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Tenacity (Season 2)
Season 2, Episode 8
NUP 149052 0014
Air date July 24, 2012
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Tenacity is an episode for Season Two of The Glee Project, a spin-off of Glee, in which young hopefuls compete for a guest starring role on the show. It aired on July 24th 2012.

Guest Mentor: Amber Riley
Homework Assignment Winner: Ali
Eliminated: Abraham

Summary

The episode begins with the contenders talking about how close they are to the end, and how excited they are to get started on this week's theme. Blake notes that at this point in the competition, having come so far, winning means more to him than anything. Shanna and Abraham have a discussion of how everything matters at this point, and Shanna says there's only 6 more people she's got to beat to win. Robert comes in to announce that the week's theme is Tenacity, something they've had to have already and will need a lot more of before the season ends. When the contenders are asked what being tenacious means to them, Ali answers that it means when an obstacle comes in your way, you use it. In confessional she mentions that because of her wheelchair, she grew up in a family whose theme was "Never give up!" Robert tells them the week's homework assignment is Survivor by Destiny's Child. As the contenders divide up the lines, Aylin thinks that all of the lines are awesome. Abraham mentions that he feels he is the embodiment of tenacity because he was supposed to be a lawyer. Shanna tells us she's been tenacious since she was five years old because of her mother's involvement in drugs. The contenders decide to jam together on the last line, but when practicing Aylin says it was confusing and Lily says it was flat.

In the choir room, Ali says that because it's tenacity week they need to bring it up to an 11, and Aylin agrees. Robert introduces Amber Riley, who sang this song on Glee, and tells the contenders that Amber has stress fractures in both feet from dancing in competition on Glee. Amber explains that she got the fractures from dancing in heels. Shanna's excited to have another woman who can belt to Jesus in the room. After they perform Survivor, Amber tells them they all did well, but gives notes specifically to four of the contenders. To Abraham she says that she loves the diva, but he has to remember that he's playing a character sometimes. She tells Lily that she has a terrific voice, but didn't feel that she had made a connection with the song, so she should make her movements connect her to the song. She tells Aylin that she loves her voice a lot, and Ali that she was moving almost more than anyone else and she really went for it. Amber chooses Ali as the homework assignment winner, as she is the embodiment of tenacity. Ali excitedly says that she's on a winning streak and is picking up the pace at the end of this competition. Aylin feels she should have won. Amber announces that the music video song will be Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor, and Robert adds that the entire video will be shot in one take, so that if any one of them messes up his or her physically challenging part, the rest will have to start all over. Abraham says in confessional that he will "hate the bitch who keeps messing up."

Nikki notes that this song does not live in any of the contenders' vocal range. Aylin does fine, she likes what Ali does, but with Abraham she notes there's a shrill note in the middle and she has him do it over until she's satisfied that she can work with that. Blake and Shanna do wonderfully, as usual, and Nikki explains how much she loves working with Blake because he's always willing to try new things. She says that Blake's the one to beat for the guys. Michael struggles with pitch in the studio and notes that he consistently struggles in the recording studio. Nikki tells him that Blake did it, comparing him unfavorably to Blake. In group, Lily sings too loud, and Aylin points it out and also notes how red Lily's face is. The group laughs at this, and Lily feels hurt because she has struggled with toning it down.

