Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders S2: Still The Most Toxic Series on Netflix

Netflix has simply dropped the second season of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, a documentary all concerning the skilled dance troupe that performs in help of the enduring NFL soccer group. Nonetheless, there’s a sinister undertone current all through this present.

Yearly, the group is refreshed, with a bunch of returning group members (veterans) and new cheerleaders (rookies) all competing for a spot on the squad. Whereas method, efficiency abilities and the flexibility to memorise choreography are considered, different archaic components are additionally scrutinised.  

Set off warning for discussions on weight, physique picture and consuming problems under. 

I tuned in final 12 months, naive to how these surface-level issues have been painfully magnified by the bosses, and sadly that’s not one thing that has been addressed within the newest instalment of one in every of Netflix’s hottest documentary sequence.

That is most evident in the course of the uniform fittings. As mentioned in season 1, these cropped blouses and teeny tiny shorts are fitted precisely for each dancer there after which, with no wiggle room for alterations throughout the whole 12 months. So, I’d assume that doesn’t account for issues reminiscent of modifications to muscle mass, or bloating after meals or throughout a dancer’s interval.  

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After season 1, Director Kelli Finglass claimed to E! that the corporate had “actually moved away” from discussing the physique kinds of girls on the group, however episode 2 of the second season doesn’t align with that, together with her commenting about rookie Abby, “She… She has… shoulders”.  

Abby then reveals that she realised she “didn’t want the load room anymore”, so she determined to cease lifting. The cameraman then questioned whether or not somebody had instructed her that, or if she determined it for herself. She claimed the latter initially, however when pushed laughed nervously, replying that she “didn’t need to say”, then nodded when he once more requested if any person instructed her that. 

Kelli then later commented on another person that “tiny shoulders and tiny torsos all the time look good”, and whereas sure, that was meant as a praise, it definitely appeared like a dig at Abby from earlier than – who little doubt had began understanding with weights within the first place to help her health as an athlete.  

These feedback aren’t fairly as egregious as season 1’s uniform fittings, the place dancers have been criticised for physique proportions past their management, reminiscent of that their torsos have been too lengthy, or that their “thighs look a bit angular” (which – what the hell does that even imply?). 

© 2025 Netflix, Inc.

Throughout the speaking heads phase, one of many contenders for the group, Dayton, overtly discusses how her physique picture points began after highschool when she began interested by auditioning for the Cowboys. Earlier within the episode, she lamented her earlier consuming dysfunction, one thing that was additionally mentioned intimately by a distinguished dancer from season 1, Victoria. 

Earlier in her DCC profession, Victoria was known as in by the bosses about her weight, which might have been when the sooner actuality present, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Workforce, aired (from 2006-2021). Most of the feedback from Kelli to quite a few cheerleaders are appalling to observe right this moment. Victoria instructed the digicam in season 1: “I believe it’s tougher for women to not simply need to starve themselves.” 

Throughout the remaining spherical of auditions, we see how every competitor is assessed by a panel of judges, however not all of them are from dance or styling backgrounds. So, this 12 months’s group embrace a rustic music singer and a broadcast meteorologist.

© 2025 Netflix, Inc.

A number of the feedback from these males left my pores and skin crawling, as a result of they’re not in any place to be shelling out magnificence recommendation primarily based on their very own questionable trend decisions. Plus, a few of them are not less than twice the dancers’ age, making feedback about them being “so cute” lecherous and creepy. 

At one level, the meteorologist reveals that he wrote down that one lady “wants a makeover”, and the male singer follows up with that “the again a part of head was too huge”.

And really, are they happy with themselves for selecting aside these girls’s appearances, on a world streaming website no much less? It’s past merciless and solidifies why so most of the cheerleaders find yourself pressured, depressed or worse, and can little doubt have an effect on viewers at house.

Granted, season 2 has been praised for seeing the dancers lastly getting a well-deserved 400% pay improve to really have a livable wage… however even that took practically the whole group banding collectively to demand it.

Not one of the damaging press in the direction of the salaries from season 1 was sufficient to shift the opinions of the directing board, and that appears to be the case for physique picture inside the Cowboys Cheerleading squad, too.

It feels all of the extra bleak while you consider how developments of ‘thinness’ have gotten normalised once more, with the rise of issues reminiscent of SkinnyTok. The discourse round appearances on America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders solely provides gasoline to the fireplace.

Watch season 2 at your discretion, however the first few episodes have left a nasty style in my mouth.

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is now obtainable to stream on Netflix.