The Glee Project Contestants Detail Stressful Experience on Reality Show

The Glee Project wasn't as glee-ful as you might've thought.

Former contestants on the Oxygen reality series detailed their experiences in a new interview, sharing that the Glee Project, which saw people compete for a role on Ryan Murphy's hit show Glee, wasn't the Hollywood introduction that they had hoped for. Chief among their complaints were the living conditions, especially during the debut season.

"We stayed in a Jewish summer camp," season one contestant Cameron Mitchell told Insider Aug. 22. "We slept in retrofitted bunk bedrooms that didn't have AC. Fans had to be brought in."

Added season one runner-up Lindsay Pearce, "The first thing they told us when we got there was to watch out for ticks. Our outhouse bathrooms didn't have roofs."

The Glee Project executive producer Shauna Minoprio admitted the living situation was less than ideal, but added, "It was the only location we'd come across that worked for our budget and timing."

Glee: Where Are They Now?

In season two, the former contestant living conditions improved, but still had room for improvement. Ali Stroker, the season two runner-up-turned-Tony winner, told Insider, "They turned a soundstage into our home, with a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a living space. That kind of stuff isn't made to live on, so things started falling apart."

E! News reached out to Embassy Row, the production company behind The Glee Project for comment and didn't hear back.

When it came to the competition itself, the contestants said they grew increasingly anxious and stressed while filming, which is commonplace among reality TV shows. Glee casting director Robert J. Ulrich said he noticed some of the contestants were struggling, telling the publication, "When you watch a reality show and see people crying, it's 'cause they're worn out. They're never alone. They never don't have a camera in their face. They're mentally and physically exhausted."

Season two contestant Harper Grae did note, however, that they had a psychologist available for contestants to speak to.

Nonetheless, multiple contestants specifically voiced discomfort to Insider over the invasive questions asked by choreographer Nikki Anders. Season two contestant Abraham Lim remembered Anders asking about his sexual identity, telling Insider, "They were trying to get an admission of sorts from me, and I'm like, 'You're not gonna get anything, because I don't know.' I'm not gonna sell my soul down the river for a seven-episode arc on Glee. I'm figuring out who I am."

E! News reached out to Anders for comment and didn't hear back.

Pearce said she felt similarly pressured when filming a music video alongside Mitchell, who was in a relationship at the time. "Erik White, our video director, said something like, 'In this next take, kiss Cameron. It's what we need,'" Pearce told Insider. "The minute I pulled away and saw Cameron's face, I realized I'd been played."

She continued, "I wish I had the language that we have today surrounding consent and awareness and respecting people's boundaries. I will always take accountability for my own side of things, but I was 19 and being manipulated."

After the music video aired, Pearce said she was sent hate mail by viewers. "Eleven years later, I still get hate mail sent to the theaters I work at and DMs telling me to kill myself," she said. "It's easy to think, 'Well, you knew what you signed up for,' but we were children."

Mitchell didn't blame Pearce, but said he felt used by the producers. "I felt blindsided because no one asked me about it," he told Insider. "That's where the strings of producers started to twist. They were like, 'Oh, that's a hot topic for Cameron. How can we push his buttons even more?'"

E! News reached out to White's reps for comment and didn't hear back.

Mitchell was later asked to kiss a second contestant and said he refused. He ultimately quit the show and producers said on the show it was for religious reasons. Looking back, Mitchell told Insider it was "very traumatic," adding, "It truly was one of those moments that altered the course of my life. I was forced to stand up for myself. I was forced to confront what it is I wanted, who it is I wanted to be."

(E! and Oxygen are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)

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