Even should you’re not a soccer fan, it is exhausting to not get hooked on America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The most recent Netflix docuseries, which premiered on June 20, follows the Cowboys’ cheer squad—identified colloquially as “the DCC”—from tryouts to coaching camp, all through to the tip of the soccer season.The seven-episode sequence comes on the heels of CMT’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Crew, a actuality present starring most of the similar characters, together with DCC director Kelli Finglass, which led to 2021 after 16 seasons. By comparability, America’s Sweethearts has a extra skilled sheen, which comes courtesy of director and govt producer Greg Whiteley, the person behind Netflix docuseries hits like Cheer and Final Probability U.“There is a sure status in [the Dallas Cowboys] neighborhood that comes from being in that orbit, however it additionally calls for every part of you,” explains Whiteley of what drew him to the mission. “I discover all of that fascinating, and I assumed it was an fascinating world for us to discover; it was an awesome privilege to be given the entry we got to do it.”Whereas CMT’s present was extra surface-level, Whiteley and his group delve into all features of life as a member of one of many NFL’s most elite cheer squads. For a lot of members of the group, and even aspiring members of them group, nice sacrifices are required. Some ladies quit their lives—together with jobs and relationships—to maneuver to Texas to coach; others grin and bear it as their our bodies actually crumble beneath the pressure of demanding dance strikes, just like the bounce cut up (which is precisely what it appears like).All of the whereas, most dancers maintain down full-time jobs with a purpose to make ends meet, arriving at follow after their 9 to five’s, the place they will dance till properly after midnight. However it’s not all excessive kicks and smiles. Finglass and her group, in addition to Cowboys govt vp and chief model officer Charlotte Jones, typically choose aside the women’ appears, from their make-up to their weight, with typically devastating penalties.It is these moments that may be probably the most infuriating to viewers. “The world is transferring in a single route, and here is this establishment that is been largely the identical since 1972 however continues to be wildly common and wildly profitable…it is an fascinating dilemma,” says Whiteley. “I do not know what you do about it.”Learn on for Glamour’s full dialog with America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders director Greg Whiteley.Glamour: What made you telling the story of the DCC? Was there one thing concerning the Dallas Cowboys franchise particularly?Greg Whiteley: I wasn’t . The Cowboys initially approached, and I assumed, Oh, we’ll by no means get the editorial management we have to do the kind of filmmaking that we search to do. So I advised my agent, “Hey, politely, inform them thanks for his or her curiosity, however I simply do not see this working.” It was [executive vice president and chief brand officer of the Cowboys] Charlotte Jones that got here again and stated, “We’re open to giving editorial management. We’d wish to meet with Greg first.” And I assumed, Nicely, I am by no means going to show down a gathering with the Charlotte Jones of the Dallas Cowboys. So I flew on the market, and I used to be so impressed it pressured me to take a tougher have a look at this world.