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The Glee Project
TheGleeProjectLogo
Format Interactive reality talent show
Created by Ryan Murphy
Presented by Robert Ulrich
Judges Ryan Murphy
Robert Ulrich
Zach Woodlee
Nikki Anders
Ian Brennan
Narrated by Ian Brennan
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 21 (plus 2 specials)
Production
Executive producers Michael Davies
Shauna Minoprio
Ryan Murphy
Dante Di Loreto
Producer Ryan Murphy
Location Los Angeles
Running time 43 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Oxygen
Original run June 12, 2011 – present
Other
Related shows Glee
Website The Glee Project

The Glee Project is an American reality television series from Oxygen. It serves as an audition for the Fox TV series Glee, and the prize for the winner is a seven-episode arc in the following season of the show. The first season of The Glee Project premiered in the US on June 12, 2011 and concluded on August 21, 2011. In Canada, the series began airing on Slice on June 26, 2011, and in the UK, the series began airing on Sky One on July 14, 2011.

Glee executive producers Ryan Murphy and Dante Di Loreto are executive producers for The Glee Project. Glee's casting director, Robert Ulrich, is casting director for the project.

Contest Process[]

Each episode of The Glee Project is given an overall theme and covers events that have taken place in about the time span of a week.

Homework assignment

Contenders are given a "homework assignment" that entails learning and practicing segments of a chosen song. At the beginning of each episode, contestants perform their respective parts of the song in front of a mystery guest judge from the Glee cast. The contender that completes the homework best is given a one-on-one session with the guest star and a principal part in the music video.

Music video (group performance)

Contenders then create a music video "inspired by the performances on Glee". In preparation for the music video, contenders record parts of a song in a professional studio with vocal producer Nikki (née Hassman) Anders. They also learn choreography from Zach Woodlee and/or Brooke Lipton, his assistant. The entire process is overseen by Glee's casting director Robert Ulrich.

Callbacks

During callbacks, the bottom three are revealed. They are critiqued by Robert Ulrich and Zach Woodlee (in Ep. 8 of the first season replaced by Nikki Anders, who would also join the critiques in the second season) about their performances. They are then assigned a song that they will perform in hopes of being "saved".

Last chance recital

The bottom three of the week perform their assigned songs in front of Ryan Murphy himself. With input from Woodlee, Ulrich, and Anders (in the second season) a decision is made and one of the bottom three is eliminated.

Final callbacks

Unlike most reality competition shows, contenders are not directly informed of their elimination. Rather, the bottom three are notified when "the list is up" and discover their fate as they find their name on the list. Following the final callbacks, the eliminated contender sings lead vocals in "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne with the remaining contenders singing the background vocals.

Season One[]

Although originally planned to begin broadcasting in late May 2011, The Glee Project premiered on June 12, 2011, and aired a two-hour extended premiere where the first hour showed the audition process and selection of the twelve contenders, and the second hour was the first episode of the series. The Canadian and UK premieres were also in the same two-hour extended format: in Canada, the series began airing on Slice on June 26, 2011, and in the UK, the series began airing on Sky One on July 14, 2011.

Damian McGinty and Samuel Larsen were both proclaimed the winners of the first season, each winning a seven-episode arc (which both were expanded.) Runners-up Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell were given prizes of a two-episode arc on Glee, and Cameron Mitchell, who quit the competition in episode 7, won the "fan favorite" competition and the associated $10,000 prize.

Season Two[]

Casting for a second season was announced after the first season finale. The season pickup was confirmed on January 17, 2012, at which time it was stated that the second season would feature fourteen contenders, an increase of two from the twelve in the first season. On January 21, 2012, Lea Michele revealed that she would be the guest mentor for the season premiere. Other guest mentors will include season 1 co-winner Samuel Larsen (Joe Hart), Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones), Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel) and returning season 1 mentors Darren Criss (Blaine Anderson) and Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams).

The second season premiered in the US on June 5, 2012, and will run for eleven weeks. Blake Jenner won a minimum seven-episode arc (which was also expanded) and runner-up, Ali Stroker won a one-episode arc.

International syndication[]

Country / Region Channel First aired
Australia Eleven (season 1) July 15, 2011
Network Ten (season 2) June 16, 2012 (except VIC)
Brazil Fox Brasil June 26, 2011
Canada Slice
Global
June 26, 2011
France W9] February 29, 2012 (canceled after episode 2)
Japan Skachan
Fox Japan
June 29, 2011
September 25, 2011
New Zealand FOUR August 8, 2011
Philippines ETC, Jack TV June 13, 2011
STAR World October 17, 2011
Portugal Fox Life November 25, 2011
Southeast Asia:
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Malaysia
Myanmar
Singapore
Republic of China
Thailand
Vietnam
STAR World August 15, 2011
Turkey Fox Life December 12, 2011
United Kingdom Sky1
PickTV
July 13, 2011
USA (original run) Oxygen June 12, 2011
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