It's safe to say the world is flipping out over Cheer.
The Netflix documentary series—released in early January—follows Navarro College's cheerleaders as they prepare to take on Daytona's NCA National Championships—and compete for their 14th top title. And while viewers at home (including Reese Witherspoon and Chrissy Teigen) rooted for Jerry Harris to make mat, Morgan Simianer to stick the pyramid and Mackenzie "Sherbs" Sherburn to recover from a tragic fall, they were hesitant to cheer on Gabi Butler's rather, er, spirited parents.
Throughout the six-episode show, the Boca Raton-based couple seemed to put too much pressure on their daughter, going as far as criticizing her for eating a single egg. (Instead, her mom recommended she choose jackfruit, which would allegedly keep her full for up to 12 hours.)
And now, following the Internet backlash, the 22-year-old addressed the controversy during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. "When the show came out, we all watched it together as a family and we were like, ‘Oh wow,'" she admitted to host Ellen DeGeneres. "It was a really big eyeopener for all of us."
"My parents were like, ‘Wow, maybe we do need to let her be more independent and let her make her own decisions for herself,'" Gabi added. "I really just think that it was great for because I really started to love myself more and being like, I need to be more positive about myself. I'm very grateful for the show."
Of course, she not the only elite athlete whose life has changed for the better. During an emotional moment on the show, La'Darius shares how his brothers refused to accept his sexuality. The physical and sexual abuse hit a point where he considered taking his own life.
"When we started the show, I was a little nervous, a little scared," he explained to Ellen. "Nobody really wants to talk about the bad things that happened in their life and have it on camera."
But it was that candor and honesty that allowed him to move forward.
"[My mom] had called me immediately after and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, D...I'm so proud of you. I never knew how strong you really were or what you were really going through until I saw it on camera,'" he said. "After the show, I felt so much better because I got away from all my chains. I felt like I was being held down and I felt like I was finally free, that I could fly."
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And through it all, coach Monica Aldama is by her team's side. "These are like my kids," she raved. "They come to me with their problems, so I hear their stories, I see their tears. I would never want anyone to feel like they were less than for how they were born. I'm really passionate about it and I want to protect them through everything."
If you’ve watched the second season of Cheer, you’re all caught up on the drama, redemption stories and inspirational speeches related to a Texas small-college spirit team.
You’re left with one big question: Will Netflix come up with a Season 3?
Good question. The streaming service has “no information” about the future of the docuseries, according to Netflix publicists. The cast can’t confirm anything, of course, because of non-disclosure agreements, and Corsicana townsfolk, at least some of them, say they haven’t noticed any camera-toting production crews hanging around town.
But typically, a series leaves a few loose ends to keep the door open for follow ups. It’s a formula based on popularity and audience demand and — in the case of Cheer — whether further drama needs to be explored. It also doesn’t hurt that the series won five Emmy Awards in 2020 and another in 2021. In addition, it debuted at No. 5 on Netflix’s English-language top 10, getting roughly 29.1 million viewing hours.
It’s possible the third season is already filming and will be released in late 2022 or early 2023. The NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer & Dance Championship is set for April 6-10.
The first season introduced us to Navarro College, the internal conflicts and physical and mental commitment required to compete for a high-stakes spirit team championship. In 2020, the college’s team became so popular that it appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and was spoofed on Saturday Night Live.
The second nine-episode season, which unexpectedly dropped last month, updated viewers on the trials and tribulations that accompanied Navarro’s sudden rise to TV fame. It also introduced an arch-rival, Trinity Valley Community College, a similar school in nearby Athens that has also contended for spirit-team superiority. Trinity Valley and Navarro have a rivalry that dates to 2000.
Could Cheer switch its focus to Trinity Valley for a subsequent season?
Greg Whiteley, the series creator who won two Emmy Awards in 2020 for Cheer, has a history of spreading a story to other campuses. His Last Chance U on Netflix took a similar approach to Cheer, examining junior-college football players who also were troubled and struggled to find structure. Last Chance U lasted five seasons, the first two at East Mississippi Community College, the next two at Independence Community College in Kansas before wrapping up at Laney College in Oakland, Calif.
It’s anyone’s guess at this point. Here are some thoughts on whether we’ll see another round of episodes that chronicle the drama and intensity of Navarro College’s spirit team (Spoiler alerts ahead).
