by Faith-Ashleigh Wong
I was starting to prepare myself for Glee withdrawals with season three finishing up over on TV3, so the new season of The Glee Project could not have come at a better time! I fell in love with Damian McGinty (who plays Rory Flanagan) in season one, who will I fall in love with this season?
For those late to the party, The Glee Project is a sort of "spin off" show which is essentially a singing/ acting/ dancing boot camp with the prize being to win a role on Glee. Best prize ever right?! I think Ryan Murphy summed it up best – it's more of an "inspiration contest" than a talent contest.
That is the thing that I love about The Glee Project. It welcomes being different and is all about celebrating your inner geek. It really is such a breath of fresh air in a society where appearance usually trumps personality and life story.
No doubt inspired by the contenders from the previous season, this season, casting director Robert Urlich had his work cut out for him with a far more diverse group of people auditioning. In fact, when it came down to determining who would be on the show, Ryan was so impressed by the talent this year that he ended up increasing the final cut by two, choosing a top fourteen.
This year's contestants are a colourful bunch! We've got a transgender kid, a female version of Artie, a math geek, a country boy, a Turkish Muslim, and a singing and acting veteran who also suffers from ADHD, just to name a few! There is also the show's first blind contestant – Mario. What an inspiration, already have so much respect for him! And what does everyone think of the Justin Bieber lookalike?!
For their first homework assignment, the contestants are tasked to work out an arrangement and choreography for Lady Gaga's Born This Way – the perfect song for this week's theme: individuality. The guest mentor was none other than the leading lady herself, the stunningly beautiful with the equally stunning voice, Lea Michele. Suffice it to say everyone was very starstruck! I would be.
Lea was very generous with her praise of their performance. Personally I thought they were a little awkward in their movements and felt they didn't quite come together as a group vocally but I do agree with Lea that Shanna performed the best overall. I have a feeling she's going to go far.
The concept behind the video of their first group number – Here I Go Again by White Snake – was a great starting point to ease the group into the whole "performing in a music video" business, I thought. Standouts for me were Blake and Charlie. Their acting experience came in handy as they were absolute naturals on the screen; the camera clearly loves them.
My favourite part in this episode has got to be the group choreography session. Poor Zach Woodlee has a lot of work to do this season as the contestants are not the most coordinated bunch!
In the end Tyler's awkwardness during the music video, Max's struggle in the vocal booth and Aylin just losing the spark that the mentors fell in love with at the auditions is what landed them in the bottom three. I thought Aylin absolutely killed that last chance performance – was very impressed.
What did everyone think of the first episode? Did you think the right person didn't make the call back list? Who are your favourites so far? I am loving the eye candy this season already...
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