Having to write this open letter is sad on so many levels. Because of some people's inner feelings and intent on seeing GP destroyed has required people who never wanted to be public or speak about this publicly, come to the light and expose things for what they were/are.
I am the MRS, wife of Alex for 11 years. I have known the ins/outs of the channel since day one. Granted I do have my own career so I have not been there on a daily basis, meaning not at each shoot or stream that was ever done. I absolutely know, however, how everyone was treated or not treated and everything that went on. I have given my home and my own services to the girls as needed. If someone needed a resume wrote, I would do it for them. If someone needed a job (when GP was not profitable) I would job search for them and help them with the application if needed. If someone needed a wage reference, I would write the reference letter for them. I would go grocery shopping for them. I would pick up their mail. If we ever went on vacation we would bring something back for everyone as a gift. When someone was being stalked online I spent time with writing and calling the authorities and filing reports, doing every thing we could so that they were not threatened. I spent my nights modding chats and online comments for people who kept exposing personal information because I worried for the girls safety. I have never even under the present circumstances ever wanted to expose someones full name/address/phone number etc. Because I have never wanted anyone to have their personal safety threatened. Everyone deserves to feel safe, even people who have made my life hell and have exposed my own household's personal information. I did all of this without a even slightest request for anything in return. I did all of this because I am a nice person and thought it was a nice gesture to give of myself in different areas they needed.
In the beginning the idea of the channel was to do something that wasn't currently (and presently) not really be done on YT and that was there were hundreds of male reaction channels, but there were close to none multi-girl gaming/reaction channels. So some girls agreed and liked the idea to shoot their reactions to video games and eventually react videos. Since this was a hobby project all the financial backing was done by my husband and myself. I remember stating that we could not continue to spend $50 on food for each shoot, it just wasnt plausible to spend more money on video shoots than my own grocery bill especially being that there was no money at all coming in from the videos. None of the girls ever were required to put up any money. It was supposed to be fun and if it turned into something that would have been bigger than awesome.. but no one was required to be a financial support except myself and my husband.
As girls were introduced, I am not going to say my first impression of them all, but I will say I like to compartmentalize my life. I dont like mixing jobs and friendships. They are completely different to me and I have no intention of going after work to have a drink with a workmate because that is not my personality. I do a job for a purpose and move on. That does not mean I am not a absolutely cordial and friendly person, because I tried my best to treat every girl respectably. And I think they all could attest to the fact that I was respectful to them whether I personally approved with the choices they made IRL, or not. I never said one bad word about any of the girls, and I actually played devils advocate for them each on many occasions.
My home was a place they could do whatever they wanted. So many nights my house was overrun with GP shoots. As I said before I like to compartmentalize so I would usually just do my own thing, but still be around in the house. Im actually kinda surprised with all the time people were around, I was never annoyed. I saw this could potentially be something and was trying to be patient, along with everyone else, that in the future this could be something bigger than it was. I was most familiar with the members up until Maddie. I have, however, read the text messages and listened to the phone calls about essentially everything that was happening. I have not been kept in the dark about anything. Above all of that I trust my spouse explicitly. I am confident with our relationship and what we have that I do not think even for a second this was a place for anything besides video gaming/reacts/etc. It seems any of the people who have left, and seem to condemn it and Alex, are people who had spouses or BF who were jealous of them having interaction with a male at GP. I know Alex met the boyfriends/husbands, and some chose to hate him just because he was a guy that worked with their girl, and that was the only reason. I dont exactly agree on a personal level with some of way the girls lived their lives.. but they each brought their own individual personality to GP and were never forced to be something they are not. However,if they were super shy, then they were encouraged to speak more in videos and be more verbal. They would be taught how to entertain live. Which is perfectly understandable when it is a reaction channel.
Some girls put more work than others into the channel. Some found it as a hobby they really enjoyed, others were more half-hearted about it. However, Alex spent soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much time making the channel grow. Most of the girls showed up to shoot footage and then move on with whatever else they were doing in their life. Alex would be there before, during, and after. He made sure absolutely everything else was done. If a girl didn't have a drivers license and needed a ride to come and record he would make sure they were picked up. As I said before he made sure they had food and energy drinks, or whatever they needed as a hospitable host. On many occasions I personally made food for people if they were hungry. If they were having personal problems in their life, he was their therapist to try and reason on the situation of what was going on. Throughout the years I have occasionally had a break in sanity and begged for it just to be done just because the growth of GP came before everything, we couldnt get a day away from it all hardly ever. But it was more than just us. If he left and stopped helping the channel it would absolutely suffer. A lot of girls did not respect each other and their opinions but almost all of the girls that came in respected Alex and was willing to take criticism from him if it came up.
