The latest movie surrounding cheerleading squads is Lifetime's 'Undercover Cheerleader.’ But is the movie based on a true story or is it fiction?
We've all heard the stories of how toxic cheerleading squads can be – Bring It On or Sugar and Spice, anyone? But in case you forgot, Lifetime's latest programming is taking the plunge into cheerleading from all angles.
Most recently, Lifetime's Undercover Cheerleader offers a glimpse into cutthroat squad culture as transfer student Autumn Bailey (The Good Doctor's Kayla Wallace) goes undercover in the cheerleading team in order to write an exposé for her school's newspaper.
But is Undercover Cheerleader a true story? Keep reading to find out.
Is Undercover Cheerleader a true story?
According to Lifetime's synopsis of Undercover Cheerleader, Autumn goes undercover in the school's cheerleading squad until something goes terribly awry "when someone begins viciously attacking cheerleaders" and Autumn "starts to fear for her life."
"Panic-stricken, Autumn never expected that her confidential journalism mission would lead to a fight for her life," the official summary reads.
And while the story is one that could plausibly occur in any high school around America, the story of Undercover Cheerleader is purely fiction.
It's the latest in a long slew of cheerleader Lifetime movies that have come out this year, which includes The Cheerleader Escort, Death of a Cheerleader, Cheerleader Nightmare, The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders, Identity Theft of a Cheerleader, and The Wrong Cheerleader.
And all it takes is watching the movie all the way to realize that the plot of Undercover Cheerleader would never go down in real life. Because while school violence is indeed at an all-time high, Undercover Cheerleader involves a killer who is taking down members of the cheerleading squad one by one.
After Autumn's successful first story, in which she begins to expose the questionable practices of the team's coach — who gaslights the women into conditional memberships that are contingent on losing weight — the team members, and Autumn's campus liaison Kira, want her to continue writing.
They urge her to stay on the team and keep writing about the toxic squad, and cheerleading alums Samantha and Heidi are also elated that their issues with the team are going to be brought to light. But when members of the team are viciously and violently attacked, Autumn begins to blame herself and her journalism for putting everyone in danger.
The New York native begins to investigate even further to try and understand who the attacker is. Is it Dot, Jenny, Heidi, or someone else entirely? As Autumn finds clues, she learns that the attacker is a pro in covering their tracks. Some of the clues hint at multiple attackers, while others lead her in the completely wrong direction.
We get to investigate alongside the New York native and get a firsthand view into how serious of trouble her newspaper exposé has gotten her in. And fans are already clamoring for a sequel, one that will see Autumn graduate from high school and head into college, where she will presumably continue her journalism pursuits.
"After seeing the detective skills in Undercover Cheerleader, I think Kayla needs to be considered for future mystery movies," one person wrote on Twitter. "Congrats on Undercover Cheerleader," wrote another. "It's amazing and a wonderful performance."
Undercover Cheerleader is now streaming on Lifetime.
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