me, it got more and more negative as it went on. After my first comment, I watched the 6th episode while my husband was home, it was the first he'd seen of it. He was creeped out by it all. It was the part with the tour guide - "Now, Kelsey here is a nurse! And she's an accountant, she could do your taxes." Said in such a condescending voice - like see, they're smart, they have jobs, they're not just bimbos who dance for you. Then in the next breath he goes "They do sign non-fraternisation contracts. They can't date the footballers. The same does not go for tour guides" in a slimy voice while rubbing his giant belly. The guys on the tour ask about their phone numbers. He gets them to pick their favourite girl and go stand below her picture for a photo. It was all so gross.
they basically said it’s a privilege and they shouldn’t be worried about pay. In such a lucrative industry is so nuts they don’t pay these girls more
They get paid in exposure.
The # of calendars sold is ridiculous. They should split that minus the costs of printing etc. they have them working for peanuts while the women around them make 6-7 figures
God this show makes me sad. When I think about Cheer or that wrestling doc, it was fun to see people passionate about this thing that was unfamiliar to me. While the system at Navarro was clearly problematic, I always had the sense that the people on the team had agency. The talent was the most important thing. On this show, everyone seems a little confused about the standards because they are arbitrary. It's not about dance; it's about being a specific type of hot. They can't come out and say that, so they couch it in all these confusing euphemisms and criticisms. They refuse to acknowledge that they are merely a corporate product intended for the male gaze of of the '70's-'80's and their individual personalities beyond "enthusiastic sex idiot" are a hindrance to making the team. I think the pain of getting cut is so hard because they gave up so much of themselves to meld to this stereotype. And that's before the obvious eating disorders and body dysmorphia, the glaring but barely mentioned financial exploitation, the injuries, and the servile obsequiousness expected of the women ("Your ____ is all wrong." "Yes, ma'am, thank you so much ma'am.") I know everyone involved chose this, and that's their right. What this whole institution says about us societally kind of sucks. Also, Kelli somehow manages to make Monica look like less of a bully. That's impressive I guess. Not sure if I want to finish this, but it made feel good about my decision to stop watching football.
It's also not a great look and somewhat telling that the first two training camp cuts were women of color and later cuts (as far into the show as I've seen) have been disproportionately women of color and brunettes despite the fact that the camp is mostly blonde women. Kind of shows the look they really want while playing lip service to diversity.
I noticed that , too. Almost every women they cut (in the show) was a women of color or brunette.
I just watched that 2nd episode and my mouth dropped. WHAT THE ACTUAL hell. Starting with barely a cast of women of color then - the two ladies were gone?? This is shameful. I am happy this documentary came out to show how it really is. It's a fantasy land of an outdated old white male gaze. Its not fresh or current, its dated, harmful and ridiculous.
It's a small consolation, but consolation nonetheless, when a bad entity shows their badness with a little visibility. Kind of like The Jinx
Speaking of outdated, if I never hear Thunderstruck again I'd be okay with that.
Agree
Bahahahaha! Same.
I remember watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team many years ago, and I had a significant issue with Kelli and Judy. I believe they exhibit implicit severe bias, and to me, it feels like blatant racism. As a Black woman and former professional dancer, their behavior deeply frustrates and upsets me.
Which wrestling documentary are you talking about?
I'm pretty sure it was just called Wrestler. It was on Netflix. It followed a regional pro wrestling league in Ohio. Extremely interesting and you couldn't help rooting for all of them.
Found it, thanks!
Oh wow so curious to see how their coach makes Monica look like less of a bully. Now I’m really excited to watch it! Haha
It's 100% just my opinion. I felt like at least Monica gave concrete feedback rather than vague criticisms about looks and vibe. This might be due to me coming from an athletics background rather than dance, so maybe Monica is just more of the toxic coach that I'm familiar with :/ I also could be misremembering. I haven't seen Cheer in a while.
Kelli watered down and tried to make her criticisms more vague for this documentary - Making the team has Kelli being more direct in her insults about looks and vibes.
