Kendall Jenner Transforms Into a Navarro Cheerleader and Learns Stunt with Cheer Squad
Kendall Jenner is reliving her cheerleading days.
On Thursday, the supermodel and fan of the new Netflix documentary series Cheer stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres show, where she is surprised by a few members of the Navarro College cheerleading squad thanks to host Ellen DeGeneres.
After joining DeGeneres on the show, Jenner — who used to be a cheerleader in high school — admits her love for Navarro cheerleader Morgan Simianer.
“I love Morgan, too,” DeGeneres, 62, agrees before shouting out Simianer’s name as she appears from backstage to surprise Jenner.
The cheerleader and model embrace as they meet, and Simianer gifts Jenner with a Navarro cheerleading uniform.
“I have a surprise for you,” Simianer tells Jenner. “One of our cheer uniforms for you, because girl you look good in everything.”
Soon enough, Jenner is wearing her new Navarro uniform as she and Ellen producer Andy Lassner learn how to do a “prep” stunt — where the flyer stands on two bases’ hands and is risen up with their arms in a high V position.
After the Cheer squad demonstrates the stunt, Jenner hesitates, saying she may only do a “thigh stand,” which is a similar stunt but the flyer simply stands on the two bases’ thighs instead of their hands.
However, Jenner is ultimately persuaded to try the prep, and completes the stunt effortlessly. “This is crazy!” she excitedly says after hitting her high V position.
Lassner follows suit, telling the bases that he is “older and my bones are brittler,” as he prepares to jump up and do a prep. Though his execution wasn’t as effortless as Jenner’s, the TV producer still manages to complete the stunt.
The championship cheerleading team that comes from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, was just on DeGeneres’ show last week, where they performed their winning routine from their 14th National Cheerleaders Association Championship title and were gifted a $20,000 check from Shutterfly.
“We know that you have a lot of money that you have to raise to compete each year, so our friends at Shutterfly want to cheer you on,” DeGeneres told the team last week.
Navarro College’s cheerleading head coach Monica Aldama told PEOPLE earlier this week that she was “very, very surprised” by the overwhelmingly positive response to Cheer.
“I mean, we knew that when we filmed this that the cheerleading industry people would probably watch it because we’ve won a few times,” Aldama, 47, told PEOPLE. “They would want to see what we’re doing, but we had no idea that the whole world would watch it.”
“And I think the most surprising thing that I’ve seen is not only are people outside the cheer community watching it, they’re watching it multiple times,” she added. “It’s crazy.”
Cheer is streaming now on Netflix. The Ellen DeGeneres Show airs weekdays in syndication (check local listings).
