Rachel Ford (WildSide)

* 2021
* 2014
* OG

**Rachel McKayla Ford** (née **Norman**) is the main protagonist in the television series *WildSide*, the television movie *WildSide: Journey to New Jersey*, and the television special *Our Big Wild Wedding (Prep)*. At the age of thirteen, she (along with Justice Leonardo, Gary Fisherman, Dean Ford and April Haden) was forced by the United States government to move into a house with four other strangers in Denver, Colorado.

Through out the series, she enjoyed doing housework and aspired to become a famous chef. She also previously worked as the head chef at the Indian restaurant Triquan before getting fired in the third season.

In the reunion special, it is revealed that Rachel attended culinary school and graduated a few years prior with a job in the field, although the details of this are unknown. She also married her long time best friend and high school sweetheart Dean Ford, and she gave birth to a set of twins, named Tyler and Grant with him in May 2022.

Rachel is portrayed by Sierra McCormick.

## Biography

### **Background**

Rachel McKayla Norman was born in Oklahoma City in October 1998. She was raised by both of her parents, with one of them being the world-famous Michael Norman, and was raised alongside her older sister Rachelle. The family lived in grace together, and would put together an annual photo-album to commemorate their memories and moments together.

Rachel's father Michael taught her everything she needed to know about cooking, and passed down his father's family cookbook to her at a young age. He also taught her how to drive at age eleven, and taught her how to play ping-pong and bowl. Shortly after, Michael moved to Russia on a business trip, leaving Rachel at home with her mother and sister. It is unknown whether or not her parents split.

At home, Rachel managed to pick up domesticated skills such as housework and would pick up after her sister when her mother wasn't home. She also got into the workforce at an early age as she was asked to clean the roofs off of her neighbours' houses. She also made pocket money by washing her neighbours' cars.

At school, Rachel aced all of her classes and managed to get As in all of them. At the age of ten, this statistic angered a new student, named Emma Ginley, who bullied Rachel for a period of a few weeks. It is known that during this time period, Emma hosted a birthday party for herself and invited everyone in her school except for Rachel. Fortunately for Rachel though, Emma was expelled from her school.

In late October 2011, Rachel received a letter from the United States government indicating that she had to move to Denver immediately. Expectedly, Rachel gets devastated with the news but agrees to go along with it anyway.

### **History**

* Season 1
* Season 2
* Season 3
* Movie
* Season 4
* Special

## Appearance and Personality

### Physical Appearance

Rachel is an attractive teenage girl with large blue eyes, pale skin, and long blonde hair. For a majority of the series she appears to be slim-built and small in height, but eventually appears to have a more distinguished figure (particularly in her bust and hips) by the later seasons. Through out the series Rachel most commonly wears her hair down (with the exception of a few episodes where her hair is tied back and/or plaited), although her hairstyle significantly changes as the series progresses. The most noticeable changes occur in Season 2B, when she has noticeable bangs, and in Season 3B, when her hair is noticeably curled.

Due to Rachel's actress Sierra McCormick going through puberty during production, Rachel's voice becomes noticeably deeper as the series progresses. Her voice change first becomes apparent as of Wild Smell (production wise WildSide Goes Ping Pong) and reaches its deepest in Wild Time on the Farm (production wise Wild April's Fool).

Fashion wise, Rachel appears to stick to a similar style through out the entire series with no significant changes. Her wardrobe is mostly filled with bright pastel themed colours, and she is most commonly seen wearing two layers of clothing (i.e. an open sweater/and or hoodie with a t-shirt underneath), tight fitting slacks, and flat shoes (usually simple flats or converse). Her clothing also tends to feature floral, graphical and/or animal prints on them. She also commonly wears accessories, such as necklaces, bracelets and rings.

## Relationships

### **Friends**

#### Dean Ford

**Best Friend/Boyfriend**

     Despite common debate, Dean is actually Rachel's best friend. Their relationship is arguably the most developed in the entire series; beginning as platonic and ending as intimate. Due to their extensive development, Rachel and Dean's friendship and relationship (commonly referred to as *Dechel*) is by far the most popular "ship" in the series among fans.

Rachel and Dean first meet in Wild Pilot, when Rachel answers the door to him at their new house. Dean, being young, falls immediately "in love" with her at first sight; however Rachel doesn't immediately feel the same way. Dean's "feelings" for Rachel is constantly brought up through out the first season, and while she is well aware of them, Rachel constantly reminds Dean that she only saw him as a friend whenever it was brought up. Despite not knowing her for long, Dean also ensured Rachel's happiness, and would go out of his way to make her feel better. For example, in Wild Air Freshener, Dean feels severe remorse over burning down Rachel's gourmet pizza and prized cookbooks, so he buys her all new ingredients and cookbooks. He also managed to contact Rachel's father in Russia to get her another original cookbook; one that has been in her family for over fifty years. Another example occurred in Wild Bowling Day, when Dean went out of his way to give up his own personalised bowling pin so that Rachel would not remain upset. While these feelings were not yet reciprocated by Rachel, she did appear to care a lot about Dean's feelings. In Wild Weird Boy, Rachel gets extremely mad at Fred Hanson for kissing her in front of Dean, and immediately runs to him to apologise. She also ensured that all of Fred's actions in that episode were reversed, including Dean's. In Wild Valentine's Day, Dean and Rachel have an argument which leads to Rachel pleading to never speak to Dean again. Dean gets extremely upset at this comment and becomes determined for him to forgive him; since at that moment he was afraid of losing his friendship with her.

