AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

My mission as a dancer is to use my gift

and my talent to bring glory to my Creator.

I never expected my life to look like it does.

I wanted to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

But now, with the exposure of our team,

it's a lot.

It's a lot. Sometimes you do feel pulled.

Okay, Reece, just hang on. We want to fix some of the lighting.

She needs a spotlight. Period.

You've got a lot of… eyes on you.

I'm proud that you haven't let it affect you, 'cause it… it could.

So I hope you… You should know that.

Are you managing everything okay? I mean, is it ever too much?

People look at us like these celebrities.

I don't know. I can't wrap my head around it.

Once the show came out,

people just assume things about you.

It's as if, like, you take all of your deepest insecurities

and thousands of people are like, "Agree, agree, agree!"

There are days where I don't feel good enough to be in the room.

I just feel myself getting eaten alive.

The internationally acclaimed Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders!

It wasn't always this way.

But our world's different now.

You are signing up for something larger than just an NFL cheer team.

We could make mistakes privately in the past.

But now, everything is public.

- -

Everything about this organization revolved around tradition.

We all understand the sisterhood,

the weight, and the history.

It used to be, "Oh, those are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders."

But now, people know us by our names.

- Who's your favorite cheerleader? - Reece.

We have millions of sets of eyes all on every little thing that we do.

As America's Sweethearts,

you need to post pictures little girls would look up to.

I'd never post that in a million years.

- But who posted it? - I have no idea.

The Reddit people are crazy.

We all need approval at some point…

I'm gonna take, like, three minutes.

…that everything's fine, everything's perfect.

I feel every time I go out, there are probably people

who are just waiting for me to mess up.

It's all over TikTok how bad her kicks are.

That's why we need to keep 'em busy, focused, and positive.

Can't listen to the haters.

This whole opportunity

of promoting yourself has opened up all these doors.

But there has been concerns of, "Who's here for the right reasons?"

If you came here to do all this on social media,

and you're not here to dance, then don't try out.

This has been my dream forever, and I'm… I'm so close.

Once you got into this world,

it's like you're almost in this fantasy land.

We call it DCC land.

I felt like you were slipping away a little there.

It really is blood, sweat, and tears…

Do we need a wheelchair?

…but it's worth it.

I've been so, so grateful, but…

it's hard.

The more success you have, the more people are gonna not like you.

And so, do you want to just hold your talents in

or be what you were called to do?

I wish the girls on the team now could experience

a little bit of time to see what it was like without all of this.

It's exposure, and some people like that,

and some people don't.

I guess the question is, "Can you handle it?"

Here we go!

Thank you, sir.

- Off we go. - Sure.

- I'll see you after the show? - Yeah, okay. Thank you.

- Thank you! - Uh-huh.

One, two, three, five, seven…

One, three, five, seven. Three.

Five, seven, this is four.

Five, seven, this is five.

- Five, seven. -

One, three, five.

Okay, stop. You know you're too tight already, right?

Where's the next line forward?

Which one feels better for y'all for both kick lines? The back one?

Okay, get back to your files.

- Oh my God, yeah. - Wait.

Okay, so here we are. Five, six, seven, eight.

And a one, two, three, four. Stay on that line.

Seven, eight, and one, two, three, four.

And five, six, seven, eight.

Stop. Okay. Line, line, your…

Okay, move up in front of the line.

Wait, do y'all… How close is it once you do the lights?

Well, the intro that comes after it is my video intro, yeah?

And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

And one, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven.

Eight. One, two…

It's always been a dream of mine to have a stage show.

One, heh, did I count wrong?

With a lot of planning and a lot of financial considerations, we did it.

["Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl" by Chappell Roan playing]

- - We're gonna hold for five minutes.

- Perfect. - There's people still getting merch.

- We thought you might say that. -

My biggest dream was just to have a full-blown Broadway show, a residency.

We've got the talent. We have the creative juice.

And the demand is there.

- We're about to do a tour. - People are coming just for us.

- Exactly. - Instead of a game, when we're just there.

- It's a wild concept. - Dallas, Texas!

Are you ready?

Please welcome the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders!

- -

We were backstage and we could hear the squeals.

When Kelli first told me that we were gonna do this tour,

I was very intimidated.

I didn't realize how much the cheerleaders have blown up.

Do we recognize that the added visibility have created new fandom?

Yes. We can see it, feel it, and hear it.

Hi, I'm Reece…

- People came for Reece. - No Reece, no peace.

No Reece, no ticket sales.

Everybody knows a lot more about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

and the individuals on the team

since last season's America's Sweethearts.

I never pictured this to be my life.

I think I was really shocked.

When I came back from watching the first two or three episodes, I was like, "Oh!"

"The whole world is gonna see this."

At first, it was just so strange,

and then now, I think it's intensified more.

We can't stop the show for a zipper.

When we first decided that we were doing a live show,

we knew it needed to be a hundred minutes…

And that's about as much as we knew.

So it's… it's a challenge.

We had a hip-hop piece.

Where are the girls? Grab 'em! Holler!

We had lyrical pieces, contemporary pieces.

We featured some solos.

We had "Beautiful Things," which was Kelly and Charly's duet.

You just see so many people that love and support our team.

You know, they have signs, "Here for the cheerleaders."

Three, two, one, show one's done! Whoo!

Y'all look good for being dead tired.

Oh! Money! Money! US! Coin!

- Currency! - Yes!

Who do we have coming today? Seven or eight?

Okay! Eight people.

The stage show,

it's also a good opportunity for us to be thinking ahead.

And so, part of this Texas tour that we did,

we also incorporated a round of live auditions.

Shianna…

- Shianna is number one. - …is gonna be one.

- I like her. - I do too, a lot.

- -

Well, howdy!

My name is Kelli Finglass,

and I'm the director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

We're about to hold a live audition right now.

I didn't know exactly what the logistics would be

for the audition process in person.

Okay, we're gonna do this in two groups of four.

So, come on out, ladies.

Kyre', Victoria, Journi, and Andalee.

Me and seven other girls performed our round two dance,

plus our kick lines in front of Kelli and Judy

and a thousand other people.

It was really exciting to have a live audience judging element.

The fans' vote is here. Who else deserves to be at finals?

And then in a couple cities, Judy and I picked even two more.

Journi's very memorable.

She was very powerful on the stage.

I was the farthest person to her, and I saw her across the room,

and I was like, "That's my pick."

Here is who you all

have picked into the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders finals,

and we agree.

She's from Frisco, Texas, number three, Journi.

Slow down!

- Thank you so much! - Congratulations!

Congratulations!

I am a very hard-working person and very dedicated,

so I know that I'm ready to handle it.

I'm so excited.

From League City, Texas, number five, Presley.