| “ | I'm the Queen of Revenge, Jenna. I've disbanded cheer squads, ruined people's social lives, and I fucking ripped a girl's arms off! But all of that is going to pale in comparison to what I am going to do to you. | ” |
|---|---|---|
| —Episode 47 | ||
Mackenzie Zales is the head cheerleader of the Overland Park Cheer Squad. She is also homecoming queen, a part-time model, a member of The Prom Committee and Candy Cane Princess. Mackenzie serves as the brains of the Cheer Squad. She is one of the most popular girls in school.
Personality
As someone who has a large status at Overland Park High School, Mackenzie’s primary interest is her appearance and status within the student body and community of Overland Park. She is not afraid to use whatever methods are necessary to ensure that she remains at the top of the proverbial food chain in high school. She does not like to concede when an adversary has her backed into a corner, such as when the Van Buren family forced her into apologizing to Shay for calling her a “fucking liar,” or when Tanya Berkowitz won against her in a battle of wits at the mall. Mackenzie also used to have a problem with her hair falling out when she got stressed or cursed. But her hair loss did eventually stop (without any explanation.)
Like a cliché "popular girl," Mackenzie is always telling people off in an aggressive and uncouth manner. In Episode 1 when she meets Deandra for the first time, she immediately brings out her instinctive rudeness and determination. While not as extreme as Brittnay, Mackenzie does have a selfish and bratty attitude, and she is not afraid of foul language. However, In Episode 18, it was announced that she is losing hair due to stress. She loses a hair each time she curses. She is now trying to keep her temper down to prevent further hair loss. Unfortunately her attempts so far have proven to be largely unsuccessful, primarily due to the intrusion of the Atchison High Cheer Squad at the Oak Park Mall.
Mackenzie is shown to have some skill for social graces and courtesy, such as when she displayed a calm and collected demeanor when offering Deandra a position on the cheer squad. However, these traits are only ever utilized when she is trying to gain support or information that will better her position.
It is revealed in the season three finale that Mackenzie was the one responsible for the destruction of Brittnay's car, claiming it was "collateral damage." This was what initiated her plan of revenge against Jenna Darabond and her "hipsterism" movement, resulting in Darabond's arrest. But because of her actions, the cheer squad starts to lose their popularity and caused Rachel Tice to rant on them for what Mackenzie had done.
Her sexuality has also been hinted at throughout the show. In season two, when Mackenzie is visiting her doctor, she admits to some level of promiscuity after he tells her that she won't be getting "anything" in her butt, replying, "Well, that's the first time a man's ever said that." She has also been known to cheat on her boyfriends or willingly makeout with someone else's boyfriend, as evident when she kissed Justin Michaelson who at the time was dating Ashley Katchadourian. In addition, Mackenzie exibited a fondness for roleplaying when Brittnay and Shay discovered her pretending to be seduced by Edward Cullen and Jacob Black from the Twilight Saga in a private video. This is speculation though.
Physical Appearance
- Doll: Dollar Store knockoff
- Where to Buy: Unknown
Mackenzie Zales looks like a typical Barbie Doll. Throughout the episodes she has only been shown wearing three outfits total in the first season. Her first outfit is shown in Episode 1 as a green and blue dress with straps that tie around her neck. This outfit has not been seen since Episode 3. As also described in Episode 1, Trisha agrees that she is really pretty. She is always seen with her hair up in a high ponytail. Her second outfit is her cheer outfit, a pink uniform with the word Park across the middle. Her third outfit is a floor-length strapless white dress that she wore to the 2012 Overland Park Prom.
Throughout the rest of the series, Mackenzie has worn numerous other outfits. In Season 3, episode 13, Mackenzie along with the rest of the Overland Park Cheersquad received newer uniforms after a visit from a professional cheer coach (Dr. Greg Converse). This is the outfit Mackenzie usually wears but in season 4 episode 10, she switched her cheer uniform out for a pink strapped, pink and yellow bright dress for the End of the Year Party.
Most recently--In Season 5--, Mackenzie (along with the rest of the USA modeling team) received a "glow up" and Mackenzie wore a black jacket, shirt, and stylish pants. (Season 5 episode 5).
