Ep. 302: America's Sweethearts - DCC Season 3 Review
America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders - Season 3 Review
I am obsessed with America's Sweethearts, even though it's deeply problematic. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are an institution built on the kind of patriarchal hierarchy that we are supposed to be dismantling. And yet Season 3 just dropped on Netflix and I watched it immediately and then called Mara Davis to talk about it for almost an hour.
Mara is an Atlanta radio legend who has been watching the DCC since the 1970s. She watched all 17 seasons of Making the Team on CMT. She is the right person to be in this conversation, and she came in with thoughts.
Here is what we talked about.
The three seasons have three completely different purposes
Season 1 was a reveal. If you had never watched the CMT series, you were seeing for the first time that these women are world-class athletes, that they are severely underpaid, and that there are a lot of creepy men in that building. It landed because it was exposing something most people had never thought about.
Season 2 was a campaign. The storyline was the pay raise, and while the issue was real and important, the season was built around it in a way that felt engineered. Mara watched it twice and still thought it was mid.
Season 3 is about social media. These women are now global the second they step on that field. When Reece posted about her departure, every other DCC cheerleader flooded the comments. When Victoria from Season 1 went on "Be There in Five" with Kate Kennedy to talk about feeling left out, the comment section on Kate Kennedy's Instagram filled with DCC cheerleaders defending the organization. Whether that was organic or coordinated is a fair question to ask.
Reece is more complicated than an injury
Reece was the breakout star of all three seasons. She came in as a cheerleader from Alabama with a boyfriend, became one of the most recognizable faces in the show, and then in Season 3 announced she was retiring early. The official reason was an injury, and that is probably true. These women's bodies take the kind of abuse that typically requires hip surgery.
But there is also this: Reece is leaning into her faith publicly. Her husband, who also makes content online, is a presence in her posts. There is Reddit commentary about the trad wife trajectory. She no longer identifies as a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader in her Instagram bio.
She is also, as Allison pointed out, a complete siren. One of the most visually commanding dancers either of us has ever seen. She talked openly about her dancing as an expression of gratitude to God. The combination of deep faith, overt physical charisma, and a husband who is described online as a "shitster" adds up to a story that nobody fully has the answer to yet. She is the one to watch.
Faith held her ground
The Season 3 moment that generated the most conversation between us was Kelli Finglass's exit meeting with Faith. Kelli told Faith directly: "You can't do interviews without my approval." And then: "You need to re-earn my trust."
Both of us are Team Kelli on this. Faith is young. She has been managing her own social media and her own brand, and joining an NFL organization with that level of media control is a different world. She probably did not know the rules. But Kelli also has Charlotte Jones above her asking why interviews are happening without approval, and she cannot have surprises. Faith's response, "Yes ma'am, I got it. But here is why I should not be faulted for it," was exactly right. She took accountability and held her position at the same time.
If Faith manages her career correctly, she has a real future. She is one of those people you cannot take your eyes off, which is either a gift or a problem, depending on who is managing it.
Kelli Finglass is a media genius
Mara follows Kelli closely enough to know that she has a husband who is Jewish, that she is a Freddie Mercury fan, that she went on Bari Weiss's podcast and navigated a "are you a feminist?" gotcha question with the kind of skill that comes from decades of managing a brand that has to appeal to everyone from conservative Dallas season-ticket holders to a global Netflix audience.
Kelli also watches back every season of DCC and critiques her own leadership. That alone puts her in a different category.
Mara wants her to run the country. Allison thinks that is not the most unreasonable idea she has ever heard.
What Season 3 may be hiding
The season was seven episodes, and the internet has complained that it is not enough. There is also a real question about what was kept off camera. Last year's season had a storyline about weight and body image. This year, one cheerleader mentioned lightly that she had not been eating much. You see these women microwaving things and looking exhausted. They have to fit into a uniform with no flexibility. Whether that material exists and was cut, or whether it was handled differently this season, we do not know.
What we do know is that Kelli and Judy came across well this year. That is worth noting.
The sisterhood is the actual feminist argument for the show
The most surprising thing Mara said in this conversation was about the DCC alumnae. Women who were on this team years ago still show up to events, still love each other, still carry the identity. It is a sisterhood with real longevity and real loyalty. In a media landscape full of women tearing each other apart online, that is something.
Allison described it as a model for feminism: how do you reconnect with each other? How do you celebrate each other? How do you build something that lasts?
That does not resolve the pay equity issue, or the uniform standards, or the creepy judges from the early CMT seasons. But it is a reason to keep watching.
2026-2027 Season is going through training camp now!
We already know who is back at training camp. Savannah is back. Emily A is back. Faith is back with the ponytail. The Aussie is back. The team announcement is expected in July.
Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube.
Allison Hare's Links
Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me- Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]
