There’s no denying that Cheer is yet another hit docuseries for Netflix. Both seasons follow the Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team as they prepare for the National Cheerleading Championship that takes place every year in Daytona Beach, Florida. The docuseries was created by Greg Whiteley, who is also the man responsible for Netflix’s Last Chance U — a similar docuseries. The series has also inspired viewers to watch movies or shows similar to Cheer.
The unexpected reaction to Cheer has been the overwhelming love and support for its subjects – from coach Monica Aldama to squad members such as Gabi Butler, La’Darius Marshall, Morgan Simianer, and Mackenzie “Sherbs” Sherburn. Cheer is an instant hit with fans wanting to know more about the squad.
Updated on February 9th, 2022, by Lynn Gibbs: After the recent release of Cheer’s second season on Netflix, fans are craving more action from Navarro College and their opponents, Trinity Valley Community College.
With Navarro being a junior college in a small town, fans have a lot of questions that weren’t fully answered in the show (like how old are some of the Navarro cheerleaders? Or how long can a person cheer at Navarro?) A lot of drama happened between seasons 1 and 2, which has altered Monica’s 2021 roster. While Navarro didn’t come in first place in Daytona in season 2, the team is hoping to take it all in 2022.
Monica Also Used To Cheer
![Netflix’s CHEER: 12 Facts About Navarro College’s Squad Not Shown In The Series](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Monica-in-Cheer-Season-2.jpg)
Monica Aldama is one of TV’s best coaches. Her dedication to Navarro and her “kids,” as she affectionately called her student-athletes, was inspiring. And as it turns out, she too had an upbringing that was surrounded around cheerleading.
According to Texas Exes, Monica got into gymnastics as a young girl and started cheering when she was in junior high school. She continued cheering at Tyler Junior College before quitting for higher education. And while she envisioned her life as a financier on Wall Street, Monica started coaching for Navarro in 1995 and never looked back.
Cheerleaders Come From All Over The Country To Cheer For Navarro
![Cassadee Dunlap Cheer Season two](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cassadee-dunlap-1642041326654.v1-Cropped.jpg)
Instead of getting to know Navarro’s entire squad, Netflix chose a handful of cheerleaders to get more background on. Faces like Gabi, Morgan, and La’Darious were all chosen, and viewers learned more about their backstories and what brought them to Navarro.
The best friends and cast members got along perfectly at the gym, but they wouldn’t have met otherwise because they were all from different states. And according to Navarro’s recent roster, cheerleaders come from all over America, including Texas, Missouri, and Massachusetts.
Why The Original Choreographer Left After Season 1
![Navarro cheerleaders competing in Daytona on Cheer](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Navarri-cheerleaders-competing-in-Daytona-on-Cheer.jpg)
Outside of Monica, Navarro also had a famous choreographer that was important to their success, Brad Vaughan. However, Vaughan’s dismissal from Navarro and partnership with their rivals in season 2 had fans wondering what happened.
Seventeen noted there were plenty of theories revolving around his falling out from Monica, but both coaches have yet disclosed why they stopped working together. As fans saw, Brad’s former mentee, Dahlston Delgado, stepped in as choreographer, which created even more drama in the cheer circuit.
Jerry Gave Up On Attending The University Of Louisville
![Cheer - Jerry Harris](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cheer-Jerry-Harris.jpg)
At the end of season 1 of Cheer, fans learn that Jerry Harris has gotten a fantastic offer for a scholarship at the University of Louisville. The entire scene leads fans to believe that this is a sure-shot for the cheerleader, that he is definitely going to take this offer and attend UofL.
However, the docuseries doesn’t go far enough to show us that, actually, Jerry wasn’t entirely certain about leaving Navarro College. In fact, according to Bustle, Jerry has already made it clear that he wanted to be back at Navarro College and be on the cheering team. Sadly, as fans learned in season 2, Jerry is no longer on the cheer team and is currently in prison waiting for his day in court revolving around federal child pornography sex charges.
Gabi And Morgan Are Older Than La’Darius, Jerry, And Lexi
![Cheer - Morgan Simianer](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cheer-Morgan-Simianer.jpg)
Before Cheer was released, cheerleading fans only had the mainstream movie Bring It On to learn more about cheerleading. As fans know now, the real cheerleading world is completely different. Unlike the movie, the ages of the cheerleaders differ compared to students who don’t go to junior colleges. Gabi Butler and Morgan Simianer are actually older than La’Darius Marshall.
Morgan Simianer is the oldest, already turning 25 years old in October of 2021. In January of 2021, Gabi Butler turned 24. In turn, La’Darius Marshall is 23 years old. According to the official Navarro College website, nearly two-thirds of its student population is under 20 years old. This means that most of the cheerleaders on Cheer are becoming part of the minority on campus.
