TV Glee's very special alcohol episode was inspired by the cast's own sake-soaked rager "We got drunk on set y'all," Kevin McHale reveals on his and Jenna Ushkowitz's podcast, And That’s What You Really Missed. By Lester Fabian Brathwaite Lester Fabian Brathwaite Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly, where he covers breaking news, all things Real Housewives, and a rich cornucopia of popular culture. Formerly a senior editor at Out magazine, his work has appeared on NewNowNext, Queerty, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker. He was also the first author signed to Phoebe Robinson's Tiny Reparations imprint. He met Oprah once. EW's editorial guidelines Published on August 1, 2023 10:16PM EDT In a boozy example of art imitating life, a drunken party on set led to a drunken party in an episode of Glee about alcohol awareness. Glee alums Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz talked about the events surrounding the season 2 episode "Blame It on the Alcohol" on their podcast And That's What You Really Missed. "We got drunk on set y'all," McHale said. Heather Morris (left) and Lea Michele on 'Glee'. FOX Image Collection via Getty "We got caught having a dance party at base camp — where our trailers are — after going to lunch and having a little bit of some substances. And by substances I mean sake," Ushkowitz further explained. In the episode, the Gleeks are charged with sending a message to the rest of the school about avoiding alcohol. But then Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) throws a house party and everyone in the glee club gets so wasted they show up hungover the next day for their big performance. Teenagers and binge-drinking lead to their inevitable conclusion and Kesha's "Tik Tok" ends with Brittany (Heather Morris) and Santana (Naya Rivera) blowing chunks all over Rachel. McHale said in IRL when they went out there was one person, "the ringleader," who kept pushing for everyone to drink, though he won't "name names." He did add, however, that "some of us partook more than others." "Then the producers came down and they partook in our dance party…but then went back and snitched on us and we got in trouble," Ushkowitz revealed. "And they wrote an episode about it." McHale recalled that they filmed the party scene "over and over and over again," with Ushkowitz remarking that, "It felt like a party. It really did." Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Related content: Glee's Kevin McHale says Naya Rivera and Jenna Ushkowitz staged an 'intervention' for him over steroid use Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz say Naya Rivera's death led to end of original Glee podcast Cory Monteith's Glee costars wish they'd praised his acting more