Reality

‘The Surreal Life’: Ally Brooke Talks ‘Unbearable’ Pressure of Fifth Harmony Amid Panic Attack in Exclusive Sneak Peek

The Fifth Harmony alum calls on castmate Tyler Posey for help in this PopCulture.com sneak peek.
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Ally Brooke’s time in the Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets house is off to a rough start. In a PopCulture.com exclusive sneak peek of Tuesday’s all-new episode of the MTV show, the Fifth Harmony alum begins to suffer a panic attack while listening to her fellow famous houseguests open up about some of the more difficult times in their lives. 

“Chet [Hanks] is talking about his experience, and all of a sudden I’m feeling really anxious and overwhelmed,” Brooke narrates. As everyone has opened up about their own personal struggles – from O.T. Genasis’ experiences with gun violence as a young man to Hanks “feeling completely worthless” as the son of beloved actor Tom Hanks – Brooke has a sudden mental shift. 

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“Like what am I doing here?” the singer wonders. “I don’t know everyone so well. There’s a bunch of cameras on me, and then bam.” 

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Ally Brooke struggles on Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets.

In the middle of a group conversation, Brooke gets up from the table and begins to walk outside. “I can’t even take a breath and all of a sudden, all of my emotions just are out of my body and I have a panic attack,” the Dancing With the Stars alum recalls in a confessional as she’s shown beginning to hyperventilate through tears in the house. 

It’s then that she calls for Tyler Posey. The Teen Wolf star quickly goes to Brooke, asking if she’s alright, to which she admits to “feeling anxious.” Posey comforts her in that moment, beginning to take her on a walk away from the cameras to a grassy place in order to help ground her. “[I’ve tried] to talk people through panic attacks before – I’ve had them myself,” Posey shares later of his response to Brooke’s crisis. “I’m like OK, let’s go to the grass. I know feeling nature, for me, helps calm things down.”

As the two sit cross-legged in a moment of mindfulness, Brooke reveals she’s “not sure” why she was feeling so anxious.  “I think it’s hard not to feel like I have to be ‘on,’” she shares, explaining that she feels “guarded,” not having previously opened up about her experience in the entertainment industry. “It was terrible, some of the worst things people can do and what they’re capable of,” she continues. “And it’s all for greed.” 

Brooke now wants to be “a voice” for people in her position to protect others from the same “traumatic” experiences. “I felt in Fifth Harmony I had to be ‘on’ constantly,” she continues. “I had to mask my emotions, and it was just so much pressure sometimes it was just unbearable. And that kind of carries on to today in ways for me.”

Prior to the premiere of Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets, Brooke told PopCulture that she was looking forward to showing her fans a more vulnerable side with her reality show appearance. “I think I began the show a bit more guarded, kind of getting to know people, getting to know the environment, just checking my surroundings and inch by inch opening up,” she said. “But at the end, you see my evolution and you see my vulnerability becomes my strength. So I really love that about the show and that I got to reveal that to people.”

MTV has also launched the A.S.K. – Acknowledge, Support, Keep-In-Touch – campaign to help give young people the tools to simply and effectively help emotionally support those around them as part of their ‘Mental Health is Health’ initiative. Get more information here.

Watch everything play out when Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.