The TV Producer of "Babes Having Babies" also comments that Mackenzie, like every other girl that goes to Overland Park Highschool (excluding Rachel Tice and Judith Dinsmore), is incredibly attractive.
In episode 14, a blood stain from Deandra's arms getting ripped off is still visible on Mackenzie’s uniform, and in Episode 18 there is a flashback in which she is yelling at the dry cleaners about their inability to remove blood and semen stains, holding up the bloody uniform as an example.
Throughout the series she has had a noticeable bald spot on the right side of her head. Shay was the first one to ever say anything about it in the season one finale when she says “Enjoy your bald spot, bitch.” It wasn’t addressed again until Episode 18 when she visits a doctor to find out it's FPB (Female Pattern Baldness), which she acquired through the stresses of her daily high school life. Although her FPB stopped when season 3 began.
Biography
Relationships
- Katelynn Zales: Her a little sister in the first grade at Meadowlane Elementary named. Mikayla Van Buren threatens to tell everyone that Katelynn has cooties and to push her down a flight of stairs. She tends to look after her sister while her mother is working and dissolves of her mother using vulgar language in front of her. However, despite Mackenzie's caring attitude towards Katelynn, Katelynn doesn't hesitate to sell Mackenzie's private information for a box of smelly markers when bribed by Mikayla.
- Steven Carmichael: Mackenzie's ex-boyfriend, and her date to the 2011 Overland Park prom.
- Justin Michaelson: In Episode 1, Deandra said that Shay had told her that she knew all about Mackenzie and Justin Michaelson. They were shown making out together behind Ashley Katchadorian's back while she was still going out with Steven.
- Brittnay Matthews: Brittnay is Mackenzie's best friend, first lieutenant and co-head vice captain of the Overland Park Cheer Squad. She and Brittnay bicker frequently, mostly regarding who is more popular or deserving of certain awards, such as prom queen; they eventually become enemies at the end of season three but reconcile by the end of season four. Mackenzie originally viewed Brittnay as part of a mutually beneficial partnership in third grade, where Brittnay would beat up people bothering their group, while Mackenzie and her other friends would bail her out of trouble for it, and not get her expelled. This seems to have been a long standing dynamic until the season 3 finale, where Brittnay is tired of being used by Mackenzie and vows revenge. At the end of season 4, after Trisha tries to get the two to make up, Mackenzie finally apologizes, and Brittnay accepts, but not before getting revenge on her by blowing Mackenzie's new car up. Trisha also says that Brittnay makes Mackenzie stronger, while Mackenzie makes Brittnay smarter. Because of this, fans have speculated a romantic subtext between the two, appropriately entitling it "Brittkenzie".
- Trisha Cappelletti: Mackenzie and Trisha get along well for the most part, however she is not above berating her for perceived transgressions against her, such as when Trisha nominated Brittnay for Prom queen. Also, despite most of the Overland Park Cheersquad disbanding due to Brittnay swearing revenge on them, Trisha continues to stand by Mackenzie's side, a feat that touched Mackenzie.
- Shay Van Buren: Mackenzie and Shay used to be good friends in elementary school along with Brittnay Matthews and Rachel Tice. When Shay was still being considered for the head cheerleader position, Mackenzie was very quick to express her loyalty. However, once Shay was taken out of the running, Mackenzie seized the opportunity and claimed the title of head cheerleader for herself. Since then the two girls have been bitter enemies who constantly battle for social status at Overland Park. It was revealed during a viewer mail video that Mackenzie's motivation for usurping the title of head cheerleader from Shay was because Shay had allegedly eaten Mackenzie's Lunchable while she was in the restroom.The rest of Shay’s family is not seen directly interacting very much with Mackenzie. However the entire Van Buren family regards her as an enemy for what they did to Shay. Despite this, fans have speculated a romantic subtext between the two, appropriately entitling it "Shaykenzie".
- Ashley Katchadorian: Ashley and Mackenzie were generally on good terms at first until Ashley got blamed for letting Deandra into the bathroom and the events that lead up to that (Such as Deandra's arms getting ripped off). It got so bad that Ashley decided to start spying for Tanya Berkowitz and decided to cheer with the Atchison High Lady Jaguars during Cheer Nationals.
