Cowboys cheerleaders show is back on TV

The TV show “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team” returns to CMT tonight at 9.
Lynn Hoppes
ESPN.com
9/7/2012

Judy and Kelli eyeball the talent
Judy Trammell, head choreographer for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, said her 36-member troupe doesn’t just love being cheerleaders.

“We live and die by the Cowboys every year. No matter what they do on the field, they are winners in our eyes,” said Trammell, who has been head choreographer since 1991. “You can’t help become so attached to them. They are a part of our lives. But I’m not going to lie: We want to go to the Super Bowl.”

On Friday, Country Music Television will broadcast the start of the seventh season of “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team” at 9 p.m. ET.

Trammell, director Kelli McGonagill Finglass and vice president Charlotte Jones will spend 11 episodes narrowing the field as it heads to the first performance at Cowboys Stadium and an appearance in the swimsuit calendar.

“Our one stipulation for doing the reality TV show is that it has to be real,” Trammell said. “We have a limited time before our first game, so we can’t just perform for the cameras. We have a job to do.”

Trammell said the positives of doing the show are obvious: “It’s good for the girls and good for the brand.”

But there is a downside: “I just don’t like the idea of making cuts on camera. You’re also revealing the real personal lives of these dancers. But that’s just part of doing reality TV. It is what it is.”