Harry Hayden and Sash Seabourne exit Australian Idol and reveal the nasty underbelly of reality TV

It’s meant to be just a singing contest. But now Australian Idol stars Harry and Sash have opened up about the battles they have faced behind the scenes.

Teen Australian Idol contestant Harry Hayden received death threats and messages of homophobic hate via social media during his campaign on Seven’s reality talent quest show.

The 18-year-old singer and songwriter, who was voted out of the 2023 contest on Monday, said he was proud the rebooted Idol featured a more diverse cast of contestants than its previous incarnation.

The young Victorian pop artist said the hate he received for being “openly gay” on Idol at the beginning of this year’s series tested his mental health reserves.

Harry Hayden endured death threats as he pursued his pop dream on Idol. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“I was openly gay on the show, and the only one who really talked about it, which was really hard because I got a lot of hate which really affected me at the beginning,” Hayden said.

“I got some death threats and people telling me to off myself, there was a lot, on Instagram DMS and Messenger.

“The reason why doing Idol was such an opportunity for me to learn so much about myself is because I’ve genuinely learned not to take these kinds of things to heart.

“I’ve been I’ve been one to take discrimination in my face since I was really little and at school, it was traumatising – this gave me thicker skin, to a new level.”

Sash Seabourne refused to play the Idol makeover game. Picture: Supplied

While this pop aspirant had to battle online trolls, 25-year-old folk rock artist Sash Seabourne had to fight against Idol producers giving him a makeover.

Seabourne, who was also eliminated by voters this week, said he had to flatly refuse the relentless requests to cut his hair and give him a spray tan.

The 25-year-old artist, who already has his own songs uploaded on Spotify, said he became stressed out by attempts to mess with his image.

“There was a bit of friction between me and the production who wanted me to get a spray tan. And they tried to give me a haircut,” he said.

“After the show, I had some words one-on-one with Harry Connick Jr and told him I was so grateful to be on the show but it was also quite stressful towards the end because I was having to fight harder and harder to stay authentic and stay original when they wanted to change a lot of things about me. And he was really supportive.

“You have to know what you want – and what you don’t want – if you are going to be in the music industry.”

Seabourne plans to continue his music career as an independent artist. Picture: Channel 7/Supplied

While both singers said they had come out of the competition having achieved their end goal – to build a fanbase – they were divided about the prospect of securing a major label deal post Idol.

Sony has options to sign any of the top 12. Hayden has already been contacted by producers keen to work with the young pop artist and said he would love to be signed to a big label. Seabourne said he wanted to continue to pursue his career as an independent artist.

“One thing I’ve learned about being famous on these shows is I would rather have a real close personal connection with a smaller audience where they all know my name and we’ve all met each other than have millions of fans in a much more impersonal way. That sounds exhausting to me.”

Australian Idol returns on Sunday at 7pm.

Originally published as Harry Hayden and Sash Seabourne exit Australian Idol and reveal the nasty underbelly of reality TV