Lexi’s Longtime Relationship
![Lexi sitting in the car with her boyfriend from Cheer](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominic-Green-and-Lexi-Brumback-from-Netflixs-Cheer.jpg)
Fans learned a lot about Lexi Brumback’s life on Cheer, and the docuseries ended on a sour note for the cheerleader in season 1. However, there’s another huge part of Lexi’s life that isn’t explored at all: she was been in a long-distance relationship with Dominic Green, according to Bustle. Fans can follow the Cheer star on Instagram and learn more about Dominic, who has been very open about his life as a Trans man and his relationship.
Cheer fans fell in love with Lexi during the course of the docuseries, but after hearing about so many rough situations that she has faced, it would’ve been great to see that she’s in a loving relationship, too. According to Pop Sugar, the two now live together in Houston, Texas.
The Show Was “An Eye-Opener” For Gabi And Her Family
![Gabi talking in a talking head in Cheer](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Gabi-Netflix-Cheer.jpg)
In season 1, fans wanted to know everything about Navarro College and its star’s at-home life, Gabi Butler. At The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen addressed the fact that Gabi Butler’s parents have faced some criticism from Cheer fans for how hard they were pushing her to work.
Addressing the matter, Gabi replied: “We all watched [the show] together, as a family, and we were like, ‘oh, wow.’ It was a really big eye-opener for all of us.” The cheerleader explained that her parents have now decided to let her be more independent and make decisions for herself. Butler credits this change of pace as something that has allowed her to be more positive and love herself more.
Monica Forgave Lexi And Brought Her Back To The Team
![Cheer - Lexi Brumback icing her ankle in the gym](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cheer-Lexi-Brumback.jpg)
The last episode of Cheer season 1 leads fans to believe that Lexi has no chance of coming back to Navarro College’s cheer team after getting into trouble with local authorities. However, according to a video released by Netflix, Lexi and coach Monica quickly made amends and reached common ground for the cheerleader to come back to the team.
As fans saw in season 2, Lexi moved on from Navarro, but they learned more about Monica Aldama and how she dealt with the loss of one of her best tumblers.
Mackenzie And Austin Have Joined A Different Cheerleading Team
![Mackenzie sitting on the gym floor in Cheer](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Mackenzie-Sherburn-on-Cheer.jpg)
The docuseries could’ve spent some time exploring the fact that season 1’s Mackenzie “Sherbs” Sherburn and Austin Bayles both left Navarro College, and both cheered for Texas Tech University.
According to US Magazine, Mackenzie graduated and now shares fitness advice on her Instagram. Austin, on the other hand, is still at Texas Tech cheerleading.
Daniel And Lexi Are Actual BFFs
![Lexi in a talking head in her room on Cheer](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Lexi-Cheer-Netflix.jpg)
Daniel Fleharty gets a lot of airtime during the first episode of season 1, but the docuseries chooses to focus on different stories and squad members in later episodes. With that said, a quick scroll through Daniel’s Instagram account brings up a shocking reveal: he and Lexi are actually BFFs.
With so much going on in this sports documentary—especially Lexi’s life during filming—learning about their close bond would have been interesting and beneficial for viewers.
Gabi Was Rumored To Be Dating A Football Player
![Cheer - Gabi Butler](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cheer-Gabi-Butler.jpg)
Cheer made sure fans knew that Gabi Butler is the Beyonce of competitive cheerleading. Her dedication to cheerleading made the series one of the best sports-related shows on Netflix. So, it was natural for fans to wonder what her relationship status was.
What Cheer didn’t show was that Gabi was rumored to be dating Jordan Brooks-Wess, according to Latin Times. However, according to Jordan’s Instagram, he’s in a relationship with someone else. It’s unknown if Gabi Butler is currently in a relationship since season 2 didn’t cover the topic either.
The Varsity Spirit Organization Is Seemingly Not Opposed To The Cheer Documentary
![Netflix Cheer Cheerleaders](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Netflix-Cheer-Cheerleaders.jpg)
A significant chunk of time on Cheer was spent discussing how the Varsity Spirit organization was opposed to having camera crews recording the National Cheerleaders Association Championship in Daytona Beach, FL. After the massive success of this Netflix documentary, certain reports started circulating that Varsity Spirit was changing certain rules to make it even harder for camera crews to make these types of documentaries about cheerleading.
However, Navarro Cheer coach Monica Aldama has declared on a Facebook post that the National Cheerleaders Association Championship rules are the same as the previous year and that the Varsity Spirit organization “has always been supportive of us and are always there for anything we need.” It’s the behind-the-scenes view on the sport that made this series one of Netflix’s best.