From team turkey dinners to last-minute routine changes, the performer tells PEOPLE what her holidays were like on the squad
For decades, football on Thanksgiving has been a holiday tradition, with the Dallas Cowboys being one of two NFL teams to play an annual Turkey Day game. Over the years, the halftime show featuring superstar musicians — and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, of course — has become a memorable part of the experience.
This year will be no different as the Cowboys take on the New York Giants while Lainey Wilson and the DCC squad — who are now bigger than ever following the first season of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders — perform live at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Thursday, Nov. 28.
Kelcey Wetterberg, one of the breakout stars of the Netflix docuseries, breaks down what her Thanksgiving gamedays were like with the cheerleaders, telling PEOPLE about working with artists like Dolly Parton and the Jonas Brothers on their routines and the turkey dinners the team gets to share before stepping out on the field.
Depending on when the squad finds out about who is leading the halftime show influences how early on before the game they can start figuring out what their routine will be. “We found out who the artist was at different times every year,” Wetterberg says, adding that once that’s locked in, they eventually “get their set list and their music.”
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes action that goes into creating the actual show, with DCC director Kelli Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell putting together the final routine for the artist to see.
“It’s always kind of a wild performance because even up to the day before, it can change a ton,” the former squad group leader says, explaining that “they may change their music a little bit, which changes our choreography completely.”
One such example is when the Jonas Brothers performed for a second time in 2022. Their halftime show “actually changed a ton,” Wetterberg says, explaining that “they day before when they came in and started seeing everything — I mean, these artists have such specific visions and we want to complete that, obviously — so when they come in and they wanna change things a bit, we just have to pivot and make it match exactly what they’re imagining.”
She adds, “It can be a little bit of a stressful preparation, but it’s always so fun.”
Once they do that final run through the day before Thanksgiving, there are few surprises on the day of. Well, with Parton, 78, being the exception and surprising the women by donning a DCC uniform during the 2024 show. “We actually didn’t know that she was coming out in our uniform until we were standing on the side, out on the stage,” Wetterberg says. “So that was a big surprise.”
She adds that Parton was her “number one” favorite performance, noting “there’s no one that competes with that in my mind,” before revealing she also loved when Luke Combs performed in 2021. “Personally, I’m a huge fan, so that was a fun one.”
When it comes to celebrating the holiday itself, most of it is spent with the team, with members of the squad getting to The Star — the home of the Dallas Cowboys’ football operations — in Frisco by 10 a.m. “We’ll be there all day and then until the game is over at 8 and then we’ll get home probably at 9 or 9:30,” Wetterberg says of an average Thanksgiving.
For the squad, that means any family celebrations are put on hold until after the game or the next day, on Black Friday. During some years, Wetterberg spent the evening with friends’ families, who join them out to eat, while others have been with her fiancé, Nate Crnkovich, and his parents who spend the weekend with them.
“So, we’ll either do a little bit of a later dinner that night or we’ll do it the next day,” she says, adding that her own family typically spends the holiday in Nebraska, where they watch halftime shows from home.
“My mom will kill me for saying this, but she was so excited to watch it — and they were all back in Nebraska — and she was so excited to watch that she forgot to turn on the oven for the turkey. So, they ended up not having a good turkey to eat by the end of the night and my brothers were a little upset,” Wetterberg recalls with a laugh.
That said, Wetterberg reveals that the DCC squad does get to have their own dinner before the game starts. “We have this huge feast at the stadium that’s actually really good,” she shares, noting that it has every kind of Thanksgiving craving, including “pie, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes.” Her favorite item? “Pumpkin pie for sure.”
Much to the surprise of fans, the cheerleaders “really chow down” before the game starts. “We eat a ton before we dance because you’re dancing for four hours straight,” Wetterberg says. “So that turkey and mashed potatoes, I mean, you burn it all right off.”
During dinner, she adds that they sit down in their four groups or as a team and “we’ll go around and talk about what we’re grateful for, just kind of sit in the moment and just be really grateful for where we’re at and who we’re surrounded by and just try to make the day special even though we’re not with family.”
“It’s really cool to sit there with your friends and take a step back from the busyness and just realize how lucky we really are,” she continues.
This Thanksgiving will be a bit different for Wetterberg, who stepped back from the team at the end of last season. Now, the pediatric nurse is a DCC All-Star, an alumni extension of the squad, meaning that she’ll “perform about two hours before the game outside of the stadium,” she says, adding that she’ll then get to go home early and spend the rest of the day with her fiancé and his parents. “We can have an actual Thanksgiving meal,” she says.
Wetterberg adds, “You’re always gonna feel a little nostalgic on Thanksgiving… Those are some of my most fond memories from being on the team, and I got to dance with some really cool artists.”
