Image Credit: Tyler Golden/Oxygen Media

If there was an underdog going into last night’s Glee Project finale, it was 19-year-old Blake Jenner. And he knew it, too. “I saw one of [the girls] winning,” he told EW this morning. But viewers couldn’t count out the Miami native, who impressed Ryan Murphy with his consistent performances and the fact that he was, as casting director Robert Ulrich said, “the best actor” in the group.

After a last-chance performance of “I’ll Be” — not to mention a surprise poem reading — a jubilant Jenner walked away with the seven-episode arc on the fourth season of the show. Jenner got on the phone with EW this morning to talk about his lack of sleep, why he read a poem, and what he hopes his Glee character gets to do next season (Watch out, Brittany/Santana shippers!)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations!
BLAKE JENNER: I’m so excited, you have no idea. I’m so excited, and so thankful.

Did you sleep at all last night?
I didn’t sleep at all last night. I was talking to family and friends, both in L.A. and also in Miami, my hometown. I honestly got probably an hour and a half of sleep last night, but I’m still so stoked — I don’t even feel tired at all. The excitement is so unbelievable. READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Andrew Eccles/Oxygen Media

With just six contestants left, it was inevitable the eliminations were going to start feeling pretty shocking on The Glee Project. But last night, during Romanticality week, the bottom three threw everyone for a loop: Typical frontrunners Blake, Aylin and Shanna found out that one of them would be going home, and perpetual last-chance performer Michael lived to see another day.  Despite being the only one of the three who had never before sung for Ryan Murphy for a last chance, one performance of “Stronger” later and 22-year-old Shanna Henderson was The Glee Project’s latest causality.

Henderson got on the phone with EW to talk about her bottom three surprise, why she doesn’t regret her comments to Ryan Murphy about Michael, and the big difference between her and Aylin.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I was shocked you went home!
SHANNA HENDERSON: I was shocked at the moment. I wasn’t shocked I went home, but I was shocked at the combination of the bottom three. READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Andrew Eccles/Oxygen Media

This week on The Glee Project the theme was adaptability, and the contestants were definitely caught off-guard. Between having less prep time for their various projects to last-chance performances for the bottom six that turned out to be surprise duets, many in the group struggled to keep up.

At the end of the hour, it was 24-year-old Mario Bonds who was eliminated. The self-described ‘villain’ of the show talked to EW about his role on the program, his confrontations with the judges, and what’s next for the young entertainer who just happens to be blind.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Have you been keeping up with the show?
MARIO BONDS: I think Tuesday’s episode was really hard, particularly hard for me.  It’s unfortunate that at this point in the competition, you’re in the fifth week, it really gets tricky. The competition is really narrowing and it was the wrong week for me to be caught in my head. And I was caught in my head. I made the choice, because I was stressed out over the theme and stuff, I made the choice not to ask Erik for clarification in his acting direction. For example, when Erik said [during the video shoot], “I need you to do it with more swag,’ I’m a blind actor so when you say stuff like that, it’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ So I failed to ask for more direction and I didn’t pop enough. I regret leaving during adaptability week because adapting is something I have to do as a performer in my real life all the time, and The Glee Project audience only saw a fraction of who I am. I am not the villain of the piece. And that’s sort of how I’ve been cast. In a nutshell, I’m a happy go lucky, goofy guy who can’t stop laughing. … I have mixed feelings over the episode. READ FULL STORY »