Girl Friday Productions interview questions

I had a positive interview experience with Girl Friday Productions overall, at least in the sense that the process went quickly, and I enjoyed speaking with the members of the hiring team. That being said, they ended up hiring someone with significantly less experience in the end. This alone would have been fine if that's what they were looking for; however, after the final round of interviews, they reached out to my references and had them fill out documentation/questionnaires. It provided a false sense of hope and added a layer of embarrassment to the process that seemed unnecessary. (I had to then tell my references that I didn't get the job once they started congratulating me, assuming that the reference check was just a final formality.)