Nellie Andreeva

Kelly Ripa Mark Consuelos CMTEXCLUSIVE: Glee‘s Sue Sylvester soon won’t be not the only hard-driving cheerleading coach with a primetime series. CMT has greeenlighted Cheer, a reality series from Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ Milojo Prods. The six-episode, hourlong series goes inside the high-stakes, high-pressure world of competitive cheerleading with tough-as-nails coach Patty Ann Romero and her elite competitive cheerleading team as they journey toward the world cheerleading championships. The series is now in production and will debut in September, along with the upcoming seventh season of CMT’s unscripted hit Dallas Cowboys CMT CheerCheerleaders: Making The Team. “Kelly and Mark’s passion for this project, along with the sport’s universal appeal, make this a fantastic project for CMT,” said the network’s EVP development and programming Jayson Dinsmore. “This series, paired with the powerhouse Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, promises to be the next breakout hit on the network.”

Cheer centers on Romero and her senior team consisting of 20 top athletes who, outside of the gym, are ordinary teenage girls trying balance a grueling schedule of conditioning and competitions along with school and the pressures of everyday life. While Romero dominates in the gym, she also is like a second mother to her team and will do what it takes to make sure they succeed on the mat and in life. “Having been a cheerleader, I know all too well what these girls give up to join forces and compete,” said Live! host Ripa, a former high school cheerleader herself. “After meeting Patty Ann we knew her program was the perfect place to show everyone what it’s all about.” Husband-and-wife producing duo Ripa and Consuelos are executive producing Cheer with Albert Bianchini and Julia Silverton.

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