Top row: Damian, Bryce, Samuel, Hannah, Cameron. Second row: Alex, Emily, Lindsay. Third row: McKynleigh, Ellis, Matheus. Bottom: Marissa.
The Glee Project is a Reality Show that is sort of a spin-off of Glee. It's a talent competition for a 7 episode guest role on Glee. The episodes involve weekly themes for which the contestants get homework. They bring in one of the stars of Glee to judge the contestants as they perform the homework challenge and choose a winner. The winner gets an advantage in the week's music video. The three who do the worst that week do a "last chance performance" for Glee's Show Runner Ryan Murphy, choreographer Zach Woodlee, and casting director Robert Ulrich. Also involved in the show - and having some input - are vocal coach Nikki Anders and music video director Erik White.Has been renewed for a second season.
Elimination Catchphrase: "You have not been called back." Albeit written down as opposed to spoken.
Elimination Statement: The eliminated contestants give a statement about how much they’ve grown and how this was the best experience of their life. Then, because this is Glee after all, the loser sings “Keep Holding On” while the remaining contestants sing backup.
Non Gameplay Elimination: Cameron quit the competition because he felt he wasn't right for the show.
Reality Show Genre Blindness: Cameron had no idea that, on a show focusing a lot on teenage relationships and sexuality, he might actually have to kiss somebody who isn't his girlfriend.
Shocking Elimination: Fans were not pleased with the eliminations of Marissa in episode five and Hannah in episode eight. Particularly because both contestants were fan and judge favorites and who each won that week's challenge.
Voted Off The Island: Ryan Murphy, Zach Woodlee, and Robert Ulrich decide who should go out of the bottom three, and the contestants are then presented with a call back list which will have all but one contestant called back.
Ascended Fanboy/Fangirl: The whole premise of the show is to make one of the contenders this.
Author Appeal: Ryan is very clearly supportive of people like Alex (a Camp Gay occasionally-crossdressing countertenor in the mold of Chris Colfer) and Cameron (a nerd-chic rocker who is outspokenly Christian, which is a character type Ryan has "always wanted to write").
Awesome, but Impractical: According to the producers, Samuel and Lindsay are this because both are great singers, but they're not very relatable.
Back for the Finale: It turned out that all the eliminated contestants returned to participate as background singers for the "Glee-ality" main challenge.
Bait and Switch: Ryan is a fan of this method of elimination. In a number of episodes (including the finale), he complimented a contestant, making it seem as if they were safe. He told Marissa she was gorgeous and talented and would never have a problem being cast; he told Hannah she was "the show" and exactly what they were looking for, and he told Alex that he can "do something no one else can do" and praised his voice constantly. All these contestants were then eliminated.
Be Yourself: The first week's "individuality" theme.
Beware the Nice Ones: Lindsay's faux tears—especially after Alex broke down about his deceased father provoked sweet, upbeat Nikki to lose her temper and call Lindsay fake to her face.
Big Brother Instinct: Damian towards Matheus when they were partners. He defended Matheus when other contestants, especially Alex, tried to put him down.
The Cameo: One of the Glee cast shows up to mentor the contestants and judge the homework assignment every week. So far, it's been Darren Criss, Idina Menzel, Dot-Marie Jones, Harry Shum Jr., Max Adler, Mark Salling, Ashley Fink, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Kevin McHale as the guest judges.
Cloudcukoolander: Charlie. When asked to give three words friends would use to describe him, Abraham said things such as compassionate and tenacious. Charlie? "Dandelions, lightning and fuchsia".
Not just fans. Ryan Murphy described Alex as "Kurt and Mercedes' love child" to Ian Brennan.
Continuity Nod: Cameron's shown to be one of few contenders who can accompany himself through guitar. In the finale, he plays electric guitar when all of the fallen contestants rejoin the final four for "Don't Stop Believin'".
The Cover Changes The Gender: Averted by Samuel's cover of "Jolene". It's written as a woman singing about another woman stealing her man . . . and that's exactly what Samuel sings it as.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Zach Woodlee and Nikki Anders are brutally honest with the contestants, and do not baby them through anything. Nikki does have Team Mom characteristics despite this.
Dreadful Musician: None of the final four except for Samuel know how to play musical instruments.
Everybody Lives: Samuel and Damian were the co-winners, each getting a 7-episode character arc. But Ryan and the writers were so fascinated by Lindsay and Alex that they will also each receive a 2-episode guest spot. EVERYBODY WINS.
Femme Fatale: Emily, from the beginning. Ryan seemed to think Marissa was this, pointing it out before he eliminated her.
Fiery Redhead: Marissa appears to be this. Hannah as well.
First Kiss: Ellis has hers on the set of the music video shooting.
Food Fight: Cameron and Hannah in the "sexuality" main challenge.
Forceful Kiss: Lindsay kisses Cameron at the end of the "pairability" main challenge, causing him to break down afterwards.
Funny Foreigner: Damian, at the beginning. There was much giggling over his thick Irish accent.
Lampshaded by Damian himself early on, when he entertains the other contestants by performing an impromptu rap that consists entirely of Irish phrases in a thick Irish accent (of course), to the point where the only part that most American viewers could fully understand was the part about "walking in Dublin."
Lampshaded again by Emily, who notes "I've never seen a leprechaun dance like that!"
I Can't Dance: Hannah, though it's subverted a bit. She—and the choreographers—believe her to not be as technically proficient at dancing as the other contestants, but she works harder than others who are better dancers (*cough* Alex *cough).
Damian is by far, the WORST dancer of the contenders, and he knows it. However, like Hannah, he works hard and his positive attitude has more than made up for his lack of dance ability.