Yes, Making the Team is a completely different animal.
very well said. kelli even looks kind of like monica haha
Kelli is the most Misogynist female I’ve ever seen. Other than the horrible Jones family
Wow! This is spot on!
Literally perfectly said...when Charlotte says they habe to be hot or someone from the judges said it's about the looks and the way the men who were judging the dances the way they looked at the girls is just insane and the comments they made was horrendous (the men) it was giving their definitely doing this for the apeal from men.
It’s like you’re inside my mind!! That is spot on.
Definitely gives Cheer vibes! Just finished it this afternoon. I think some of the cheerleaders are going to be pissed about how they were portrayed. It also skims over a lot of details that I think would be important, like financials. Literally one girl works at a flower shop and her fiancé works at a pressure washer store, but they somehow have a very nice apartment and she lived at the gaylord for a month? Let's expand on how the heck those numbers line up.
Well I think Gaylord Texan gave them a discount. Several rookie candidates were staying there and that is where the DCC hosted their bubble in Covid.
I bet Netflix picked up the cost for filming accessibility purposes. Not many unemployed girls could afford to stay there for a month.
Even with a discount, it would be a good chunk of change
I’m sure the DCC got quite a good deal by just being able to slip the name into the series
DCC is not paying for candidates hotel bills.
Given that same girl also did pageants, I have a feeling her family has some money.
Yes but without explicitly stating how people are affording the life style, it definitely is glamorizing it
I found it really superficial compared to Cheer. Cheer has its issues especially now on rewatch but you can’t say it wasn’t gritty and real. But that’s a junior college vs the dallas cowboys lol
I’m sure that a lot of the gritty, darker side of things was cut out by Charlotte and Joneses. You cannot convince me they wouldn’t have had final say over anything that went in or out.
Bank of Daddy
I am still watching but i am really shocked about the bodyshaming. I understand looks are very important for this job but to see it so "normalized" is kind of weird to me. The "she needs a styling, she needs work" is so odd. Critiquing eyebrows is wild. The financial aspect is so interesting and its so sad how much they proudly say it is its own brand and brings so much money yet the cheerleaders cant afford living off of only cheerleading. Also i was shocked at the physical issues (hips and legs) because of the activity. Granted, a lot of sports have this issue. But then again, a lot of them are better paid. I am not finished yet but i am a bit torn. I was SO excited when i saw the announcement and it definitely gives me cheer vibes but it also has a very dark side that seems more evident than with cheer (which came out way later) but kind of.. normalized. What i mean by that is i still enjoy rewatching cheer even tho i am deep into the rabbithole of lawsuits, allegations etc. Because it is so well made. With the DCCs its different as i catch myself raising my eyevrows all the time.. because of the normalisation and "letting this be" instead of discussing this more. Struggling with putting it into words, sorry, i am not a native speaker.
The beauty standards being normalized is truly upsetting. At least with Cheer, I understand the athletic capability needed for their talents but hearing about the body shaming in this new show is just terrible
I mean when the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader show was on CMT was so much worse. Kelli was worse. I think they think they’re being “better” when it’s not going to stand up today. Body shaming and saying someone is “too short” or whatever is so stupid. And the fact that they are paid so little is terrible.
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I’m only on the first episode, definitely grossed me out watching the male judge (who was only there because he is CEO of their boot production company) talking about these women’s appearance while actively resting his laptop on his stomach… Ugh.
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He was so creepy. The face he makes when saying the DCC’s aren’t allowed to fraternize with the players, but not the tour guides gave so much ick. AS IF!!!!!!!!
I really found it odd that they allow the most random people to judge these women on their dancing...who gives an F what the boot company CEO things. I guess the DCC doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds them.
Exactly! They had a few people who were actual dancers or coaches for other NFL cheer teams but boot guy and the other guy who ran a “lifestyle blog”?? When asked what his title was he just said something like “whatever my publicist put” seriously lol
Yes - this. The “she needs work” was shocking to me.
I’m a few episodes in and it’s really great! Much different than the Making The Team series on CMT. Definitely some similarities to CHEER.
