It’s time to get your hot pants out and press play on "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC—America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders season 2 is officially here. The popular docuseries, which follows veterans and hopefuls through the audition process for making the squad of one of America’s most storied institutions, returns without missing a beat. Like season 1, the new episodes illustrate both the glamour and the ugliness that goes into being one of 36 young women selected to put on the famed uniform, as well as their fight for more pay equity with the football team. (As revealed by the final episode of season 2, released June 18, 2025, the dancers have earned a 400% pay increase.)
Across the seven new episodes that focus on the 2024 season, we get glimpses of fan favorites from season 1—like Victoria, who departed for New York and a chance at The Rockettes, and Reece, who returned as a veteran—but the second season centers its focus on an entirely different cast of cheerleaders. Ahead, we break down the journeys of the most prominent veterans, rookies, and alums this season, including whether we’ll see these faces on the field again.
The Veterans
Chandi Dayle
Chandi is a sixth-year returning veteran and named one of the 1st Group Leaders of the 2024-2025 team. According to her bio on the DCC website, she began dancing at 3-years-old at Ballet Tucson, where she practiced ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. Chandi continued dancing through summer camps, high school, and college pomlines. She was the captain of the University of Arizona Pomline for the last two years of her college career. A softer and quieter presence, DCC head choreographer Judy reveals that she felt kinship with Chandi because their personalities were similar.
A social media manager and licensed pharmacy technician from Arizona, Chandi admits on season 2 of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders that she sometimes works up to four jobs (not including her dance career) to make ends meet. During the 2024 training camp and season, Chandi worked at a Pilates studio in the mornings, helped her family’s drug repackaging and mail-order pharmacy business remotely, did administrative work for one of the DCC sponsors, and executed social media work for a pediatric dentistry.
While others on the team were outspoken about the low wages they made, Chandi was not and said that she “saw both sides” of the argument. “We do deserve to get paid a fair amount,” she says in the new season of the Netflix docuseries. “But at the same time, I’m here to dance because I love to dance. I can see both sides, and I support both sides.” She goes on to say she doesn’t have the courage to join her fellow veterans in leading the conversations with HR, indicating that she doesn’t want to rock the boat on this matter.
Chandi’s then-boyfriend Ryan appears on the series, but the cheerleader reveals that they broke up during the season before the team trip to Bahamas. In the finale, her teammates detail an incident in the Bahamas when Chandi brought someone into her room, causing tension among them. At the time, she also struggled with her mental health, largely due to a previous toxic ex-boyfriend who both abused and stalked her following the breakup, which she has spoken out about on social media.
Eventually, she stepped down from a leadership position on the team and, after a mental health break away from the sport, she returned for the final game of the season.
In the season finale, Chandi says that the “DCC isn’t even happy for me anymore…I really just wanted to dance and be happy, and I haven’t been.” While Chandi didn’t write a farewell post to the franchise online like some of her teammates did, she officially hangs up her uniform in the final moments.
Jada Mclean
A Palm Springs native, Jada returned to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders for her fifth season where she was also named one of the 1st Group Leaders alongside Chandi. Jada credits her father for instilling a love for the Cowboys in her, even though he wasn’t always around during her childhood. Meanwhile, her brothers have adopted the Eagles as their team, but Jada says she enjoys the friendly sibling rivalry.
Jada is one of the more outspoken members of the team, leading the charge in conversations surrounding the wage disparity. “We do a damn good job at being cheerleaders. But we’re still fighting to be seen for what we’re worth,” she says in the fifth episode of the docuseries. Along with fellow veteran Megan, Jada spearheads a meeting with HR and legal teams to discuss updates to their contracts. The negotiations seemed to be at a standstill until the post-season, when they received notice that their efforts would be rewarded with a 400% raise.
In the finale and on Instagram, Jada confirmed that she’d be putting down her pom-poms after five seasons with the Cowboys. “Counting out one last time under the AT&T Stadium lights,” she wrote on January 5, 2025. Following her career as a member of the DCC, she’ll likely return to a career as a cosmetics specialist for a dermatology practice, though she also teased that she’d be turning to modeling in a March 2025 post featuring glam shots of the cheerleader.
Along with her teammates, Jada attended DCC member Jessica Bowman’s wedding in May 2025 and was a trophy presenter at the ACM Awards.
Armani Latimer
Armani danced competitively for almost 15 years, according to her official DCC bio. Following high school, she spent three years on the Carolina Girls Dance Team at the University of South Carolina, where she graduated with a B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Armani made the team during the pandemic, which they nicknamed #bubblesquad.
In season 2, Armani opened up about her alopecia, a medical disorder that affects hair growth, during a hair styling appointment when she was fitted for a new wig. As depicted in the finale, she took the field proudly displaying her bald head during the Cowboys's season to spotlight the condition. The official DCC Instagram account posted the video with the caption, “Confidence takes center stage for Alopecia Awareness.” The Netflix series shows her parents in the stands, wiping away tears. “Super proud. Proud daddy,” her father, Cody, says while recording her performance.
Armani was also part of the negotiation team for the pay bump. Even though she won’t be returning for another season to benefit from the raise, she said that she “loves the fact that I made change for the girls coming up behind me.”
