Line #4 Film/TheCheerleaderEscort


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5by2u0zdljmgytymi2my00y2i5ltkxzdutyjfhztdlodjmzmzixkeyxkfqcgdeqxvyntm0mdc1ode_v1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Cassie, naively turning her [[TheIngenue Ingenue]] head away from the awful truth about Tate Riley cheerleaders]]
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4	''The Cheerleader Escort'' (also called ''The Perfect Cheerleader'') is a 2019 LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek TeenDrama {{Thriller}}, written by [[Series/{{Dateline}} Andrea Canning]] and directed by Alexandre Carrière. It was part of the network's ''Cheer! Rally! Kill!'' event, with five original cheerleader-themed thrillers.
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6	Cassie (Creator/AlexandraBeaton) is the 18-year-old daughter of small-town dance studio owner Karen (Creator/CynthiaPreston), starting her freshman year at Tate Riley University, rooming with her friend Alyssa (Bukola Walfall). A chance meeting with one of Alyssa's other friends, who's on the school cheer squad, results in Cassie getting invited to join the team. One perk of joining the squad is that anonymous donors give huge amounts of money to help the girls out. Cassie catches the eye of Terry (Damon Runyan; no, [[Creator/DamonRunyon not him]]), the handsome and much older president of the school's alumni association. They start a relationship, which proves to be godsend when Cassie's deadbeat dad doesn't pay his promised share of her tuition and Terry steps in to help. Eventually, Cassie realizes the Tate Riley cheerleaders are hiding a shocking secret. Well, a secret InUniverse. Most viewers can figure it out upon seeing the title ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Cheerleader Escort]]''. Cassie feels hurt when she learns Terry was just using her, then things turn deadly when another cheerleader, who'd become pregnant via her alumni MealTicket, suffers a suspicious drug overdose.
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9	!! ''The Cheerleader Escort'' contains examples of:
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11	* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: Well-off middle-aged alumni in particular.
12	* AllMenArePerverts: Even by Lifetime standards this gets invoked hard. Cassie's age-appropriate boyfriend Kyle is the only non-creep among the main male cast.
13	* ChekhovsGunman: Early on, a young woman named Monica who quit the squad is mentioned. Cassie later gets her help to expose the secret escort service.
14	* CountryMouse: Cassie is in awe when she gets to college, with how different it is from her sheltered upbringing.
15	* DoubleDate: Cassie[=/=]Terry and Gabby[=/=]John meet at Terry's house, but since the latter is already a well-established couple, they sneak off for hot tub fun.
16	* EngineeredPublicConfession: Thanks to an elaborate BatmanGambit at the banquet during climax--[[spoiler:Alyssa purposely spills water on Stephanie, who goes to the ladies' room to clean up. Monica is there, and confronts her. Cassie is standing outside picking up their confrontation on her cell phone, having made a call to Kyle. Kyle runs up to the banquet mic and plays the call for everyone to hear, and they learn the truth about the cheerleaders]].
17	* EvilAllAlong: Turns out [[spoiler:Stephanie, the cheer coach, is a professional madam and has been running a sex trafficking scheme with her cheerleaders for a while]].
18	* {{Fanservice}}: The TRU cheer squad's uniforms are borderline {{Stripperiffic}}, being extremely tight with thin fabric, consisting of a midriff-baring top and short-shorts, and they get plenty of routines to show them off.
19	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Gabby decides to keep the baby, which enrages John, who now has to fess up to their relationship to his wife, and has to pay child support
20	* HighClassCallGirl: By becoming a TRU cheerleader, Cassie unwittingly becomes one of these too.
21	* TheIngenue: Cassie is a sweet, innocent country girl, whose naïveté sometimes veers close to outright idiocy.
22	* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Cassie is portrayed as a wholesome small town girl, but clearly has enough sex appeal to attract the discerning Terry. That she has an array of form-fitting street clothes doesn't hurt.
23	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: When she refuses to get an abortion, Gabby is fatally injected with heroin, which, as a former addict, makes it look like she'd fallen off the wagon.
24	* MayDecemberRomance: 18-year-old Cassie and 40-something Terry.
25	* MealTicket: Cassie learns of sudden huge payments to help out her and mother, which are coming from Terry.
26	* MeaningfulName:
27	** One of the alums paying a cheerleader for sexual favors is named John.
28	** The cheer coach is named Stephanie Dodger, and Cassie indeed would've been well-advised to "dodge her".
29	* [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]]: Cassie seeks out Monica, a former cheerleader, who tells her all about the escort ring.
30	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Lifetime never came right out and admitted it, but this movie was obviously inspired by a 2017 scandal at Coastal Carolina University. While the school didn't harbor a fully-organized escort service like Tate Riley, several members of the cheer squad made themselves available for sugar daddy[=/=]sugar baby relationships with rich older men, and a couple of them also worked as strippers.
31	* SpoilerTitle: So, the cheerleaders moonlight as escorts. Who knew? That's the Lifetime re-title, though. It was originally filmed as ''The Perfect Cheerleader''.

Context Film / TheCheerleaderEscort