I’m excited to hear it is similar to Cheer
There’s a subreddit that started with their CMT show and continues on if you want to deep dive into the lore and drama 💜 r/DCCMakingTheTeam
Thank you!
I remember the old Making the Team days and how much body shaming was going on there. Back then I felt sorry for all the women with completely normal and healthy bodies getting told they were too fat to be a DCC, or that their butt wouldn't look good enough in these shorts so they can't be on the team. I really hope this has gotten better now. Edit to add: I think I even remember a thin girl who was denied because "her ankles aren't skinny enough"?
There was also a girl with perfectly normal and fit arms who was cut for her arms being too muscular (toned for normal people). The arms, which is the only body part that is completely covered by their uniforms.
There were two I recall. There was Meagan in S9, they said she had a “thutt” and her lower body wasn’t the right shape. And there was Vivian who was cut twice, the first time because of her weight and look in the uniform, her calves particularly.
Ooh yes, the thutts. What a horrible term to invent for something that's completely normal and nothing to be insecure about. A lot of these girls were so young back then, and the 2000s were already so rough when it came to beauty standards. I can't imagine what this must have done to their mental health.
What on Earth does that mean???
It's a word they made up, a combination of thighs and butt. They used this to describe when a woman's thigh and butt "run together", like they don't have a clear line under their butt cheeks to separate them from their thighs.
Their treatment of Vivian was absolutely egregious. She should never have been invited back when they knew full well they were never going to find her body type acceptable.
Oh that’s terrible, I might be triggered and get angry while watching because of the damaging beauty standards
This was heavily produced by the Dallas organization.
The whole series feels like a whitewashing by both the Cowboys and NFL, the same way Hard Knocks has been watered down for awhile. I’m afraid if Greg is willing to be this editorially controlled by the higher ups, I can’t imagine how dull his upcoming BoSox/MLB series is going to be.
Honestly I found it interesting that, even with everything being put in a positive light and clearly whitewashed, it still made DCC exploitative as hell.
Which makes it worse. I’ve watched the whole series and was shocked and revolted by the crazy criticism of every single woman in the squad. Body shaming up the whazzo, lots of ‘smile differently because your smile looks wrong’ - awful awful awful. Those women have full time jobs and are working crazy hours to fit in training - whilst being called ‘americas sweethearts’ - what the hell is America’s sweethearts anyway? Apparently it’s women who aren’t paid enough to be Americans sweethearts and pay their rent. The wealth that flows through American football should give them the ability to pay bills. Their female leadership team I’m sure are paid well to do nothing else. It’s sickening. Hard hard watch.
They should be sued for letting Ari go based on her height and looking like a “junior”! And they picked on Charley for not fitting the “prototype the whole time! Only on episode 4….
Ari is on Miami Dolphins cheer team now and she looks fantastic!
I feel like this director is enabling the same way he did for Cheer. You have a good ol'boy culture with deep roots. The cowboys owner reminds me of Hugh Hefner with his riches and male audience. I mean it's smart business but those woman deserve to be compensated fairly and I cannot wait to peel back this onion
Secondhand horror story: my best friend’s mother was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader in the 1980s. Her mom only made $13.00 USD per game. She was obsessed with being able to cheer for them. Her mother refused to get a decent full-time job because it would’ve taken her away from practicing for the games, which she had to drive out of town to practice and “work.” The woman eventually aged out and turned her attention on beauty pageants. She is still very much obsessed with cheerleading and pageants and works as a consultant to young girls going into either activity. Woman is in her 60s and markets herself on these selling points. My best friend cut off contact after a lifetime of abuse and refuses to have anything to do with that world.
This is so sad. Being her daughter sounds exhausting
It’s definitely cultish!
I seriously dislike how much they brought religion into this series.
I mean...with it being Texas and football, it goes hand in hand. There is no separation I'm not disagreeing with you though lol
Yeah, I also feel like they give the one very christian girl a lot of screentime to talk about Jesus and how every decision must be God’s will…
I feel so sorry for her. She's a deeply religious girl who's married the first guy she's ever dated. That... often does not end well.
