Entertainment- Cameron Mitchell said he and his "The Glee Project" costar Damian McGinty would read fan fiction.
- Mitchell, who lived with McGinty at the time, said sometimes they'd read fan fiction together.
"Glee Project" contestant Cameron Mitchell said he was aware of the fan fiction written about him and costar Damian McGinty – in fact, sometimes, he'd even read it.
After "The Glee Project" aired in 2011, many viewers took to Tumblr to celebrate their fandom and post fan fiction, stories written by fans that typically utilize characters or people from shows and movies. Mitchell and McGinty were a popular "ship" — or a pairing recognized by the fans — often referred to as "Dameron" or "McMitchell."
Speaking to Insider ahead of the 10th anniversary of the end of "The Glee Project," Mitchell said he was "so fascinated" by the Tumblr fan fiction.
"It's scary. It definitely wasn't fun to read, but I was so enamored that someone could write this whole fantasy realm of stories about me," he said. "They got dark, and I definitely couldn't finish a lot of them, but I definitely read them."
After season one of the reality competition wrapped, Mitchell and McGinty lived together in LA for over a year. During that time, Mitchell said, the two read a lot of the fan fiction they came across with one another.
"When I got to the weird sex stuff, we weren't reading those together," Mitchell recalled. "But we definitely slept across the hall from each other, and he'd be like, 'Did you read that one?' I'd be like, 'Dude, that's weird.'"
They were friends on 'The Glee Project' and are still in touch
Mitchell and McGinty both competed on season one of the Oxygen reality competition. Mitchell said McGinty was the first person he met, and he immediately thought, "We're gonna be friends."
"I remember me and Damian kind of sitting back and being like, 'Well, there's nothing that special about us. What are we doing here?'" Mitchell recalled. "So it was a lot of self-deprecation. He just understood."
However, Mitchell left the competition at the end of episode seven, and his choice to do so ended up keeping McGinty safe on the show. The Derry native went on to win a role on "Glee."
They both told Insider they still talk to this day. On August 26, McGinty posted on Facebook that they now live "10 minutes apart" in Nashville, Tennessee.
Representatives for McGinty did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.