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Kelli FinglassCourtesy of Netflix
“There’s some Kellis, some scenes, that I wish I could take back,” Kelli Finglass, the director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, tells Vanity Fair. The Netflix docuseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, which follows Finglass as she makes cuts and corrections to build a team of 36 cheerleaders, returns for a third season this week. And as audiences begin their binge, Finglass is bracing for some inevitable backlash. “When I watch the show, I learn too. I’m kind of a chronic self-improver…. Each year I remind myself I’m the one that’s really lucky to coach really high-achieving women, and it’s also a huge responsibility. My words are important—to be honest, and that’s not always easy, but to also be a guiding light for them, because young people are just so precious for all of us right now.”
Production captures all of the blood, sweat, and tears poured into football season by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. After advancing through three rounds of auditions, rookie candidates participate in a training camp for several weeks starting in June, learning dozens of dance routines, perfecting technique, and, in some cases, altering their appearance to join the team. Finglass knows the uphill journey to becoming a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader from personal experience. She started her career with the Jerry Jones–owned organization as a DCC member, performing on the sidelines at Cowboys games from 1984 to 1989. Just two years later, Finglass was enlisted to coach the team, introducing the high-octane organization to a national audience with CMT’s long-running reality show Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team in 2006. That spotlight has only intensified since the show’s successor series debuted on Netflix. Now the docuseries’ third installment features the first training camp with applicants who have not only watched the show, but also may have been influenced to join the team solely because of the promotional platform it offers.
In a conversation with VF, Finglass shares how social media has changed the team; why the series delves into hot-button issues like sexism and class but not politics; and where she stands on retirement as she enters her 35th season with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders season three
Courtesy of Netflix