So for years and years we personally funded the channel. YT made close to nothing to cover expenses. But it seemed worth it to continue. Eventually, the shoot location was being moved to Kenzies garage, since her place was an easier location to access among other reasons. Alex went and made a box within the garage so that the sound would be contained and the people in the house wouldn't be annoyed. It was an interesting little room, but it worked for the time being. There was a separate door the girls could use so that they weren't walking in and out of the house. Eventually though this was not working out. The housemates were getting annoyed. They wanted the garage back, and Kenzie didn't want it there anymore. So Alex and Sydney started to look for a different place. GP was making a little bit of money at this point. But being that GP income is based on peoples donations.. it was impossible (and still is impossible) to know what would be available for rent/utilities/month to month. This was a scary decision to make. Alex, Sydney and I were the ones that went location hunting. Signing paperwork, getting insurance, lease agreements, moving and storing equipment. So after a few rental mishaps we found a basement room to rent, which we were personally on the line for since Alex was the lease holder. It is one of those instances you either just take the jump and hope you don't bleed out financially, or you just hope Gp can afford it. But we decided to keep going. To go out on a limb and hope it survived. Anyone who has rented a commercial space knows, it is not a forgiving lease. Not only that but utilities, internet, ect. But like I said before none of the girls had to worry about any of this. They were only needing to focus on having fun. Because all this other stuff behind the scenes and all the stress to keep it going removes any lighthearted-ness you could possibly have. So for them to have much genuine fun as possible they didn't have to think about any of the business factors of a group channel.
Among all of this, over all these years, Alex was a sounding board about what girls werent getting along with who. Who hated who. And trying to reason with each person trying to get them to look at their good qualities even if they had a lot of bad qualities. So yes there were many nights/days/afternoons/mornings that was GP personal therapy time, so that everyone could get along with each other. Which took away time from our own relationship, but was seen as what was needed to keep it together. Alex has always tried to be balanced. But I saw him sacrifice anything if the girls needed something.
There were definitely times where the frustration of all the drama behind the scenes became too much for Alex. He was the glue that kept everyone working together. He was the one everyone went to with every problem they had. And when everyone was fighting with each other, of course, there were times he would lash out. But we are all human and things like that happen. But there was always someone not getting along with someone at a point in GP. That was never seen though by the fans because it is not something the fans/followers needed to see.
Eventually GP really really took off. Their presence on twitch took off, YT was much slower to grow. FINALLY some of the debt that had accrued over all the years of GP could be paid back. Which was a huge relief, because there was only so many more credit cards that could be used or personal loans taken out to fund the GP beast.
In the midst of all of this, money became a huge contention in GP. Some girls thought they should make more than others. Some girls could care less about getting paid, they did it for the fun of it even when money was coming in for them to be paid. Eventually, contracts were introduced so that GP did not become a revolving door of girls. Being that you would come in, get your own following, and then leave taking those followers with you. In order for GP to survive long term it made sense that people coming into GP were doing it in good faith, and not for bad intentions of coming onto a “semi-popular” channel and then taking all those people and starting their own channel. Essentially taking advantage of GP and what they had built. Everyone signed their contract willingly. If anyone didnt agree they did not have to sign the contract. It was talked about openly and was not a surprise when it was introduced. Along with that each of the girls started to become independent contractors of GP. Paying someone under the table is not something I am too keen on doing. Especially with the amounts of money being paid out. So all the girls became independent contractors of the channel. The girls did not have to worry about attorneys, accountants, editors, advertisers, photographers, etc. So no, the girls did not always know everyone who worked behind the scenes because the business aspect was not something that they needed to concern themselves with. There were group meetings to go over what AFKs should be done, video ideas, art ideas, any issues that needed to be addressed, and any business stuff to decide on together.
Drea was the hardest hit to leave GP IMO. She was a popular girl on the channel, but also her and Alex were very close on a friend/bro/sis level. He helped her figure out many life situations. She was seen as a fragile human being who had a rough go at life and needed extra help at adulting. I felt bad for a lot of the situations Drea had been in growing up, that she wasnt properly helped at how to do simple adult things. So of course we helped as much as we could. She needed a bank account to deposit her checks, so Alex co-signed on an account since she destroyed her credit. She needed to learn how to drive so Alex helped her learn how to drive. She didnt have a car, so we sold (even loaning the money to her for it) her our SUV at 1/3 the price we could have sold to someone else because it was something she needed. Among many, many, other things that were done to help her try to succeed at being an adult and teaching her how to be an adult.
We had to leave home for around 45 days, so the channel needed to be self-sufficient for at least 45 days. The text message from Drea before we left to Alex was – you are my best friend. We then leave, with very minimal contact with anything related to the channel for 45 days. When we come home there was a thick weird fog coming from some of the girls.
