On May 23, Max (formerly HBO Max) released their highly-anticipated Bama Rush documentary, which chronicles the experiences of four potential new members (PNMs) preparing to go through sorority recruitment at the University of Alabama in fall 2022, as well as the culture and history of Greek life at Bama. The doc wasn’t without controversy, of course, as Bama Rush TikTok has captivated the internet’s attention each year since 2021. Now, one of the main subjects of the documentary is speaking out about her experience filming with director Rachel Fleit and the team behind Bama Rush. Spoiler warning: Spoilers for Bama Rush follow.
Shelby Rose was the first PNM to be introduced in Bama Rush. We first meet her as a high school senior who’s just gotten her acceptance letter to Alabama. Hailing from Illinois, she spoke in the documentary about her adoption story, her background doing pageants, and her hopes of getting into a sorority at UA. After rumors about Max giving PNMs secret mics to record inside sorority houses during rush, however (rumors that ended up being false), Shelby stopped filming with Fleit and we only find out from her TikTok that she later accepted a bid from Phi Mu.
@shelby.rose4 This is the truth and my story. This is something that has made me mentally and physically sick for a very long time. I am thankful I left when I did and pray for every UA girl in a sorority right now. I always want to spread a positive light in the world. #bamarush #bama #bamarushdoc #bamarushweek #bamarushtok #college #fyp #foryoupage
♬ original sound – SHELBY ROSE
On May 8, soon after the Bama Rush trailer came out, Rose took to her TikTok to give her side of the story. “They reached out to me when I was a senior in high school, before Rush Week, and before I even blew up on TikTok,” she said. (Rose currently has over 61,000 followers on the app, and the documentary showed one of her “rush bag” videos going viral.) “All of my stuff that I filmed with them was very positive, because I was told that this was very different than what it ended up becoming. So I’m in just as much of a shock as y’all.” Her Campus reached out to Max for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Rose says that the documentary team filmed her in her senior year of high school, but she didn’t film with them once Rush Week at UA had begun “because what they were doing did not align with my morals and values and it made me very uncomfortable.”
She doesn’t specify what the documentary was doing, but says she does “not agree with any of the negative things said about anything to do with the University of Alabama campus as a whole, and the UA Panhellenic Association,” probably referring to the criticism from others in the documentary about The Machine, the racial dynamics in UA Greek life, and experiences of other PNMs like Hailey Holliday, who found out she was blacklisted from every sorority on campus and chose to drop out of rush. “I feel as blindsided and confused as everybody else,” Rose added about the tone of the documentary.
As for her reason for agreeing to be in the documentary in the first place, Rose said, “I wanted to shine light on girls from very small towns in the North going to a huge school and rushing, because it’s very different.” She made her feelings pretty clear about the rush process: “I love my sorority, and I love every single sorority at UA. I have nothing but positive things to say about the campus and the sororities.”
So, how is Max still allowed to use footage of her if she wanted out? Rose clarified that the contract she signed as a high school senior allows them to use any clips of her that they already had. “I didn’t do this to get more fame or anything like that. I honestly did it because I thought it would be cool, and now it’s kicking me in the butt. I’ve lost a lot of trust for the people that are in charge of this film.”
Rose closed her video by saying she was praying for the other girls who appear in Bama Rush. “Whether they knew it was a negative thing, if they’re one of the ones that went through it all the way and filmed during rush, whatever. I’m praying for every single one of those girls.” So far, she’s the only one of the main four subjects — Rose, Holliday, Isabelle Eacrett, and Makayla Miller — to publicly criticize Max for her experience being filmed for the documentary.
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