Glee’s second season opener gave fans plenty to Tweet about (Chord Overstreet and Charice are adorable, Finn Hudson is on the brink of becoming terminally uncool and Quinn’s back on the top of the Cheerios heap), but one newcomer is getting a lot of unexpected buzz following the Tuesday premiere. Her name is Dot Jones, her character is Coach Beiste and we’ve got the sneaking suspicion she’s the new breakout star on the show.

Jones enjoyed major screen time in her debut episode, setting up several juicy possibilities straightaway. She clearly has an enemy in Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester (a dynamic you can expect to get very interesting indeed), but possibly a friend in the form of much-maligned Glee club coach Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). We know very little about Coach Beiste, but we can explore the actress formerly unknown as Dot Jones.

Jones is a world-champion arm wrestler, with 15 different championship titles under her belt. Jones, 46, won her first title when she was 19. She’s currently 6’3”, a height she says will spike to 6’4” “when I get my knee replacements.”

She got into the entertainment industry thanks to an American Gladiator. Shirley Eson, otherwise known as Sky, urged Jones to audition for a medieval fighting show. Jones, who was working in Juvenile Probation Services at the time, landed the role of Lady Battleaxe. While it’s doubtful you saw Jones on that particular show, you may have seen one of her many TV appearances. Her long line of credits includes shows like Prison Break, Cougar Town, My Name is Earl, Desperate Housewives and Full House.

About four months ago, Jones spotted Glee co-executive producer Brad Falchuk in Whole Foods. She went right up to him and said “I want to be on Glee. I love it.” When Falchuk asked her if she can sing, she replied, “I’m not Mariah Carey, but I can carry a tune.” And the rest is TV history. As Dot explained, “I’ll be damned if they didn’t call my agent and asked my availability starting the middle of July because they were creating a character for me.” And we’re so glad they did, Dot.