'The fighting began almost immediately.' The biggest revelations from The Price of Glee.

When it was announced that a documentary about popular teen show Glee would be released, ardent fans - of which there are many - were hopeful it would be an honest insight into what went on behind-the-scenes of their favourite series.

However, things changed after the trailer was released, with many fans calling out the salaciousness of the project and its fixation of the supposed "Glee curse". Glee cast members, none of whom participated in the documentary, were also highly critical and vocal about The Price of Glee.

Kevin McHale, who played wheelchair-bound Artie, reiterated the cast was not involved. 

Show me this “cast” you speak of. This is 🗑️ https://t.co/9IIHcbCJUT

— Kevin McHale (@druidDUDE) December 10, 2022

McHale's fellow castmate and And That's What You REALLY Missed podcast co-host Jenna Ushkowitz, who played Tina, denounced the program as well, saying, "We were the ones who were there, and we were the ones experiencing this. And we know what really happened."

Both Chord Overstreet, who played Sam, and Becca Tobin, who played Kitty, have also condemned The Price of Glee.

"Oh, I think all that's bullsh*t," Overstreet said on the Elvis Duran Show. "I think anybody that knows anything about that show and experienced it doesn't have anything to do with that, from what I know. We're all really close and, you know, pretty much like family, and nobody knows anything about that. I think it's a little bit of, like, trying to get people to watch something."

Watch the trailer for The Price of Glee below. Story continues after video.

Several publications have also reviewed the three-part documentary negatively. 

The program has yet to be released in Australia, but we've done some digging to find out what it's all about. Given the discourse around the docuseries, it's safe to say that everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

1. Crew members were puzzled by Lea Michele and Cory Monteith's romance.

At the heart of Glee was the romance between musical nerd Rachel (Michele) and jock Finn (Monteith). So when that relationship blossomed in real life, fans were ecstatic. Sadly, Monteith died of an accidental drug overdose in 2013.

In the documentary, crew members said they were surprised by the romance.

"I found that interesting that they ended up together," set decorator Barbara Munch said. "I was really very surprised."

"I did not understand the two of them together," assistant to the executive producer Garrett Greer said. "I had friends who lived in New York and grew up with Lea, so I was very aware of her reputation. She had a rep for being a little bit difficult."

2. Not everyone supported Michele's decision to return to filming after Monteith's death.

After Monteith's unexpected death, creator Ryan Murphy told Michele it was up to her when - or if - they should begin filming the new season. Michele wanted to return to work as soon as possible, telling Ellen DeGeneres on her show that, "We have to. They're my family."

Two weeks after Monteith passed away, they were back filming. But not everyone agreed with it.

"It was only a couple of weeks. All of the actors had to just pull themselves together and get back to work. Everyone was just kind of forced to," Naya Rivera’s stand-in, Jodi Tanaka, said.

3. One of Monteith's co-stars encouraged him to take up drinking again.

This is one of the most controversial allegations in the documentary. According to hair department head, Dugg Kirkpatrick, Monteith was sober before his death but a co-star encouraged him to drink.

Kirkpatrick said that he was cutting Monteith's hair when the young actor told him about the incident. "But he was told by a certain cast member that same night, 'You know what? If you want to have a drink, you should have a drink. I'll be here. You can always trust that I'll be here for you," he revealed in the docuseries.

Although Kirkpatrick refused to name the co-star because he didn't personally hear the person say it, he said that Monteith started drinking again "because he was given permission by somebody that he loved."

4. Naya Rivera and Lea Michele "hated each other".

It's no secret that Rivera, who played cheerleader Santana, and Michele were at odds most of the time. Rivera herself, who died by accidental drowning while boating in 2020, wrote about their friction in her 2016 memoir, Sorry Not Sorry.

"One of the Glee writers once said that Lea and I were like two sides of the same battery and that about sums us up. We are both strong-willed and competitive - not just with each other but with everyone - and that's not a good mixture," Rivera wrote.

In the documentary, Rivera's father, George, spoke of the pair's rivalry. "There was always a fight between them. Always. Everybody knew. Everybody saw it. They hated each other but, at the same time, respected each other's talent."

He also said that Rivera complained about Michele to production, causing Rivera to be briefly let go.

5. Rivera's father warned her about the dangers of boating before her death.

Rivera accidentally drowned while boating with her young son at California's Lake Piru in 2020. Her father George revealed in The Price of Glee that he had spoken with her just prior to her death about the dangers involved.

"I was FaceTiming with her trying to talk her through the pitfalls of trying to anchor your boat. First of all, I said, 'Naya, you're on a pontoon boat, that's not a boat... why are you on a pontoon boat?" he explained. "I said, 'Do not jump off that effin' boat. If you've got an anchor, you can anchor it, but do you know how to anchor it? We went through a couple [of] iterations like that and then the FaceTime call hung up and that was the last time I talked to her."

When he got the phone call from police informing him his daughter was missing, he "knew immediately" she had died. "You don't find a drifting, 5-year-old child asleep on a boat at the end of a lake without his mother and have any hope. I had no hope," he said.

6. Mark Salling was always "different".

Only a few months after Glee ended in 2015, Salling, who played Noah "Puck" Puckerman, was arrested for possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty. In 2018, he died by suicide.

In the documentary, crew members expressed surprise about his criminal behaviour, but they also said Salling had always been the odd one out from the rest of the cast.

"He was quieter, for sure, and kept to himself because I think he felt more of an adult than the others. He just was, you know, a bit off. He wasn’t just a regular young man. He had some issues going on, it seemed obvious," set decorator Munch said.

7. The cast were competitive about their social media followers.

The cast members were all relatively unknown before they appeared on the show, and social media was just taking off. As Glee increased in popularity, so did its stars.

"I would often see the actors gathered, talking about how many people they’d acquired as followers. And there was a competition. In the beginning, when they had to tweet every day, it was Lea that really had the numbers," hair department head Kirkpatrick said in the documentary.

Journalist Andy Swift said, "The fighting began almost immediately."

8. Eight cast and crew members from Glee died, adding more weight to the "Glee Curse".

While the deaths of Monteith, Rivera, and Salling are well-known, five crew members also died during production.

According to the documentary, assistant director Jim Fuller and "lead props guy, Paul" both died of a heart attack. Production assistant Nancy Motes and rigging gaffer Mitchell Byerly both died by suicide. Matthew Morrison's main stand-in, Mark Watson, died in a car accident.

Director of Photography, Chris Baffa, said there seemed to be a pattern. "To lose so many people, so quickly, you see a pattern forming there that to me is still unbelievable."

Byerly's brother J.A., who also worked on Glee, alleged his brother worked long hours and this contributed to his death.

"On the rigging crew, you are constantly working daily. Most of our time cards are at 72 hours," he said. "We don't win the Oscars, we don't win the Emmys, but we're the ones who make it happen. The intenseness of the show, I think, got to my brother.

"I blame it on the show. Why didn't they shut down the show?"

Feature Image: Glee/Fox.