Cheer‘s Monica Aldama isn’t just an executive producer on NBC’s mockumentary Stumble — she also has a surprise cameo.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Friday, November 7, premiere, Aldama, 55, is seen in the background as Courtney (Jenn Lyon) announces her departure as head coach of the college cheerleading team.
“I have been asked to be fired,” she says as assistant coach Tammy (Kristin Chenoweth) breaks out in sobs. “Come on, there is no crying in cheer. I need you to be strong.”
While one of the students threatens to leave along with Courtney, the head coach isn’t as supportive.
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“Hey, no one is leaving. Well I am,” Courtney adds. “In the meantime, our best assistant coach Tammy will be taking over.”
The camera crew interviews Tammy about the new position, which she doesn’t seem certain about, saying, “I am still assistant coach. Of course, if I am asked to be head coach I will reluctantly.”
According to the official synopsis, NBC’s Stumble is a mockumentary that explores the highly competitive world of junior college cheerleading. In addition to Lyon and Chenoweth, Stumble stars Taran Killam, Ryan Pinkston, Jarrett Austin Brown, Anissa Borrego, Arianna Davis, Taylor Dunbar and Georgie Murphy.
Aldama, meanwhile, is an executive producer on the project, which is being written by Liz and Jeff Astrof.
“After years of this being just a conversation, our team has worked hard the past year and a half to make this a reality!” she wrote via Instagram in October. “We are only 3 weeks away from premiere night. I hope everyone will enjoy this silly little show with a ton of heart as much as I have enjoyed watching it come together.”
Before Stumble, Aldama was featured on Netflix’s docuseries Cheer when she was the coach of the cheerleading team at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. Cheer, which premiered in 2020, followed Aldama and her squad as they trained for the NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer & Dance Championship.
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Season 2 of Cheer, which featured Aldama, Morgan Simianer, La’Darius Marshall, Gabi Butler and Lexi Brumback, included the 2021 NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer & Dance Championship and members of Navarro’s rival school, Trinity Valley Community College.
Aldama subsequently competed on season 29 of Dancing With the Stars with Val Chmerkovskiy in 2020. Her memoir, Full Out! Leadership Lessons from America’s Favorite Coach, was released in January 2022.
“I definitely think that if you ask different people, the most important chapter is based on what they’re going through in their own personal life,” Aldama explained to Us in 2022. “There is that whole chapter about positive self-talk. You have to believe in yourself. People love to see other people fail. This past year was really, really tough. There were a lot of times that I just talked to myself and just encouraged myself because I was going through a hard time. It’s very important. You’re going to believe everything you tell yourself, so you definitely need to be careful what you say.”
Stumble premieres November 7 on NBC at 8:30 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Peacock.