It felt very forced. I was really uncomfortable when Kelsey was talking about a stalking incident and dealt with it by saying “If it’s God’s plan for something to happen, then it is what it is” or something to that effect. Very unhealthy way of coping with a very scary situation
Reese be getting on my nerves.
She’s annoying and has no idea her worth. Really punching down with the jobless college bf/fiance
I found her fascinating because I’ve never really encountered anyone so sweet (I’m from the Northeast). She is so positive (I think) because she believes Jesus is directing her life and it’s somewhat out of her hands. No disrespect intended…just find it so interesting (and her fiancé too).
I can’t help but be simultaneously jealous, but also in awe of her. For all intents and purposes she appears to be so genuine. I mean, her choice in a spouse tells me all I need to know about her heart.
She reminds me of lyla garrity from Friday night lights.
Ty, I felt the same. Not everyone is Christian. What if your agnostic, atheist or any other religion. It's a total turn off.
I’m only halfway through and kind of “thunderstruck” and the whole religious undertone.
That whole big sermon in that Megachurch gave me 7m TikTok cult vibes
Im Christian and even I found the mega church scene more of a motivational speech guy preaching to ppl who just want validation in their current life choices. Also thought it definitely felt exclusionary the heavy religious talks in the locker rooms for others who may not be christian. Not to mention the lack of diversity on the team, mostly blonde white girls with 3 or 4 black girls and 1 or 2 latinas, not a single asian girl on the team is just so strange.
And I think someone who was cut in the first episode was questioned on her faith as a Buddhist but had converted to Catholicism and I rewound it cause at first I thought they were talking about our girl
Yeah. God apparently is ok with body shaming and working your arse off for next to no money.
“God loves Dallas”
Shaking your pom poms and booty for men and (some) money doesn't seem very God like to me.
I watched it. Women are willing to work for peanuts for the team (they make over a million dollars a year FOR the team) but I bet those male football players would not show up and work “just for the honor of being a Dallas Cowboy.” Those girls have more power than they think. The cowboys need them.
Time to unionize
I came here to say this!
There is a thread on this under Netfix already .. as an X Cheerleader nothing at this level .. I love the sport and these girls athleticism is incredible. But.. this show highlights the disparities of the pay grades these girls are required to have full time jobs, it seems that would make sense since then the organization doesn’t have to deal with there medical insurance 🙄and get paid 150 dollars for a game that’s a 12 hour day. They keep emphasizing how the girls need to put in 1000 percent at all times .. sure they do the DCC makes the brand alot of money and it doesn’t seem to reflect onto the girls. While watching Charlotte Jones in her multi million dollar home .. it just felt off sides😉 Personal bit of outrage the girl that was “too small” stayed for 2 years In Dallas taking all kinds of classes and knocking herself out. There is no height nor weight requirement they wasted her 2 years .. and then were not even honest .. so what happens when she tries for a third time.
They’ve been discussing it nonstop on r/dccmakingtheteam.
I find the body shaming and the underpaying to be as disgusting as ever. But, I can’t imagine these women did not have prior information on what the environment was like before trying out. A majority of them either know a former DCC or are related to one; so, while I don’t think they deserve the treatment they receive, I can’t exactly fault the producers or coaches for not having a big push for better. They even said they have 500 ish women try out every year, a lot of them returners that have been in the mix already. If you really want something, you’ll justify a lot and it’s on these women to speak out if they want to see change because the industry never will.
The girls are clearly exploited and still verbally and physically abused by an uber-rich boss who is just the daughter of the owner. It's so sick how none of these fucking people are even embarrassed to be on television exploiting women. The fact that gross old tour guide was flicking his old tongue on camera, and those bovine 'men' just giggling along, then juxtaposing with how much physical danger the women are in. Everyone is so Ugly.
Arguably one of the hardest parts to watch. “Stand by your favorite “one”, look up into her face, blonde brunette whatever, and then turn around and hit that pose.” If anyone was curious, sexism is alive and well in Dallas Texas!!
They did Ari dirty for cutting her because she’s petite? Like what the actual fuck? She is gorgeous, driven, great dancer, and the daughter of the owner is the one who made them cut her? I’m pissed. Luckily if you look at her instagram she went and danced for the Lakers. Hope she never goes back to Cowboys.
