In the spring of 1983, one of the greatest television networks was born: Disney Channel. I remember coming home after school around 6 p.m. I was part of an after-school program, and quickly turned on the TV so I didn’t miss the latest episode.
Growing up, one of my favorite Disney Channel productions was the annual Monstober. This was the month where all the shows and movies would participate in creating spooky movies, Halloween-themed episodes, and branding. Since it’s Monstober season, I’m going to share the top four scariest Disney Channel characters that my younger self was freaked out by.
Creepy Connie
Connie Thompson, played by Sierra McCormick, is a character from Jessie. The show follows Jessie Prescott, who is a nanny for the two celebrities Morgan and Christiana Ross. Thompson makes her first debut in “Creepy Connie Comes a Callin,” when she is Luke Ross’s math tutor.
Throughout the episode, Thompson shows how crazy and obsessed she is with Luke Ross when she accuses Prescott and him of being a couple, breaks into their penthouse to steal Luke Ross’s precious Kenny the Koala, and then rips the Koala’s head off.
The one episode I remember watching that really made me scared of her was the “Creepy Connie 3: The Creepening.” Thompson wanted to fool Luke Ross into thinking she wasn’t crazy and obsessed with him anymore. So, she hired an actress named Mackenzie and wanted her to pretend to be her former boarding school roommate, who is obsessed and crazy about him now. In the end, he found out the truth when Thompson tied him and his family up to attend the wedding she set up so she could “marry” him.
Gigi Hollingsworth
Gigi Hollingsworth, played by Skyler Samuels, is a character from Wizards of Waverly Place. The show follows the Russo siblings as they learn to navigate their wizardly powers before losing them forever. Hollingsworth made her first debut in the pilot episode and is known to be Alex Russo’s primary school rival in the first two seasons.
What makes her creepy is how much control she has over her minions, the “submissive girls” or “Wannabes.” The Wannabes got plastic surgery on their nose to look just like Hollingsworth. The girls follow her blindly, accurately dress like her, and comply with every command.
In the obsession department, Hollingsworth is similar to Thompson except it’s towards a different gender, Russo. In Kindergarten, she spilled her juice on Russo and told the entire class that she had an accident. This resulted in a years-long rivalry between the two. Hollingsworth’s hatred was so intense that she started stalking Russo and spent a decade coordinating social hit-lists and tracking Russo’s life.
Scrapbook Girl
Brooke, played by Carrie Wampler, is a character from Austin and Ally. The show follows the singer Austin Moon and songwriter Ally Dawson, who make music together. Brooke made her first debut in “Magazines & Made-Up Stuff,” where she goes on a date with Moon but he ditches the date to host a party at Sonic Boom. The truth of Moon having a European supermodel girlfriend reaches Brooke and she questions him on why he never told her, but he avoids the question.
In Brooke’s other appearances in the show, her true character comes into play. She was obsessed and madly in love with Moon even though they barely went on dates, though Brooke claims the two had “37 dates” together in her dreams. Moon saw the true personality and wanted nothing to do with it. On the other hand, Brooke would do absolutely anything to get him back into her presence.
One of her ideas was to kidnap and hold him hostage in a room until he wrote a song about her. Another was when she took Ally’s personal book that consisted of the songs she’s written, and then trapped her in a photo booth, and cosplayed as Ally.
Crazel
Hazel Swearengen, played by Tessa Netting, is a character from Bunk’d. Bunk’d is the spinoff to Jessie and it follows the Ross kids—Emma Ross, Zuri Ross, and Ravi Ross as they have adventures at Camp Kikiwaka. She was a recurring character in seasons one and two and her role was Head Counselor of the Weasel Cabin, then demoted to Counselor-in-Training (CIT). Swearengen makes her first debut in the pilot episode where she shows her clear disdain for the Ross siblings while also establishing she has a crazy obsessive crush on Xander McCormick, who later becomes Emma Ross’s boyfriend.
Swearengen gets her creepy and insane personality from her aunt Gladys, the Camp Kikiwaka owner. Gladys had an obsessed crush on Morgan Ross and claimed Christiana Ross “stole” him from her. She assigned Swearengen with a task to get the Ross kids kicked out because of this very reason.
The things Swearengen did to McCormick was very unsettling and makes me feel bad for him. Whenever she saw him she would hurry to cling to him, cut his hair when he sleeps and use the hair to be part of her “Xander doll,” and try anything to break up his relationship with Emma Ross. The only Ross sibling she likes is Luke but that’s only because he humiliated Emma Ross in front of Xander McCormick.
Similarities
These four female Disney Channel characters all shared something similar…obsession. These shows were meant to be family-friendly-shows but when Thompson, Hollingsworth, Brooke, and Swearengen appeared on the screen, the warmth you felt when watching quickly turned cold and spooooky.