- Jenna Darabond: As the main antagonist of Season 3, Jenna hates Mackenzie for making out with Justin Michaelson shortly after telling her that any cheerleader hooking up with another cheerleader's boyfriend is a whore. Due to this, Jenna begins to plot against Mackenzie and the rest of the cheer squad, all starting with letting Deandra into the bathroom and telling her that she was Ashley Katchadorian. At the end of Season 3, Mackenzie gets Jenna arrested for arson and Jenna later gets stabbed by Tanya Berkowitz while in prison.
- Rachel Tice: Despite being friends in elementary school, Mackenzie now does not consider her as such and will insult her whenever the situation arises. It is not known exactly why Mackenzie and Rachel are no longer friends, however it is likely that she took Brittnay's side after she de-friended her. After she won at prom, her and Shay vowed to destroy her.
- Tanya Berkowitz: It seems that Mackenzie and Tanya have already had a bad relationship to start with, judging from Mackenzie's behavior towards Tanya when she runs into her at the mall. Due to their mall burning down (Courtesy of Jenna Darabond), Mackenzie and Tanya begin to fight for Mackenzie's mall, which ultimately ends in Tanya and her cheer squad loosing thanks to Deandra. Later, Tanya stabs Jenna Darabond because she was the one who burned down Atchison mall.
- Taylor McDevitt: Taylor originally used to go to school in Overland Park before transferring to Atchison. The reason Mackenzie (And mainly Brittnay) is antagonistic towards her is because Taylor stole Brittnay's boyfriend in the Lazy River.
- Trisha 2: Trisha 2 was originally on the Atchison High Lady Jaguars before Trisha convinced her to transfer to Overland Park to become a cheerleader for her school. Trisha 2 and Mackenzie are currently on good terms, primarily because Trisha 2 fears of being on Mackenzie's bad side. Episode 82, however, implies that their relationship became strained following the disasters from Episode 77, seeing how glad Mackenzie was to get away from her and Cameron as new models.
- Deandra: Deandra and Mackenzie have a rocky relationship. Mackenzie initially did not like Deandra, mostly because she refused to back down during their initial confrontation. Since then, the two girls don't seem to interact much, but when they do their exchanges are usually bitter, particularly after Deandra’s arms were ripped off.
- Amberlynn Weggers: Like apparently everyone else, Mackenzie seems to have a genuine respect for her stating that she really deserves her prom queen nomination.
- Jeannie Halverstad: Mackenzie sees Jeannie as her idol, despite the latter's very abrasive behavior towards her own assistants and employees. Mackenzie is very loyal to Jeannie to a fault, and does everything under her own power to make sure that she won't ever be disappointed. Episode 74 implies that Mackenzie may even have a crush on Jeannie when the former watches the latter demonstrate a catwalk strut, and says "Wow, she's amazing!" in utter awe.
Episode Appearances
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| 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 |
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Gallery
Character Blogs
Trivia
- She is of Asian descent (as most evidenced by the child doll used for her when she was in the Third Grade), and is implied to be part Korean (in Episodes 45 and 50).
- She claims her grandfather may or may not be Pat Morita, the famed actor from Happy Days and Karate Kid, though this could be because she was drunk during the fan mail interview.
- She was Homecoming Queen and Candy Cane princess.
- She thinks that being mean and bratty keeps you on top.
- She has a condition called FPB (Female Pattern Baldness) that caused her bald spot and is worsened by stress.
- She has sex with balloons that have Edward Cullen's and Jacob Black's faces cut out on them, which implies that she gets off to interspecies romance.
- She is on the top of the cheerleading pyramid.
- She has portraits of Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey hanging in her room.
- Mackenzie is a part-time model.
- She eats kimchi before going to sleep (as seen in Episode 45), but due to her nightmare about Saison's hipster baby, she decides to stop the habit.
- The August 9th 2017 livestream on the MPGIS app reveals that, among Brittnay and Trisha, she's the eldest.
- According to at least one livestream from the MPGiS app, Mark and Carlo say that Mackenzie is the hardest character to write for, their reasoning being among the lines of "less jokes and more plot heaviness".
External Links