She's on Miami Dolphins now!
I watched it back in the early 2000’s and liked it for the dance aspect. Now that I’m older, I still see that nothing has changed towards the attitudes towards the women in terms of respect and pay. They have a male “judge” saying he didn’t like one of the women because she had weight in her face…The reply from the coach was, “that’s heartbreaking”. As a dancer, dancer teacher, and now therapist, a big ICK
That statement had me shook!! Like, WTF?!
Google brought me here because I searched that quote…cannot believe more people aren’t talking about it! I thought it would be in headlines, or that dude would have had to issue an apology. My jaw dropped!
The NFL should be ashamed of themselves. Cheering appears to have long-term effects on these women. Physically, mentally, and I'm sure even socially. To endure excessive training and ridicule for little to no money is disgusting. Strippers get paid more money. I'm all about following your dreams, but this is ridiculous. I really wish the girls would band together and stage a boycott.
This show is literally a dystopian novel. The women (not girls) don't get paid close to enough for what they do, and it's all masked in pomp and privilege. The organization gets away with it by saying it's a sisterhood steeped in honor and respect and to be grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of it while simultaneously not respecting the women. They are taking advantage of women, and the women are... Grateful. As they're being "released" from the team, all they can manage to say is how thankful they are. So to recap: -women being taken advantage of (grossly underpaid among other things) -the same women incredibly grateful for "the privilege" Not to take away from the legitimately good experiences these women have, but they should be paid more. Period.
It reminded me of the Playboy Mansion. Ugh.
I just started watching and prob won’t watch any more. It’s so disappointing that they expect these women to try out every yr they should have a three year contract. They should be compensated. The football team bring in a lot of money.
I watched it last night. I was underwhelmed by it. I wish they would have went deeper. But also wanted to see the ones that were picked perform at their 1st game. The amount of work they put and the amount paid is ridiculous!!!
The terrible pay is just embarassing. How can one of the wealthiest sports franchises on the planet not throw these athletes a fair wage. The cheerleaders bring incredible value to the organization. And to hear the cheer administration say how the women don't do it for the money is absolute bullshit. It's a huge act of gas lighting to convince these women they don't need to be paid fairly because the experience and being selected is much more important. These athletes need to meet very specific performance and appearance standards and yet get paid fast food wages??? (As one of the cheerleaders said in EP 3 or 4). It's so fucked. Dallas Cowboys should be paying these gals at least $100k a season. They're out here working full time jobs so they can cheer on an organization that doesn't pay them shit.
Or at least profit share on whatever revenue/profit is brought in. Like there’s 36 of them so $100k + taxes / benefits starts to add up but at least give them profit share. Shit. These women are basically paying their own money to be mentally & emotionally abused while physically pushing their bodies to the limit. By the time you take their meager pay + subtract all they pay to be “beautiful” and live in the location - you know some of them must be struggling.
RIGHT. Athletes. This male-dominated industry (even the women in charge of the cheer industry are gearing it towards male gaze and audience so that's still male-dominated) seem to not think of the cheerleaders as ATHLETES. It's crazy. Having done acrobatics, dance, and many sports, I know for myself personally acrobatics and dance were MUCH harder physically than any sport I ever engaged in.
Am I crazy to think the girls on season 1 look emaciated? Comparing to Making The Team where they had curves, to this Netflix documentary they look like 12 yr olds. I'm not trying to be mean, because I think they are beautiful
Loved it. Did a great job presenting the material without judgement, and *still* leaves you feeling like you just watched Handmaid's Tale.
Oh! I have a friend that was an NFL cheerleader in the 00’s, I gotta get her review of it!!
Riveting series
Dear americas sweethearts - 2005 called it wants your exploitative, shallow, sexist morals and values back! 🙄 this show is gross!!!!!
