Mine, too. When my oldest sister was cheering, though, that was before the day of track suits so they just wore sweat pants under their skirts.

Yay! I had no idea my high school I cheered for was going to be on the show (Tates Creek). Granted, I didn't graduate from there, but still. How fun!!

Did anyone else notice they messed up the name when Saleem was talking and said Katie was Kaitlin?

Katie and Aryica are my faves. I love Ryan too.

Chelsea annoys me, but I dislike Ashley the most. Something about her just rubs me the wrong way...


I didn't think Chelsea was a senior though...?

It is! I wanted this bag for my birthday a while back and I saved money for a long time for it. Well not that long, but I have a hard time saving. Anyway, I ended up getting a bigger tote bag and seeing the bag on the show makes me want it again.

When did you cheer at Tates Creek? I know a ton of girls that were on the squad there.

I was curious about something, Dana, and maybe you could help me out?

On another message board I go to, people were mentioning in their posts that the girls on the Dunbar squad were all from rich families because of the size of the houses they show. Other people were saying that, because Lexington is *relatively* inexpensive (compared to San Fransisco, Boston, etc.), families with houses like that wouldn't necessarily be wealthy.

Are you familiar with the area in which these girls live?

I just thought he was talking about someone else named Kaitlin, and not our Katie? I don't know though!

No, it was during one of Saleem's "lectures" and they have a shot of Katie sitting there and in the lower left corner it says Kaitlin. I wasn't sure I was right until I saw a repeat of the episode. :)

I have no idea how much those other cities cost, but I lived in Lexington for 3yrs and my parents still have a house there now. KY has a lot of "old" money and just money in general because of all the horse racing, and vavoline (I used to live next door to one of the owners of the company), among other things. And I'm assuming the girls really do have money because even 1 floor plain ranches there are $250k where in other places $100k. I dunno though, I've never been one to care, but I know Lexington was probably the most expensive place we've ever lived property wise. B/c you buy into an area you want to be a part of.

Though the question wasn't addressed to me, I do have some insight. My parents recently sold their house in Glenview (a very nice area of Louisville, KY) and bought a house in Lexington. The price of the house that they sold was the same as the new one they bought in Lexington. But the new house has an extra 5000 square feet! The price of life is very low in Lexington, and the houses that they show aren't the nicest by far in the city.

The only thing you could buy for $250k in SF is a parking space. seriously. In the suburbs [ie nice areas of Oakland] you need to spend at least $310 to get a 1 bedroom condo.

Okay, so while we continue to stay off topic :p- is there a greater earning potential there or what? Or more poverty? Like I get cost of living differs in places, but is the average yearly salary that much greater there that the homes and cost of living is kind of in direct relation to it or is it really just that much more?

Because I can get a lot here in say, NC for $250. By no means everything, but I'd be living nicely to put it simply.

There's no land to build on. The city and county of San Francisco is on a peninsula, and I'd say up to 1/3 or the city is parks. The building is worth something, but the land is worth more. There's also the issue of units available to rent, and there aren't many. Luckily there is excellent public transportation to the East & South Bay, and north to Marin and Sonoma counties, so people buy homes where there is room to build and commute.

Yes, I'm pretty familiar with the area. I know several people who live in those neighborhoods, actually.

Compared to other areas, yes, I'm sure Lexington is inexpensive. However, Lexington is expensive compared to most other places in Kentucky. A three-bedroom starter home here costs about $120,000 whereas that same money will buy you a very large historic house in my hometown. But generally speaking, the neighborhoods where the girls on the show live are some of the wealthier ones. Lots of professionals live there. Houses there are pretty expensive by Lexington standards. Dunbar is considered the "nicest" school in Lexington in terms of the, er, clientele.

So I guess the people on the other message board are half right--Lexington is less expensive than cities like Boston and LA but the girls on the show are definitely well-off at least.

Edited to Add: One thing that strikes me as funny about this show is how the girls talk. Some of them, especially Chelsea (I think that's her name), sound like they're from more rural areas of the state. Everyone I know who was raised in Lexington has what I called "the Lexington accent"...they don't sound like people further north, exactly, but they definitely don't sound "country," either. It's hard to explain unless you actually hear it. These girls don't have it, though.

Thank you! That's been driving me crazy. I was thinking that maybe Chelsea grew up in Glascow or BG or somewhere, then moved to Lexington?

All this talk about the cheerleaders being from richer areas is related to what's happening nationwide. Because you have to have a fair amount of money to pay for tumbling classes and maybe all-star cheer squads, many cheer squads only field girls whose families have money. My children's high school is 55% nonwhite but just about the only nonwhite members they've had for years have been my daughters. The kids who haven't been able to afford tumbling don't even try out any more, not even for the basketball cheer squad that doesn't even require tumbling.

A poster on the other board mentioned that the Dunbar girls live in a Lexington development called "Copperfield". Any of you Lexington gals familiar with it?

It's pretty scary how much stuff you can find out about people on the Internet, now that I think about it.

It's over off Clay's Mill Road. Although I'm not sure that helps any. :p

To Carnation...you're absolutely right. Tumbling lessons are required but expensive. My oldest sister owned a tumbling gym for several years, and you wouldn't believe the amount of money parents were shelling out for those classes.

Oh, THAT Copperfield! :D

It's definitely a "newer" area in terms of "nice" houses. Your typical cookie cutter neighborhood. There are a lot of other areas that are more established in terms of wealth and beautiful homes.