Like Jada, Armani confirmed on the show and social media that she won’t be returning for another season at the Dallas Cowboys. “Though I’m hanging up my boots, the memories, the friendships, and the legacy will forever live in my heart,” she wrote in the caption. “Once a DCC, always a DCC.”
Since the season ended, Armani attended her teammate Jessica Bowman’s wedding and has dipped her toes into influencing, with sponsored posts for Vaseline and a local Dallas moving company.
Megan McElaney
Fourth-year veteran and California native Megan began dancing when she was 3 and started competing at 8, having trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop, and musical theatre. In college, she danced on the San Diego State University Dance Team, becoming captain during her junior and senior years.
During season 2 of the docuseries, Megan joined Jada and Armani in vocalizing their fight for higher wages. “I’d say that DCC is the most stable dance job that there is, but still, you’re gonna need two jobs as a dancer,” she stated plainly. Of the three, Megan is the only one who will be returning to the team to cash in on the 400% raise—something she called “life changing.”
During the offseason, Megan bought a house in Texas with her boyfriend and fellow Californian Alex, and also attended Jessica Bowman’s wedding. In December, she shared that her cat Chloe died at age 14.
The Rookie Candidates
Charly Barby
After falling victim to Kelli’s brutal final cuts in the first season of the series, Charly has a lot to celebrate in the 2024 season: She officially made the roster as a rookie. Like many of her teammates, the native Californian started dancing when she was just 2-years-old and “began taking dance very seriously” when she was 8, per her DCC bio. After making the team in 2024, she posted a photo of herself pointing at her image in the Cowboys Cheerleaders locker room before the first game of the season. In the caption, she wrote, “As I look up at my name & photo in the iconic Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders locker room I cannot help but be proud of where I am today. What a journey. My heart is overfilled with love!!”
During the second season of the Netflix series and via an Instagram post in December 2024, Charly revealed that she had been diagnosed with pulmonary embolism in her left lung in May of that year. Detailing the diagnosis and treatment, Charly wrote, “I believe that I initially started with a DVT clot, however it was too late to tell since it had already been in my lung. I am very lucky to have not had surgery. I have been on blood thinners for 6 months and counting & am continuing to learn more as well as be tested for other underlying conditions on top of Factor V Leiden. However today I feel better & healthier than ever before!!”
Since making a full recovery and joining the team, Charly has continued to post moments from her rookie year throughout the season, as well as sponsored posts for companies like Revolve and Tresemme.
Madie Krueger
The youngest member of the team, Madie, hails from La Porte, Texas, a small town outside of Houston. Like her peers, Madie has been dancing since a young age and trained with a studio affiliated with Dance Masters of America, exposing her to choreographers and instructors from across the country. She also performed in ballet, which helped train her in dance performance.
While Madie’s teammates are juggling full-time jobs, she attends college at Texas Woman’s College in nearby Denton—a schedule that keeps her hyper-focused. Madie knew that if she made DCC, she wouldn’t have the typical college experience, but her dreams of making the team superseded any of those expectations. Still, the adjustment was difficult. “I had a really bad night at practice one night because I was so stressed with chemistry. Judy called me out for not knowing a dance, so the next day I didn’t pay attention in school and was watching the DCC videos in class,” she recounts. “Hearing ‘tic-tic-boom’ and trying to learn quantum theories is crossing my brain.”
College, coupled with her DCC duties, marks the first time she’s been away from her family and boyfriend for an extended period, and Madie admits in the show that she felt lonely at times. The differences in their current lifestyles caused some friction in her relationship, as depicted on the show, but they’re still going strong. In January, they brought home a puppy named Kipp.
Madie has chronicled her rookie year on Instagram, from their annual service day to their trip to the Bahamas to the holiday games.
Dayton Bramhall
Dayton faced extra pressure as the daughter of a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and current staff member, Shelly. Dancing since she was a child, Dayton opened up about a toxic relationship and disordered eating that kept her away from dance for five years. Dayton also appeared on the former CMT reality show Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team, which chronicled the team, where she was cut dramatically without her mother’s knowledge. Unfortunately, history repeated itself when Dayton got cut during training camp.
Despite the heartbreak, Dayton is still passionate about dancing. She celebrated International Dance Day in April and regularly posts professional dance photos. Dayton remains close to her family and recently attended her friend’s wedding.
The Alums
Victoria Kalina
Following her departure from the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders after four seasons, Victoria announced she had her sights set on another iconic franchise: The Rockettes. Season 2 checks in with Victoria during her early days in New York, as her mother moves her into the city and she poses with fans in Times Square. Her mom leaves after a tearful goodbye, knowing that her daughter will grow up and learn to be on her own thousands of miles away.
Victoria regularly posts dance videos and throwback photos from her time with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. A joking post read, “What GameDays have been looking like in NYC” alongside a video of her doing the Thunder choreography at a youth dance clinic.
In April 2025, Victoria revealed that this year is a “not now” for The Rockettes, but she’s still loving her life in N.Y.C. “I can’t wait to continue to push this next year and continue to see what other spectacular things unravel in this magical city,” she wrote, indicating that her Rockettes dream is still something she’s chasing.
