Celebrities

Tonight is the premiere of CMT’s new reality series Cheer! featuring a competitive cheerleading squad of 20 girls from Kenilworth, New Jersey headed up by Patty Ann Romero, who Cheer! executive producer Kelly Ripa calls “the most quotable woman alive.” The show will feature six one-hour episodes and will follow CMT’s other successful cheerleading reality series, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, which is premiering its seventh season just before Cheer! tonight. Unlike similar shows in the competitive youth reality series genre such as Dance Moms and Toddlers & Tiaras, Cheer! will forego the shock antics and sometimes borderline abusive parenting to focus on the serious struggles of these 20 young women and their relationship with a strong but nurturing coach. As the New York Times wrote in its very positive review, the approach is a refreshing one.

Keep reading for a synopsis of the show as well as photos and brief descriptions of all 20 girls that comprise the Central Jersey Allstars cheerleading squad!