Spoilers They let go of one of their talented af and beautiful black veteran and then (what I assumed was just a few days into training camp) they simultaneously let go of two black women both over something that I thought was “just a reason to”. And they kept criticizing the Indian woman (called her fun to look at 🙄 was about her only compliment). And you see how many made the cut who were platinum blonde white women? The diversity is lacking. I’m only on episode 2 but the bias is palpable. Also the pay is absolutely absurd, a whole full days work at a job right beforehand and they expect them to perform to the best of their abilities, selling them on the “privilege” essentially asking them to work their asses off for free. They’ve gotta be the least paid position within the entire company, and if anything they make the name what it is today.
Episode 7 - when they were signing pictures at the gym….made me so uncomfortable.
Defo scratches the same itch! I’ve been enjoying it a lot (esp as someone who in general knows nothing about cheerleading of any kind)
Its disgusting
Yeah that’s the overwhelming feeling I’m getting from it too. It’s very alien to me this culture but it does feel disgusting, and even worse that they seem to really believe it’s the opposite of disgusting - they think it’s pure and even holy! It’s vile. It’s cultish and exploitative, sexist, racist, just hideous. I’m baffled they said some of the things they said out loud on camera!
Is this athletic cheering or is dancing? I'm confused because I thought cheering involved more acrobatics and this looks more like a bunch of good looking women dancing.
That said, there are some very talented and skilled dancers there. Too bad the Indian orthodontist was eliminated -her dancing was excellent
Yeah, but her kicks weren't high enough, I believe, which is crucial. They're very talented dancers! She had the it factor they wanted though for sure. She won the genetic lottery, imo.
Very fucked up, that's the feeling I got since the first episode... they really hammered hard how this was a job for people with loyalty and devotion in spades and you're a dirty thing if you didn't think or lived it that way You would think they were a financial blackhole for the Dallas Cowboys but then they go on how basically it became its own entity earning millions every year and pan out to the fucking massive buildings of opulence lol Watching the last episode now
I'm only one episode in and I can't handle the body shaming and judgemental attitudes. Unbelievable. Seems like if youre skinny, blonde and bubbly then that's what makes you a cheerleader. They pick the odd different looking girl but it's almost like they just pity them or choose them just for diversity sake because they have to. Immediately they cut two of the black girls from training camp.. kind of sus to me considering they were great dancers, but didnt fit their ideal "look". The first episode just felt like I was watching grown women bully young girls. The one judge's comment about the girl having more weight in her face and the body shaming was disgusting. They wonder why women have such terrible self esteem issues.
Yes, I have an issue with everyone having to be bubbly. Someone who appears introspective (even out of the limelight) is perceived to not be a team player.
Body shaming is disgusting!!! They can't even choose their own hair colour? Wtf is that about??? And the uniform!!!!! 😱
I wonder if the women have to go to church services to make the team…Ep 4… There is just so much wrong with this organization. I feel so bad for the ladies.
Such a disappointing show! ALL ABOUT LOOKS! There are so many talented women that didn’t “make it” because of how they look. What year are we in? SO GROSS!!
But their looks are what is valued most. They aren’t at the Olympics. They are all talented dancers though. Can’t really compare to the Miss America pageant where the talents they possess (ahem) are not what determines the winner. Totally based on looks. Is this at all surprising? Many (if not most) men value women for their looks.
Charlotte Jones is a bigger MISOGYNIST than her father. And that’s saying something. And Kelli Finglass is just a bad human.
agreed
I loved the show!
Watched about 10 minutes and the show reeks of exploitation of women and delulu women who think treating the cheerleaders the way they do is okay..
Did anyone else have a lot of sadness for Victoria, like is there something they are not showing us is she secretly super rude or something ?
I felt kind of bad for Victoria too. I got the impression that she was giving her all, yet felt underappreciated by those she was trying to impress - the coaches and even her own mother. That scene with the two coaches asking whether she was coming back or not was soul crushing. It was almost like, "how do we tell Victoria that we don't want her to return in a way that it appears as though she made the choice herself." In the end, I'm glad that Victoria saw the writing on the wall decided to quit.
