Gayle Spano (Wanda Cannon) is the hidden main villainess from "The Fresh Princess," episode 5.09 of iZombie (airdate June 27, 2019). She is the wife of Alex Spano and the mother of Laurie-Beth Spano.
20 years prior to the events, Laurie-Beth Spano collapsed while competing in the Miss Future Seattle pageant, and it was revealed that her makeup was laced with rose hip extract, which Laurie-Beth was allergic to. She was placed in a coma, and afterwards, fellow contestant Velma Charlet was accused of tampering with Laurie-Beth's makeup. Velma confessed, but in the episode's events, Laurie-Beth died after being comatose for 20 years, resulting in Velma facing manslaughter charges; though she changed her story and denied sabotaging the makeup.
Gayle appeared briefly with Alex at the morgue, expressing her grief over her daughter's coma and eventual death, while adding that she videotaped the entire pageant on the day in question. A vision from Liv Moore revealed a twist, it was Velma's makeup that was sabotaged, not Laurie-Beth's, as Laurie-Beth was locked out of her room and couldn't apply her own. Velma was cleared and revealed as the true intended target, and among additional suspects was fellow contestant Elise Falcon, but she was cleared as the culprit. While Liv watched the video from the pageant, she saw Gayle walking backstage during her daughter's performance, which counteracted against Gayle's statement that was videotaping the entire time, and ended up revealing her as the true saboteur.
When Velma was suspected, it was originally believed that she was losing to Laurie-Beth and sabotaged her so she could win. In actuality, Laurie-Beth was losing, as her flute solo did not go well, despite giving flawless performances during practice. Fearing that her daughter would lose the competition, Gayle turned heel by sabotaging Velma's makeup, as she saw Velma as Laurie-Beth's main rival. The villainess entered Velma's room and laced her makeup with the rose hip extract, planning to give Velma a rash. However, Laurie-Beth ended up putting on Velma's makeup after she was locked out of her own room, and it led to her allergic reaction, coma, and eventual death 20 years later.
In order to get a confession out of Gayle, Clive pretended to railroad Velma, while Liv and Gayle watched video of Laurie-Beth's performance. The ruse works, as during the "interrogation," the evil Gayle admitted to sabotaging Velma's makeup, stating that her daughter deserved to win and adding that she had lived with her actions in the 20 years that passed. Following her confession, Gayle was arrested (off-screen).