Nikki is missing from the video shoot because she has to be recording on Glee. Erik starts by giving each person directions on his or her parts. He tells them that they must also sing their lines while doing the physical challenges, or he will stop the shoot and make everyone start over. It all ends with Ali making a hook shot into the basket behind her head. She's nervous about this because she's not a great shooter, but she remembers her mentoring session with Amber at which she explained that because she had her accident when she was only two years old, she had to go through physical therapy when she was three and four years old. Amber says that drive she had to have because things were harder for her can be used to show her tenacity. Zach and Robert are in the stands wishing them good luck, as the shoot begins. Take one ends with Erik calling "cut" during Michael's part (second after Blake's). Michael says that Blake is one of his best friends, but it's a competition, so he's going to think "What would Blake do?" and then do it way better. In the second take, they find that Lily can't get her pants off quickly enough. They ask Aylin to help her, and Lily hides the fact that she does not want to talk to Aylin right now, much less be helped by her, as she's still stung by Aylin's ridiculing of her loud singing. The next 10 takes are messed up primarily because those in the jump-roping scene have trouble, forget to lip sync, and look defeated. The task involves Lily and Aylin holding turning two jumpropes, while Michael and then Abraham jump double Dutch. Eventually, the mentors suggest trying it with a single jump rope, which works. In the next take, Abraham trips in the doorway on his way to go catch the water bottle, falls down, and twists his ankle. He's determined to push through it. They finally make it to the end on the 25th take, but Ali does not make the basket. Shanna's knees are quivering, she feels like she's going to pass out, and she vomits in a trash can, but she wants this so bad she won't give up. Abraham asks for an ice pack for his ankle. Aylin says in confessional that Abraham is messing himself up by overplaying his injury because they are all in pain. Take 29 brings them to the end again, and once again Ali misses the basket. She says in confessional that she wants to get it for everyone and for herself. When she misses again in Take 33, she asks if they can lift her up in the chair and she can dunk the ball instead. Erik likes the suggestion and gives the direction. Zach and Robert are impressed with Ali's unstoppable nature. Meanwhile, Ali cries with frustration before the next take and is comforted and encouraged by Shanna and Blake. With this change, the video is completed on the 34th take.

In the reveal of the bottom 3, they are told that they as a group they wowed the mentors with their remarkable tenacity, and that Erik said that this was the most challenging video they have done on The Glee Project. Zach asks who's in pain, and they all raise their hands. Ali is called back first. She won the homework assignment and had an amazing week. Shanna and Blake are also high on the callback list because of their tenacity, and performance in the vocal studio. The bottom four are Aylin, Abraham, Michael and Lily, due to their involvement in the jump rope debacle which held up the shoot for 10 consecutive takes and left them looking defeated until the mentors came up with a solution. Michael is also cited for his struggles in the vocal booth, which were greater than any of the other contenders'. Abraham is also noted for troubles in the vocal booth, and a flat performance in the music video. Lily is told that she pops more than ever at some moments in the video, but she needs to learn to blend her voice with others. Michael, Abraham and Lily are in the bottom three. Aylin is called back because in 34 takes she never knocked down a single hurdle, although they note that in the video she seemed to lose focus, which is a repeat note for her. They tell Aylin and Lily that they went back and forth for quite some time in deciding who should be in the bottom three, but ultimately decided on Lily. Lily says in confessional that that hurt, but she didn't get the job done, and there are no excuses. Lily is given I'm The Greatest Star from the Musical Funny Girl, as sung by Barbra Streisand. Lily doesn't know all of the words, but is eager to go. Michael says he is excited to be given Brick by Ben Folds Five. Finally, Abraham is given Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson. He knows the song, but it's a little intimidating because it's the King of Pop! Robert conveys to Abraham that Ryan does not want him to kiss up to him.

In a vignette before the Last Chance Performances, we learn that Michael is good at comedy. The female contenders are curious about jock straps and asking Blake and Michael about the function of jock straps. Blake explains that for football there is underwear with a pouch for the cup, but otherwise the jock strap holds the cup. Ali wonders whether a jock strap always needs a cup, otherwise, she thinks, it's just "skimpy underwear." Michael poses in his jock strap (no cup) over his sweats.

Michael is up first. Robert explains that it is both the jump rope difficulties and the vocal booth problems that put him in the bottom three. Ryan asks whether Michael is a good singer, and Nikki says "yes, but when you compare him to who's left in the competition -- they're powerhouses!" When asked if Michael is as good as Blake, Nikki says "no." Ryan declares Michael's rendition of Brick "very nice," and points out that it is a very difficult song to sing. He tells Michael that he's got a hard road because he's up against Blake who would never have fell to the jump rope difficulties. Ryan says that Michael was the one who took the jump rope difficulties the worst of the four involved. He tells Michael not to care if he screws up, but to be a star and smile.

