CMT’s “Cheer!” reality series cast photos and bios

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.

From CMT:

CHEER will go inside the high stakes, high pressure world of competitive cheerleading with tough-as-nails coach, Patty Ann Romero. Romero’s senior team consists of 20 highly-conditioned athletes capable of jaw-dropping stunts and perfectly choreographed dance moves. When they’re not practicing in their gym, these ordinary teenage girls must balance a grueling schedule of conditioning and competitions along with school and the pressures of everyday life. Romero dominates in the gym, but she’s like a second mother to her team and will do what it takes to make sure they succeed on the mat and in life. CHEER is produced by Milojo Productions with Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Albert Bianchini and Julia Silverton serving as executive producers.

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:

The show truly is about the children (instead of the parents) and about the sport, which features impressively athletic routines akin to gymnastics. It helps that the girls here are teenagers and tweeners, rather than younger children whose mere appearance on a reality show smacks of exploitation. It also helps that parents are seen only in small doses.

The cheerleading program, the Central Jersey Allstars, is run by Patty Ann Romero, who is as no-nonsense as the adults on similar shows but doesn’t veer into abusiveness for the benefit of the cameras. She is also amusing. When a mother asks if a curtain in the gym can be removed so parents can watch practices through an interior window, she dismisses the idea with, “You want to tap on glass, go to the zoo.”

This show look soooooo good! Patty Ann Romero looks amazing! (I think the only thing bigger than her hair is her heart. You can quote me on that Kelly Ripa!) It’s so nice to see a coach raise her voice at one of her athletes using the words, “Did someone ever tell you that you were not good enough?”

Cheer! premieres tonight at 11/10c on CMT right after the special two-hour Season 7 premiere of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. After this week, Cheer! will move to 10/9c every Friday night.

Here is a list of the entire Central Jersey Allstars cheerleading squad with links to photos and bios for each – just click the names for each of the girls’ pages!

Alexa Borino (Captain/Base)
Alexis “Miranda” (Flyer)
Christina “Larobis” (Flyer)
De’Anna (Side Base)
Emily “E. Reid” (Backspot)
Gina “Baby May” (Flyer)
Ilyssa (Main Base)
Jackie (Center Flyer)
Jenna (Captain/Side Base)
Jess (Main Base)
Kait (Side Base)
Katherine (Main Base)
Katie (Back Spot)
Koljanna “Kola” (Backspot)
Kriselle (Flyer)
Kristina “KJ” (Backspot)
Lea (Side Base)
Melissa (Backspot)
Summer (Captain/Base)
Vicki (Side Base)