Dancing With The Stars may seem like a fun reality show where untrained celebrities test their abilities to learn complicated choreography in a short amount of time, but it's more akin to facing off against your peers in a vicious, bloody battle to the death -- so says former Season 22 contestant Mischa Barton, anyway.

The former O.C. star talked about her stint on the reality competition show in an interview with The Ringer, where she explained how wildly removed the experience turned out to be from her expectations.

“Ugh, I had no idea it would be so bad," she said. "I got told off by my dancer [Artem Chigvintsev]. I was supposed to control the costumes, I was told that I could do the design aspect of it, that’s kind of the reason why I agreed to do it.”

Barton -- who was eliminated after three episodes -- says the Dancing With The Stars team had asked her for years to appear on the show, but it wasn't until they offered her more creative control that she agreed to do it.

That didn’t happen," she continued. "It wasn’t collaborative like a choreographer on a film set...I was so confused by it. It was like The Hunger Games. It was all a popularity contest. It was awful. I was so glad to get kicked off.”

Still, the Sixth Sense actress did find a silver lining in the experience, saying it gave her a deeper appreciation for social media.

“I remember the days when you had no voice, and they could make up stories and say whatever they wanted, and now at least they have an insight into your life," she said. "People can see what you’re really like. Twitter less so, but Instagram has an artistic side to it, where you can see through that person’s eye, what they creatively choose, what they’re up to and who they are — you get a feeling for them. I enjoy it now.”

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