Next up is Abraham singing Man In The Mirror. Ryan says it was good, but wants to talk about how he usually sees a laser focus in Abraham that he didn't see this week, and he wonders if it was due to Abraham's injury. Abraham says "yes," but he's not using this as an excuse. Ryan interrupts him to say that anyone who says they're not using something as an excuse is using something as an excuse. Abraham continues to assert that he never stopped, and he fought his way through the video.

Finally, Lily is up with I'm The Greatest Star. Afterwards, Zach says "Thank you for that!" Ryan says that there were times she flubbed the words, but that was okay because she kept at it and kept him in it, but he wondered what she would have done if they had asked her to perform it with a jump rope. Lily tells Ryan that she was thrown earlier in the day by Aylin's rude comments about her singing so loud in the studio, which is an insecurity of hers. Ryan tells her if she comes back she'll have to show Aylin a thing or two, and Lily quips that Aylin "can't take her own medicine," making Ryan laugh out loud because he loves a good duel. He tells Lily not to be thrown because she's better than that. He says "Sometimes they just come out and blow you away!"

As they are discussing the contenders, Abraham returns to the mic and tells Robert he's NOT going home and he just wants to emphasize that he will do anything for this and he is tenacious. Ryan says that he doesn't care for pontification, and he thought that Abraham was going to ask to perform his song again, since he knew he didn't nail it.

Ultimately, it's Abraham who is sent home. He sings his Keep Holding On.

Songs

Trivia

  • This would be the fourth time that the homework assignment was originally performed by the guest mentor. First was True Colors, second was Lean On Me, and third was My Life Would Suck Without You. (However on Glee, Amber sang Survivor as part of a mash-up with the song I Will Survive)
  • The main idea for the finish of Eye Of The Tiger was Ali throwing the ball from the floor, but after more than 30 failed takes she gave the idea of the contenders raising her wheelchair up and Erik was okay with this. Towards the beginning it was everyone messing up causing them to have to do more takes, but towards the end it was Ali's missed shots holding them back.
  • This is the second time a contender wins two weeks in a row. The first was Marissa in Pairability and Tenacity and also the second Tenacity episode in which the previous winner is still the winner for that week.
  • Eye Of The Tiger took 34 takes before it was finally completed, but before the music video was shown, the clapperboard says 25 takes.
  • This marks the first episode of Season Two in which a contender is the winner of a HWA for the second time.
  • In Abraham's KHO, you can see that he's wearing a black jacket and blue shirt, looking back in Here I Go Again, Abraham is also wearing a black jacket and a blue shirt.
  • Before the reveal of who goes home on the callback list, you can see and slightly hear Michael say/mouth "Abraham."

Call Back List

Called Back
Ali
Shanna
Blake
Aylin
Michael
Lily
Not Called Back
Abraham

Gallery

Videos

The_Glee_Project_Tenacity_Promo_Australia

The Glee Project Tenacity Promo Australia

The Glee Project Tenacity Promo Australia

Glee_Project_2x08_S02E08_Tenacity_EPISODE_PROMO

Glee Project 2x08 S02E08 Tenacity EPISODE PROMO

Tenacity Promo - USA Version

TGP_2x08_Tenacity_Sneak_Peek

TGP 2x08 Tenacity Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek Music Video Shoot

The_Glee_Project_-_Tenacity_Promo_3_(Amber_Riley)

The Glee Project - Tenacity Promo 3 (Amber Riley)

The Glee Project - Tenacity Promo (Amber Riley)

The_Glee_Project_2_-_Eye_of_the_Tiger_Music_Video

The Glee Project 2 - Eye of the Tiger Music Video

Eye of the Tiger- Music Video

The_Glee_Project_-_Tenacity_Promo_1_(Lily)

The Glee Project - Tenacity Promo 1 (Lily)

The Glee Project - Tenacity Promo (Lily)

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