‘Cheer’ will ‘make mat’ thanks to a rival and other loose ends
In the second season, Trinity Valley made its presence felt in a big way. The Trinity Valley campus is only about 40 miles due east of Navarro College on State Highway 31.
Trinity Valley and Navarro are the only two teams competing in their division. That means they carry out head-to-head matches 1,100 miles away at the national championship in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The two-team classification was news to a lot of non-Texas viewers, especially on Twitter. As one viewer wrote: “Finding out Navarro and TVCC have been each other’s sole competitors for years has shocked me to my core ok.”
COVID-19 also was a plot point, resulting in the shutdown of the 2020 nationals and giving competitors a fourth year of eligibility. (Typically, they can compete for only three seasons.)
The Navarro cheer team could still see some turnover from members who choose not to return. In the Season 2 finale, several key members of both teams discussed whether they’d be back for another year. Navarro’s Maddy Brum and Gillian Rupert said they’d be back as did Trinity Valley’s DeVonte “Dee” Joseph.
Not coming back will be Navarro’s Cassadee Dunlap and Trinity Valley’s Jada Wooten. Navarro’s Morgan Simianer, who was featured largely in the first season and the first half of Season 2, told Marie Claire she wouldn’t return.
The second season also provided plenty of off-campus drama. COVID-19 caused changes in team structure. Navarro coach Monica Aldama took a break from coaching to compete on Dancing With the Stars. (She was eliminated in the seventh week.) Cheerleader La’Darius Marshall unexpectedly quit after a feud.
The fifth episode of the second season also examined former Navarro cheerleader Jerry Harris’ arrest. Harris, one of the breakout stars of the original squad who was known for his peppy mat talks, was indicted in 2020 on charges of receiving child pornography and soliciting sex from minors. Last week, he entered a guilty plea. He now awaits sentencing in the federalcase.
If a third season shifts to the Navarro-Trinity Valley dynamic, we’re likely to see more from the head coach and former Trinity Valley cheerleader Vontae Johnson. Johnson told Entertainment Tonight that the school was approached for the first season but turned down production. After seeing the first season, he said yes to Trinity Valley’s inclusion.
“We loved how they portrayed our sport. So, we definitely didn’t turn it down the second time,” he told ET.
At the end of the second season, Trinity Valley edged Navarro 98.2292-98.0708, an example of the razor-thin margins that can seal a team’s fate. The closing scenes in the finale show Trinity Valley’s celebration and Navarro’s reaction to defeat.
The second season was met with some criticism. Texas Monthly called it “disorienting” and “a choppy, uncomfortable ride.”
“It’s hard to imagine audiences falling in love with this show, the same one that so captivated them two years ago.”
Corsicana would welcome its return
The show appeared to catch Corsicana by surprise. A Washington Post reporter observed that random interviews on Corsicana’s main streets “reveal little if any awareness among the locals of Navarro’s cheer acclaim (the town is best known for its mail-order fruitcake factory) or that cheerleading long ago became its own sport with scholarship athletes.”
That has changed. The community has embraced the series, locals say.
Corsicana Mayor Don Denbow even has a personal connection to the cast. Navarro cheer coach Monica Aldama will be his grandson’s mother-in-law in May.
Denbow would like to see Cheer return. He’s seen an uptick in tourists coming to town to dine and visit the Navarro campus.
“I think the folks around really enjoyed it and the notoriety that comes with it,” he said. “You hear people say teenagers don’t work very hard. I think after you watch that show, it proves them wrong. The kids work very hard. There is a lot of pressure.”
Michael Kormos has a unique vantage point on Cheer. He’s the editor of both the Corsicana Daily Sun and the Athens Daily Review, newspapers that cover both campuses. To avoid a spoiler alert, he had to keep it under his hat which team won the 2021 Nationals.
“I think it surprised a lot of people that these small communities can be destinations for academic and athletic achievement,” Kormos said. “Before, we were known for the oil boom, fruitcake and Wolf Brand Chili — and now — Cheer.”
What are the options if you need a Cheer fix?
Yes, it’s available to stream anytime on Netflix. But if you want to get a closer look, the national Cheer Live 2022 Tour will stop June 11 at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving. According to the website, the show will include several cast members such as Gabi Butler, Morgan Simianer, DeVonte “Dee” Joseph, Gillian Rupert, Cassadee Dunlap and Madison Brum. The tour starts in San Diego on June 1 and continues through July 17 in Raleigh, N.C. It also will make stops in Austin, Amarillo and Sugar Land.