And then about 15 days after we returned, there was a group meeting. Drea came into the room threw her keys on the table and said she was leaving. The text saying Drea was leaving and wanted nothing to do with GP was straight up puzzling to me. She didnt want to stream for GP, she didnt want any affiliation at all with GP. Which was so crazy since she was always 100% dedicated to GP no matter what before. It was so weird because Mariya was out of state and she was set up really nicely to still be a part of GP. I then get a separate text message that Renae is also leaving. I was thinking what in the world happened while we were gone??? Is there some pact that was made for a bunch of girls to leave GP? I know that each girl that leaves is persuaded to stay. Like any job, if you are seen as a valuable member you are tried to be convinced to stay with your employer. Each girl is such a big part of the channel so if there is something that could be changed to keep them around, anything would be done to keep them around. At that point it was a moment of, “should GP continue?” Some of the girls that were still there could only apply themselves to the channel very little. So the workload would go on a few of the girls, which means they would burn out really quick. My thought in this whole process is maybe this is the beginning of the end for GP. In my head all these girls would probably want to get married, have families, maybe have a career that isnt an online personality so maybe it was the end? Especially since Steph left earlier in the year, then Mars decided to move on. Now Drea and Renae?
Renae decided to stay but do very minimal amounts. Then Drea started streaming very quickly after leaving GP which did not even surprise me. I knew personally that she would start streaming. But I was super surprised she wanted to break her contract. Things were just weird. There was a really weird air with GP. We would find out later, some people that were still part of GP were telling Drea all the stuff that was going on behind the scenes regarding her broken contract. Making contentions even deeper between Drea and GP.
In the midst of it all we were having personal family health issues, so it was asked that Kenzie and Sydney split the massive workload and discuss how much they would want to pay themselves as co-managers (so to speak) in keeping GP on track. That however came to an end when it was blatantly obvious Kenzie could not gel with Sydney. Kenzie felt like she should be the only leader at GP. It was some weird power struggle and Kenzie started blasting ominous messages all over twitter about how terrible Sydney was. So since nothing was signed over to the 2 girls yet it was decided that Kenzie should take a backseat instead of being a partner with Sydney because she wanted GP to be a monarchy with her leading the pack. It was the weirdest time. At one point all the girls could work together, and now not only could they not work together but some wanted to be the sole person of the channel. Some got super egotistical about it all and saw themselves and 'the reason' the channel was still going and not seeing it as a group effort anymore.
Among all of that Renae started loosing her mind because Kenzie un-followed her on twitter. Which everyone else in the channel was thinking, why would she do that?!?! Especially after Drea went postal for being un-followed from the WGP account So she and Drea decided to do a bashing session on twitch which they stated outright lies about the channel.
On top of all this insanity, I started to have very poor health. I became very very ill. My skin would burn and swell and I could never leave my bed. I was in immense pain and all this was going on which added an insane amount of stress to everything. I was then trying to focus on my health because everything regarding GP was too stressful to have to deal with. After being sick a while GP decided to take a break after receiving an immense amount of hate and death threats, etc. online.
Personally, I was thinking, thank God... I need a few weeks of calm. The stress was not helping my medical condition. I kept going to DR appointments and no one knew what was going on. It was very very un-nerving and hard to deal with having a super active lifestyle to being stuck in my bed all the time. It was so demoralizing. But I just tried to keep taking one day at a time and hope the insanity was over.
Then Alex gets an email from Cori and Kenzie during the break saying that they also want to leave GP and do their own thing. To me it truly seemed like a pact was made to destroy GP and to instead individually create their own channels. That truly truly felt like the end of GP. Because it seemed that almost every member that comes on decides they would rather do their own thing then work with a group. It was surreal and really bizarre to not know what was going on.
Cori and Kenzie decided they wanted to make their own contract with GP when they left. In my head I was thinking, why dont they just leave. So many people had already left, like just go take what you want and go. But they insisted on leaving on good terms which included paying for a custom computer of Coris along with a desk, chair, and computer accessories. Along with a patreon photo shoot of Kenzie and Cori. They signed all these papers with Sydney and came to some terms with them. Then they parted ways.
It genuinely surprised me to see all the fight that was left in the girls that remained in GP. They were determined to keep GP going. Then other girls that were not members came out and said how they would really want to keep GP alive. It was so surprising to me to see that even though they had been beat up so bad that they wanted to keep going. Im not even a member on the channel and was thinking.... I dont know if I have the energy to even stay with this any more. That could have been my illness talking. But the energy was absolutely not there.