In season two, Rachel's platonic feelings towards Dean's happiness is finally reciprocated, and of course, Dean feelings remain the same; despite his crush on her fading. In Wild Old Lady, Rachel sticks by Dean's side when he visits Ms Waters in hospital, and later at school Dean tells Rachel that she was the only person who he felt safe around. In Wild but Awesome, Rachel became over-protective of Dean's physical safety. Dean's fondness of Rachel's happiness is also seen in WildSide Goes Ping Pong, when he sticks up for her at the Ping Pong tournament when Mr Leopron threatened to forfeit her from the match. On the reciprocated way, Rachel's fondness of Dean's happiness is also seen in Wild Celebration, when Rachel suggests for Julianna to get Dean a gift he always wanted.

In season three, Rachel and Dean's friendship level remains the same, although they begin to have a more competitive nature with each other. In Wild Bounce, the two have a short argument about who is more athletically inclined when they are put on opposite dodge ball teams. Additional regular highlights from the season include Rachel refusing to watch Dean "suffer" in WildSide Ignites Tonight, and Dean appearing the most visibly upset friend when Rachel announces that she is leaving in Wild and Bad Memories.

In the television movie WildSide: Journey to New Jersey, Rachel and Dean's friendship develops further when they are the only two stuck in a lousy New Jersey hostel. Their competitiveness established in the previous season is seen at the beginning of the film when they are seen racing each other on scooters. Rachel's fondness of Dean is displayed when she lends him a pair of her underpants when his gets dirty. The two have an argument in the film, although it was resolved rather quickly. While on the phone with Gary, Rachel tells him that she now sees Dean in a whole new light.

In season four, Rachel and Dean's friendship level is the strongest it has ever been. Rachel refers to her and Dean as "best friends" for the first time in Wild Friendship. Dean doesn't get angry at Rachel about her jealousy towards him and his girlfriend Raya. In Wild Meeting, Rachel agrees to go with Dean to Raya's house to calm his nerves. In Wild, Wild Radio, Dean was the only friend who seemed to care about Rachel's hurt feelings. In Wild Finale, Rachel gets extremely upset after Dean yells at her to get out of his life, proving that she always wants him in her life.

#### Justice Leonardo

**"Best Friend"**

Rachel and Justice have a rather bizarre relationship. In most episodes, the two appear to be best friends; excluding a couple where Justice doesn't appear to care all that much about Rachel's feelings. All in all though, Rachel does appear to care a lot about Justice... most of the time.

The two first meet in Wild Pilot, when they are made to sit next to each other in the cab ride to their new home. Rachel first views Justice as "mean" but as the episode progresses she simply views her as "lazy". Like with the other people in her house, Rachel becomes determined to get to know Justice and become friends with her. Justice declares Rachel as her "best friend" when she finds out that she enjoys doing housework. Through out the rest of the season, the two get in a couple of arguments, ironically initiated by Rachel. The first major one occurs in Wild Embarrassment, when Rachel purposely sends an embarrassing image of Justice to Justice's boyfriend; although she immediately regrets it when she finds out that she hurt Justice's feelings. The second one, while not as major, occurs in Wild Boyfriend, when Rachel unintentionally goes out with the boy Justice was interested in. Rachel's intentions are questionable in this instance, as she was already well aware the Justice was already interested in him. Later in the season, the girls' friendship officially gets established as a best-friendship, when Justice officially introduces Rachel as her "best friend" to Georgia in Wild BFF. This gets a little bit more questionable at the end of the season though, when Justice intentionally attempts to make Rachel jealous in Wild Valentine's Day without a care for her feelings.

In season two, it is heavily implied that Rachel is Justice's only friend. Despite this, Justice's questionable behaviour returns in Wild Opposition, as she appears to not care much about the possibility of Rachel leaving. Despite this, Justice's empathy appears to return in Wild Relationship, when she begins to worry about the intentions of Rachel's previous love interest Maze. Rachel does appear to grow angry at Justice for ruining her date, but officially forgives her when Maze decides to forgive her and become her boyfriend.

In season three, Rachel and Justice's friendship takes an interesting turn, as their friendship appears to grow stronger. In doing so, Justice doesn't appear to intentionally hurt Rachel, but instead guides her through, specifically with her relationship with Maze. Rachel goes to Justice for advice in several episodes. She goes to Justice for relationship advice in Wild Dine, Wild Talent, and Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, and goes to her for friendship related advice in Wild Bully the II. This is evidence that Rachel and Justice's friendship works best when they're discussing their relationships with other people; specifically in Rachel's case.

Rachel and Justice's friendship almost appears nonexistent in the television film. In fact, Justice's lack of empathy towards Rachel (and Dean's) situation/lack of wanting to communicate with Rachel, is questionable.

In season four, Rachel and Justice's friendship reverts back to its season two roots, with nothing too major going on. On a couple of occasions, Rachel appears sympathetic towards Justice (Wild Switch, Wild Regret, Wild Mistake), and Justice gives Rachel some relationship advice in Wild April's Fool. Interestingly, Rachel chooses to go to *both* Gary and Justice for relationship advice about Dean, and Gary provides more input. Fridge Brilliance suggests that Justice didn't want to give Rachel advice about Dean because she simply *despised* him, although if she was truly best friends with Rachel she would do it regardless. Unsurprisingly, Justice's lack of empathy makes a return in Wild, Wild Radio, when she doesn't appear to care about Rachel as she takes over her radio station segment.

#### Gary Fisherman

**Good Friend**

Rachel and Gary have an ordinary friendship. While a few episodes in the first season do well to establish the type of friendship the two have, this appears to die out as the seasons progress. After the first season, they almost appear to be The Friends Who Never Hang, therefore out of the core four their relationship is the least developed in the entire series.

#### Julianna

**BBF: Best Boss Forever**

#### April Haden

**Friend**

#### Calum Leopron

**Principal/Friend**