‘The Glee Project’ cast recalls “traumatic” boot camp experience, being pressured to come out on TV
Glee is not real life. Pitch isn’t always perfect, slushies don’t splatter across faces so artfully, and teens don’t actually look like twenty-something adults.Perhaps someone should’ve reminded the producers of The Glee Project about that!Back in 2011, the Oxygen network capitalized off of the massive popularity of Ryan Murphy‘s musical dramedy Glee by launching a reality competition show intent on finding the series’ next big star.
Over two seasons, The Glee Project ushered in some major talent (including future big names like Alex Newell and Ali Stroker), but behind the scenes, it sounds like the whole production was as messy and traumatic as, well, the version of high school depicted on Glee!In a new oral history from Insider, show producers, mentors, and cast members open up about the chaos of bringing The Glee Project together, revealing that the show frequently wandered into moral grey area as it attempted to force real-life young people into archetypes and produced storylines more fit for scripted television.A lot of the series’ issues seem to stem from the fact that the criteria for the competition was a rather subjective experience.
The cast wasn’t competing to prove who was the best singer, dancer, or all-around performer—it was about whose real-life story (and, sure, talent) was compelling enough to write them into a fictional TV show.“It was about finding somebody Ryan could feel inspired to write a character for,” says Glee casting director Robert Ulrich.
