Dana Cruz (Zoey 101)

## Dana Cruz

"Stay out of my way and out of my stuff and we won't have a problem"

**Dana Cruz** is one of the main characters in the Nickelodeon TV series *Zoey 101*. She was the roommate and friends of Zoey Brooks and Nicole Bristow in season 1. Her other good friends are Michael Barret and Chase Matthews. Dana enjoys playing basketball and, along with her best friend Zoey, she is one of the first girls on the PCA Basketball Team, she also enjoys riding skateboards. Dana owns a purple Jet X and usually sleeps on the bottom bunk in her dorm room. Although Dana doesn't get along with her friends most of the time, she is quite a good friend and sticks beside them when they are in trouble. Dana was only a main character in Season 1. As stated in Season 2, she was accepted to a European Exchange Student Program to study in Paris, with Lola Martinez taking her spot in Room 101.

## Why She Rocks

1. Out of all characters, Dana definitely wins the snarking trophy, even though she only appears in the first season.
2. Although she's underrated Dana is another memorable character in the series.
3. Dana is good at sports, particularly basketball.
4. She has many good outfits.
5. She can be a good friend, especially to her roommates, Zoey, and Nicole (sometimes).
6. She and Lola are both Hispanic, despite never meet each other.
7. Dana and Logan have a cute belligerent sexual tension for instance they would usually insult each other whenever they see each other but also got along on several occasions. In the episode School Dance, Logan suggested he wanted to make out with her and she almost kissed him on the dance floor, but stomped on his foot as a trick. The two made peace after the first season and became friends.
8. Dana's bad attitude can be funny most of the time and is comparable to Logan Reese.
9. She has a strong willed personality and will often try to do things on her own.
10. She is a snob but she can be sweet at times.
11. Dana's tough appearance frequently leads people to believe that she is arrogant and scary. She obviously knows who her friends are and doesn't hold back, and her heart is in the right place.
12. Her and Nicole's frienemy relationship can be funny.
13. Dana is devious and really knows how to mess with Logan.
14. The actress Kristin Herrera is portrayed very well in the series as the main role.

## Bad Qualities

1. Dana aggressive, and negative attitude while funny can be annoying alot of the time.
2. She can be unlikeable at times.
3. Her character is pretty underrated, in fact many fans mostly forgot that she was in the show, mainly because she left after one season.
4. We never really see the sweet part of Dana that often, due to her being kicked out of the show too soon.
5. Despite only appearing in Season 1, Dana is only present for all 13 episodes, she does not appear in any of the *Zoey 101* TV Movies. She never came back in Seasons 2-4.
	* **Executive Meddling:** In real life after Season 1 ended, Dana was written off the series after Nickelodeon thought that Herrera looked too old for the part. Dana has the second-fewest appearances of all the main characters in the series, present for all of Season 1 and not seen again.
6. Alexa Nikolas got physically abused and harassed by Kristin Herrera while filming the final episode of season one along with the whole season in general.
7. **Wasted Potential:** After Nicole left in season 2 it would've been cool if they replace her with Dana for the rest of the series as the main role or just keep her in the entire series.
8. During the 2nd season episode ''Back to PCA'', Zoey said that Dana was only going to be in Paris for a semester, but she never returns to PCA, despite the series continuing after this semester.
9. She was originally written as Logan's love interest, as hinted by their belligerent sexual tension, but this role was given to Quinn after Dana left the show which is disapointing since it would've been intresting how these 2 could've gotten together.