In the midst of all of this Renae started loading text messages on twitter to make it seem like Alex was some man-bully behind GP. Then Renae and Drea continued to speak of him as some kind of creep and pervert. Which I was thinking, have they truly lost their mind? Alex was not happy when Drea left and how she behaved. And he was not happy when Renae chose to alienate herself from GP, and then blow up in some kind of uncontrolled rage towards GP. But just because someone is not happy does not make them a pervert, creep, stalker. And it blew my mind the depths people would go to, to make themselves seem like some kind of victim in a channel 'dominated' by a male. I absolutely knew how much respect they were given. And to go and scream on a platform full of GP followers how they were abused emotionally and forced to do things they didnt want to. I cant even explain how much that is against his character. He would never, NEVER, want someone to be uncomfortable in doing anything for GP.
And then Kenzie and Cori which had a bill owed to GP close to 2k, in the contract they insisted on having, said they wernt going to pay anything they agreed on. In that moment GP, Sydney, & Alex had been taken advantage of on so many levels. Starting with Steph, the girls began to see that if they push back, GP and Alex wont do anything. The decision to keep GP alive, and what it was supposed to be originally, weighed heavily on Alex. After trying to speak to them privately to resolve these things and being targeted and threatened and stonewalled, finally the only choice to make was a legal one. That is when the lawsuit was filed, after an insane amount of emails and more communication to try to resolve it. Which I cringe at anything related to a lawsuit, but it seemed like nothing would stop if it wasnt done legally, which is sad. Then of course when it was served, they both flew into a rage. Kenzie stating she was underpaid and abused also in the channel. It was just like, when they didnt feel things were going right just claim abuse and manipulation and people will pity them. Kenzie then claimed in a counter suit she was underpaid $7,500 in 2016. So I was the one that pulled her schedules for 2016 and the stream totals and who she streamed with and how much she was paid. It turned out if she was paid according the contract she was overpaid by almost $3k, which didnt surprise me. One month she streamed once and got paid $1,000. Its just so sad the narrative they were trying to feed to people.
Then Cori and Kenzie decided to spread their own lies and grossness through their own 'tell all' which they then mislead people even further about GP and how it works. That GP takes money from charities. It amazed me how kenzie and cori joined tin condemning Alex, Sydney and GP. It was like Alex and Sydney were not even humans to them. Kenzie choosing to change Alex name in her phone to his complete full name knowing what she was doing, by not only claiming he was a woman-izer of sorts who abuses women emotionally but then feeding that narrative to her followers in the hopes he would be hurt? Threatened? I dont see any other reason for doing that. They want to make him hurt. They want to attack him personally. Calling him ugly and old. Even if that was true, which it isnt, what does it have to do with anything? It truly sickened me seeing them do this, and for what? To take what GP had? To make money? What then? Because as you have likely been shown by actual evidence in the massive account released, they are lying about anything they can to manipulate the community GP had. In what world do you think good-hearted people like Maddie, Bells, Niki, and so on, be part of some evil empire? But Drea, and Kenzie have both admitted to being the type of person to do whatever they want, to hell with anyone else. And they went after us to hurt us in any way they could. Even after all Alex had gone out of his way to do for them. They wanted to end everything he helped build, and make him some monster on the internet.
It just kept continuing on social platforms of how terrible GP was, and that the people there are horrible and manipulators. They kept selling everyone that there was some gross, creepy, pervert man behind it all who seemingly abused women. It was so disheartening to not only see, but to see how many people believed the garbage. And that fact that they not only would lie about it, but go out of their way to spoon feed it to any around GP. Come support the ones who got away! Don't give your money and attention to the ugly man controller monster thing! And as silly as that sounds, look at what happened. It worked to a great extent. GP has never been in a more difficult place to keep the studio open. The people working there do it almost for nothing. But they arent complaining, or guilting people into the situation. They love this place. They love the people who see through the garbage lies. They love what GP is supposed to be. And if it survives the liars, then it will only be stronger. If it falls to the liars, then we know that we did everything good we could do and we hold onto how we behaved despite it all.
I have lost a lot of faith in humanity with this whole process. Not only that, but this is another reason women are not believed when they are actually in an abusive situation. There was no abuse in this channel but it was alleged there was sexual exploitation which is so wrong on so many levels and makes me so sad the levels people will go for their own personal revenge. Sydney is the great human she portrays herself to be. She has been a massive punching bag by a clique of mean girls who have aggresivley targeted her online on multiple platforms. Im amazed by the strength she has shown with the never-ending amount of threats that have been hurled her way.
GP may not survive after all of this, I can only say that I hope those that wanted to take GP down so bad.. that you feel good with the person you are. That you sleep at night knowing you lied so much and assassinated the character of genuinely good people. I know I personally want to use myself and abilities to help people in my lifetime, to make a difference of good. I have to say that by seeing your examples of how you have treated those in GP, that I am happy with how I have acted in my life so far, and am proud of who I am, and how I treat people & I hope you can truly look at yourself and your actions and choose to be a better person.
The MRS