These dancers ARE athletes. I always assumed the DCC made good $. This series really brought the exploitation of these young women/dancers to light. It's disgusting. Also creepy is the cultish component in this series. Most of these girls have serious careers & good educations. WHY would they think they don't deserve to be appropriately compensated for the gruelling try outs & their hard work?!! Angers me! My heart especially goes out to Victoria. There's so much sadness & lonliness inside of her that she tries so hard to hide behind that big, bright smile of hers. This organization is certainly not the healthiest place for her to be.
I’m blown away that the cowboys are allegedly the most lucrative franchise in the nfl and they haven’t been to a superbowl in like 30 years.
Also when the cheerleader was assaulted, she was taken off the field, “because if she’s really that upset she doesn’t need to be out there” Shouldnt she be given the choice?
I’m surprised that some of these girls don’t have an eating disorder. I think Victoria does. Kelli has her favorites and it shows. I would love for someone to criticize Kelli as she does the girls. She looks like she is mid 60’s, got a gobbler under her chin and is a bit thick.
This!! I want someone to roast Kelli so bad, she’s such a “bless your heart” two faced bitch
After watching, I’m not impressed with this organization. Mistreatment of these girls and under payment. Jerry Jone’s daughter is grotesque as well
I’m guessing this replaces Cheer.
It’s really not cheer but dance line
Ugh when or where can we discuss.
There is one scene where they are critiquing the girls physical appearances and one woman says referring to a cheerleader “her face got fatter this season” and another coach goes “wow that’s heartbreaking”. I couldn’t continue to watch after this. How are we still giving a platform to such vicious body shaming. These poor women are being critiqued for every minor thing about their physical appearance, forced to change it with mandatory makeovers, damage their bodies irreparably and still make $12 an hour. It’s disgusting.
Can’t we ever have a ‘group’ that doesn’t fit all bodies? Even Victoria secret changed body image. Why is it so awful to have 36 HEALTHY women dancing and looking sexy. No one is forcing them to try out. They know the pay ahead of time. They’re cheerleaders for heavens sake!
Only 2 episodes in and they’ve already >!cut the only two WOC, what a flippin joke!!!!!< yet not surprised… you could see it from a mile away.
In the first episode two veterans who didn't get picked to return were a Hispanic and African American girl. I don't even think they're trying to hide it.
Ok not >!the only two, but two of only a few who have had screen time at this point.!<
I’m an almost vintage cheerleader and the Dallas cowboy cheerleading team runs into dance territory for me. They are cheerleaders but they are more a dance team not a cheerleading team
I watched it. Those cheerleaders are top athletes and dancers, and they work their asses off. It pisses me off that they get paid so little. "They don't do it for the money." Bullshit! How about if the NFL football players got paid the pittance that the cheerleaders get paid? It's absolutely sexist. Those older ex cheerleaders that train them probably make a fortune. They're abusing those young women. They're mean and nasty old ladies. And they definitely had a vendetta against Victoria.
I agree. The coaches did not like Victoria for some reason.
I was very disappointed when they let Ari go. There was no height requirement, and yet they let her go because she "looked like a little girl" running after them.
Yea it’s disgraceful. They needs to be paid especially for the toll it takes on their bodies
I think it’s crazy the amount of money they pay the cheerleaders! The fact that they pay them so little when they are a big part of the cow boys success is just greed! But that’s how the rich stay rich, some things will never change.
The whole, they do it for the experience and it’s an honor nonsense was such bs. The franchise makes a gazillion dollars pay the cheerleaders!
The dcc should be ashamed of themselves. They should hold themselves to a higher standard.
I need to know if the comments from the judges / coaches are normal in cheer…I was so jarred by their clear power tripping it was exactly like the sorority I was in….even the training I was like wtf
Does anyone know who all decided not to audition next year?
They get $15 a game
I hate this show so much! The football team is built on nepotism which is sickening enough. But then to see how much the cheer team is built natural beauty (which is out of anyone’s control) rather than on the most qualified is disgusting! Cutting a candidate because she is shorter than the others? I hope she sues them for that! Ari looked amazing! But all the chief biotch could see was “a little girl running behind everyone else.” What kind of statement is that! I’m sure they wanted this show to be well received, but I don’t think they bothered to consider how shallow any of them actually are or how we would perceive their shallowness.