‘A beauty pageant in athletic form’: how cheerleading show America’s Sweethearts became a Netflix megahit

Kleine Powell, Lea Tunnell and Megan McElaney of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in America's Sweethearts. Photograph: Netflix

It’s been 30 years since the Dallas Cowboys – who have long billed themselves as America’s Team – won the Super Bowl. But now, thanks to Greg Whiteley’s Netflix docu-series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the most reliable and globally recognizable arm of the Cowboys brand may no longer be the men playing football, but the women dancing on the sidelines.

“The footballers are gonna break your heart,” one fan says in the Season 3 finale. “But the cheerleaders are gonna leave you with a smile.”