Amanda Benson

Amanda Benson is a peer of Griffin Bing, one of the Swindle Six, and an expert rock climber.

Biography
Amanda Benson is an expert climber, as are most of the members of her family. She is a well-mannered girl who has respect for most of her peers, minus Darren Vader, who likes to antagonize her and anyone else.

Personality
Amanda Benson is a well-mannered girl who has respect for most of her peers, minus Darren Vader, who likes to antagonize her and anyone else.

Abilities
Due to a lifetime of rock climbing, Amanda is very athletic.

Portrayal in the film
Amanda's name is changed to Amanda Joanne Benson. In the film, it is under unanimous agreement that she is the second prettiest girl in school, but she's #1 in Ben's geeky heart! While she is a rock climber in the book, Amanda's considered a cheerleading pro in the film, but little does he and the rest of the team know, this girl's got a few extra talents (and secrets) up her sleeve. Amanda is portrayed by Ariana Grande, who was known to have a stunt double.

Biography in the film
Amanda was once very geeky in her younger years and was known as "Mandy the Mutant" by her classmates in middle school. Aggravated by everyone's low opinion of her, she became a cheerleader to overshadow this and changed the way she looked, acted, and removed her braces when she moved from school to high school and swore she would never reveal her secret "nerdiness" to anyone. Eventually, Griffin got the original second prettiest girl to leave the school so Amanda would go from third to second, which he was sworn to secrecy about.

About a year or so later, she agreed to help Ben Dupree and Griffin Bing in getting a rare card back worth 1.2 million dollars, but only after Ben told her he would pay her 25,000 dollars in return as she was reluctant beforehand despite Griffin reminding her of the favor he had done her. She assisted in helping the others raid Swindle's store after she was thrown onto the roof reluctantly by Darren Vader, using her skills as a gymnast so as not to fall. She then infiltrated the store through the roof and used her agility to locate the alarm setup by Paul Swindell with a thirty-second delay on it before it would trigger and activate. She reached and turned it off with one second to spare. The others where then able to enter the store and began to search it. Griffin did eventually find the card, but Swindell came back, making the others hide from him. When Griffin put the card back, Amanda was seen frowning at him, wondering why he could have done such a thing.

Later, the gang asked Griffin why he left the card. He responded that he got another brilliant idea, but he needed Amanda's help in doing so. This is when it is revealed that Amanda used to be a geek, nicknamed "Mandy the Mutant", and she makes the others promise never to reveal her secret.

Appearance
Amanda used to have glasses, braces, and wore her hair in pigtails, prior to adopting a cheerleader persona. It is under unanimous agreement that she is the second prettiest girl in school, though this is in part due to one of Griffin's plans.

Personality
Amanda was characterized by geekishness and insecurity. She was extremely concerned about what people thought of her, causing her to change her persona entirely in order to obtain her peers' approval. She is a Newcastle United fan.

Abilities
Amanda is very athletic and agile. Her moves being described as "super sharp", a perfect backflip onto her partner's shoulders is all it takes for Griffin to see superb Specialist potential and an essential member of the team.

Trivia

 * The film incorrectly states Amanda to be a "geek". This is untrue, as "geek" is a term used for people invested in fandoms, and a "nerd" is someone invested in academics.