“Bama Rush,” the new HBO documentary, promises to pull back the curtain on the University of Alabama’s high-pressure sorority recruitment.

The documentary, which will air on HBO Max Tuesday, May 23, is directed by Rachel Fleit. It follows four potential new recruits — PNMs, for the uninitiated — as they navigate the rush process in Tuscaloosa.

In the trailer, interviewees call the rush process a “game” and a “ritual of power, status and prestige.” They discuss sororities’ focus on their appearances, as well as mental health, racism and the pressure to succeed.

One participant, Makalya Miller, references historic racism at the university and during the rush process in the trailer. The school’s historically white sororities only formally desegregated in 2013. “Everyone just looks at you, if you have any drop of color in you,” she said. “It’s just awkward, I guess.”

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One participant, Shelby Rose, already has gone public about her feelings about the documentary, saying in a TikTok that it “was very different than what it ended up being.”

Rose said the crew began filming her when she was still a senior in high school in Illinois. She said they followed her to Tuscaloosa, but she stopped filming with them during rush week, “because what they were doing did not align with her morals and values and it made me very uncomfortable.”

Who is featured in the documentary? What are their names?

According to filmmakers, here are the primary students featured in Bama Rush:

• Shelby Rose, from Quincy, Illinois,
• Isabelle Eacrett, from Rancho Cucamonga, California,
• Hailey Holliday, from Orange Beach, Alabama,
• Makalya Miller, from Leeds, Alabama

Other Alabama students and PNMs also were filmed throughout the process.

Who makes it through rush? Where are they now?

Spoilers ahead.

Shelby Rose is majoring in public relations at the University of Alabama with a minor in digital content engagement. Rose is now a Phi Mu.

“I love the University of Alabama. It has given me so much,” she said in a social media post on TikTok. “If I didn’t rush at the University of Alabama, I wouldn’t have stayed through the first semester, because the girls I met have given so much to me … I have nothing but positive things to say about campus and the sororities.”

She has been involved in pageants for several years, and was named Miss Quincy by her hometown earlier this year.

Eacrett participated in the documentary throughout Rush Week and receives a bid from Alpha Delta Pi. She has the tagline, “I’m nervited — which is like, nervous and excited.”

Miller dropped during rush week and is now studying for a degree in criminology.

Hailey Holliday is Miss Orange Beach 2023 and recently competed in the Miss Alabama pageant. Holliday also left the rush process early.

MORE: ‘Bama Rush’ director talks body image, TikTok, race and more in explosive new sorority doc

Was anyone penalized by their sorority?

It’s not clear whether any participants were punished for working with the film crew during or after the rush process.

The university condemned rumors about secret filming during rush week — later confirmed when the documentary project was announced.

“The University is aware of reports that outside parties have facilitated unauthorized recordings of our students involved in Panhellenic recruitment,” Shane Dorrill, a university spokesman, wrote in an email to AL.com. “The University unequivocally does not condone surreptitious filming or recording of students, some of whom are minors, without their consent. The University has not authorized any third-party entity to film, record, or document any recruitment activities and does not allow media inside occupied buildings such as residence halls and sorority houses.”

“Further, it has been repeatedly communicated that Alabama Panhellenic Association recruitment rules prohibit potential new members from filming or recording inside any chapter houses,” he added. “To be clear, the University is not involved with this production and finds these reported activities to be deplorable, especially when targeting recent high school graduates.”

The Alabama Panhellenic Association is aware of the documentary, but previously declined to respond to participants’ comments or questions about filming.

More on Bama Rush:

What to know about Bama Rush Tok’s ‘season two’ in 2022

How to decode Bama Rush TikToks. What’s a PNM?

See vintage photos from Alabama rush bid day

What is ‘The Machine’ at the University of Alabama?

University of Alabama condemns filming during sorority bid week