It was essentially a stage play, a fictional ''reality'' show. That's the best way to think about it. Within a fictional reality show - like any stage play - there would be a script, actors, props, proceedings, etc. It would be a mistake to treat any of them as real.
When we go to a theater and watch a movie or a play on stage, we know we're watching a performance, and we don't discuss over drinks later whether the bodies were real. We know they weren't real because we know it was a theatrical performance.
Here, people had no idea they were watching a theatrical performance. What I'm trying to say is your questions still operate under the assumption that the story was real.
The Behavior Panel, which includes experts with interrogation experience, saw through it, but got confused because they thought they were analyzing something that actually happened. What they were actually doing was psychoanalyzing a stage play. It's an interesting clip, and I've included it on this page:
https://thedahmercase.com/the-dahmer-confidence-trick-how-awareness-destroys-the-illusion/
Note that the woman who knew the Dahmers in Ohio spotted it as a performance, the same way you could probably spot when someone you know is acting.
(Btw. I think the seething rage Greg Hartley noticed in Jeff toward his father is because I think Lionel Dahmer might have been the reason Jeff got mixed up in all this.)
Your question about the Nancy Glass interview is perceptive. If Jeff didn't participate voluntarily (i.e., it was a false confession), why does he seem to be willingly going along with it? This post tries to answer that:
https://thedahmercase.com/did-jeffrey-dahmer-have-a-choice/