It's in a nice area, but it's a newer neighborhood (I remember when they were building all that stuff out there!). Some friends of my family live in the neighborhood across the street from Copperfield. Most of the houses are pretty good sized, but they seem sort of cheaply built...I don't know. I think UKTriDelt hit the nail on the head by calling it "cookie cutter," because it really is. Houses over there cost more, though, because it's considered a good area. It's the kind of neighborhood where I would imagine people with new money living, because the ones with older money tend to live outside of town or in historic neighborhoods like Chevy Chase.

I really hope there's another season of this show. Even if it's with a different school, I'm just so into it it's crazy. :p

All this talk about the girls being somewhat wealthy got me wondering about what Amanda's mom (i think) said about the squad. In the last episode where they were volunteering for their bingo fundraiser, Amanda's mom said that Dunbar cheerleading would reach up to $5,000. And she also said many of the parents can't afford to give that---that some can, but most can't.

So if these girls were even somewhat wealthy, wouldn't it be easy for them to shell out $5000?? But then I guess it also depends on your definition of wealthy, right? They could be wealthy on paper (like it seems like they make a lot) but after expenses they are left with almost nothing.

Hmmm...lol. I love how I always ask questions to you guys and then end up coming up with my own answer before I even post the question...but i'd still like to hear your guys responses.

I finally saw this show last night and it was the epsiode where the coach talked about New Rochelle High School in NY! That's 2 towns down from me!

New Rochelle is a huge school - about 3000 kids! It is extremely racially diverse (as you could see from the squad!), but it made me wonder about the costs associated as well. Broad generalzation here, but generally the non-white families in New Rochelle are the less affluent ones, so I'd be interested in how many have had training or if they just have a good feeder program from the junior highs. High level competitive cheer is NOT the norm up here obviously. I never hear about all-star gyms or anything.

Also, I loved how the New Rochelle caoch was talking about the northern girls having a "different" style and then showed their dance moves - which were way more suggestive than Dunbar's. :cool:

In the grand scheme of things I see them (the girls and their families) as middle to upper class. The parents probably work hard, they have a nice house and cars, but I think you're right at the end of the day they aren't left with much. That how it was with my family. I would have been considered wealthy. My parents moved us to a snotty part of town. I went to a snotty high school, but I wasn't spoiled by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure I'm making any sense. LOL.

I think if any of them are "well off" it would be Ryan's grandparents (considering they bought her a brand new car for her 16th birthday). Even though Ryan got a Kate Spade bag (I believe that was it) for her birthday you could tell her parents were like "this much for one bag".

I'm not trying to sound bad or stuck-up or anything like that, so please don't take it as such- but my family's very well off but my mom is like the most frugal person ever. I mean she is so responsible about spending and not being over the top just because she can. And a lot of the people I grew up with were the same. We had really nice houses and cars and stuff, and maybe we were born with a silver spoon in our mouths, but at the same time we money wasn't flaunted just because it was there. I'm thinking maybe that's how these girls are too. Just because you have money, it doesn't mean you don't value it...

No, don't worry, you're making perfect sense. I think you're right--they live in nice neighborhoods. Middle to upper-middle class. For us, "nice" is a euphemism for "they're better off than a lot of people but not disgustingly so." :p The really, really wealthy people around here tend to live outside of town.

Like somebody else said, I hope they make another season of this show with another squad 'cause I'm completely hooked and I don't know what I'll do when it's over! Go into withdrawal, I guess.

Ryan's grandfather bought her the car, not her parents.


I hope they make a second season but I'd rather see a co-ed college squad. I'm sure there would be a lot more drama.

I said that her grandparents bought her the car not her parents.

A coed squad would be cool, although I do like watching the high school cheerleaders--I'm not sure a collegiate squad would be much more dramatic than that. It'd still be interesting to see, though.

Sorry! I misread your post. My mistake. :)

There was a tv show about a college cheerleading squad. I dont remember what it was called or what station it was on, but it followed the UC-Irvine (i think) cheerleading squad. And like they'd meet with coaches that would help them deal with all the drama they had in their squad. It really wasn't THAT interesting.

So I work with a guy who still goes to high school at PLD and I mentioned the show and he rolled his eyes and said that the girls don't act anything like that in real life. I"m not totally sure what he was talking about b/c I haven't watched the show but he said they are much more down to earth. Once again not sure, but he says all the kids at school hate the show.

I find that interesting because I thinks the girls aren't really cast in a negative light.

I agree. The drama factor isn't through the roof as it is with other reality TV shows, but I can't really say anything bad about the girls based on what I see on TV.

But then again this is Lifetime, and not MTV.

Perhaps it's just a case of jealous? A case of "they're on national TV and not me"?

I just watched the final show today (rerun.) I watched the first few weeks and then missed the rest until the final today. I went to the Lifetime site to see what I missed, and they have video diaries for some of the girls. Katie says she plans to go to DePaul and wants to join a sorority (DePaul has AOII, ASA, DZ, and Alpha Phi). Katelyn Jo wants to go to Georgia like her older siblings. She didn't say if she planned to rush.

I finally got to see the end today.

First, it made me really miss coaching. Second, OMG I was nervous for them. LOL.

Wow! I didn't realize that they literally just competed in Nationals in like February (or possibly early March).

My friend from high school works for Varsity/UCA so he was at that competition. :D

I thought Katie was going to DePauw (IN)?

Is it sad that I'm going to miss this show when there's not a new episode on this week?

I had the same thought!

Talk about withdrawals! I watched the finale on Sunday morning (love that DVR) and then found an all-day marathon on the Lifetime Real Women channel. This was serious TV Crack, with the added bonus of Lexington shots every once in a while. Not to mention that earworm of a theme song (5 6 7 8!) I'll miss it.