Cameron as well admitted to having a lot of trouble with dancing, which is probably because of his lanky and awkward frame. This is subverted a bit by Glee's own head choreographer Zach Woodlee fanboying over how cool Cameron moves in "Theatricality". Nikki did this as well in his final audition before being cast as one of the Final Twelve.
Iconic Item: Marissa's banana earrings have become this within the fandom.
Lovable Jock: Damian in the "sexuality" main challenge.
Love Dodecahedron: A Type 2 occurs in the video for “The Only Exception”. Hannah wants Alex, who wants Damian, who wants Lindsay, who wants Samuel, who wants Hannah.
Lyric Swap: Marissa slips Ryan's name into the chorus of her last-chance performance of "Hate on Me".
Mean Character, Nice Actor: Lindsay is protrayed as an Alpha Bitch character in her confessionals, but in real life she and the other contestants are very good friends.
Nice Guy: Both Cameron and Damian came off as this throughout the competition, which inevitably led to mass fan adoration. The two caused many Heartwarming Moments in the show. Damian defended Mattheus in one episode and then Alex on Twitter. Cameron, in particular, was the epitome of a sweet lovable nice guy when he also reassured Alex, gushed to the cast about how they were all friends, gave McKynleigh flowers when she was eliminated, handed tissues to Lindsay (and Damian) during the Live Finale Chat, and, you know.... the Dameron thing.
Portmanteau Couple Name: Invoked by guest judge Darren Criss in Pairability with Matalex (Matheus and Alex), leading to the contenders coming up with their own couple names some of which are also now used by fans when Actor Shipping.
Examples include: Dameron (the bromance of Cameron and Damian and the most known shipname to come from the show), Damsay (Damian/Lindsay), Marissam (Marissa/Samuel), Camsay (Cameron/Lindsay), Dannah (Damian/Hannah) and Samsay (Samuel/Lindsay).
A great deal of the TGP fandom is guilty of this, especially in regard to Dameron, bromance or otherwise. Other fan-supported ships include Damsay, Camrissa and Samsay. Dannah started gaining steam since the airing of the Sexuality episode, while Samsay became popular after Glee-ality and their epic running-jump hug.
The cast themselves also do this. Ironically, Cameron ships Damsay, while Lindsay is considered one of the biggest Dameron supporters out there.
Replacement Goldfish: Samuel becomes Ryan's ideal Christian character after Cameron quits.
The Runner Up Takes It All: Hinted that more than one of the contestants may get a spot on the final show.
As of the finale: CONFIRMED. EVERYONE gets a spot. Damian and Samuel were co-winners, each with 7-episode arcs, and Lindsay and Alex will get 2-episode guest spots.
Scatting: Hannah has a unique rap-style called "skadoosh".
Screw The Money, I Have Rules!: The reason Cameron left the competition. He knew he didn't have the acting power to kiss another girl (as he was currently in a relationship and felt like he was cheating) and didn't want to rob the other kids of their chance, even though Ryan told him he would be giving up a recording contract, a starring role, and a concert deal.
Shrinking Violet: Alex's singing partner in the "generosity" main challenge.
Small Name, Big Ego: Lindsay and Alex, the latter to the point that it landed him in the bottom three more than once.
Something Completely Different: The "pairability" episode changed how most of the competition process worked for that week.
Instead of one big music video there were four smaller ones, each centered around a different pair.
The winner of the homework assignment got to pick their duet partner, and both would get assistance from the mentor.
Instead of the bottom three people singing, it was the bottom three pairs. From them, the bottom three would be chosen. However, they wouldn’t sing again; it went straight to elimination after that.
Spicy Latina: Emily. Eventually it led to her being eliminated, since she kept switching back to this personality when she was supposed to be vulnerable.
Subverted slightly since Lindsay seems genuinely happy about her life. And then of course, as of "Glee-ality", she makes the decision to stop being perfect and to find herself beneath all her masks.
Stern Teacher: Not a teacher, but music video director Erik White has very high standards, and doesn't like it when the contestants mess up the shoot.
The Stoic: Aside from the big group crying session earlier in the series, Samuel's known to be the only character that hasn't had an emotional breakdown.
This was actually to his disadvantage because Ryan Murphy WANTED to see vulnerability from the contestants and when Samuel found out, he believed it to be too late in the game therefore having his own emotional breakdown in "Generosity".
Take a Third Option: None of the final four are eliminated before the finals.
Tantrum Throwing: Marissa kicks a chair during the "tenacity" homework challenge, but the spontaneity of it won her the challenge, according to Max Adler.
Of course, Marissa's move was less of a real tantrum and more of fulfilling the Homework assignment. Hers was simply the most noticeable.
Team Dad: Robert Ulrich, who encourages the kids through the challenges and comforts them when it's time for the callback list to be posted.
Ryan actually gets a bit of this when he goes backstage to talk to Cameron, making sure he was making the decision that was best for him, not what Ryan wanted him to do.
Team Mom: Nikki Anders, the vocal director. She goes the extra mile to comfort the contestants and help them during their last-chance performances. Does not stop her from being a bit of a Drill Sergeant Nasty to contestants who are screwing up.
The Unfavorite: Lindsay was this to the judges. Ryan Murphy bluntly stated, "I root for the other contestants, but for some reason, I don't root for you."
Subverted as of "Glee-ality" with Ryan himself saying that he believed that Lindsay grew the most throughout the competition, calling her persona as pure "light" - of the shining presence variety.
What Could Have Been: Many fans speculate about who would have won if Cameron hadn't quit and Damian had gone home.
Wholesome Crossdresser: Alex does the "pairability" challenge in drag ("Nowadays" from Chicago), his last chance performance in "Tenacity" ("And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls) in drag, and his final performance on the show in drag ("I Am Changing" from Dreamgirls).
Write Who You Know: Ryan Murphy bases the winner's Glee character on their personality.
0 reviews