'Glee' Creator Ryan Murphy: 'Glee Project' Winner Will Take Audience By Surprise

Here’s a simple tip for pegging the winner of Oxygen’s “The Glee Project” casting search from creator Ryan Murphy: take a step back and look again at people you’ve probably already written off.

Murphy claims the eventual winner will take audiences by surprises, but said they should make an instant impact during the show’s third Fox season.

“The person who wins is not necessarily the best singer or the best dancer. It’s the person who can serve Glee best. What kind of character did we need for next season? That’s the person who won,” Murphy told TVLine, adding that the series champ will earn a McKinley High New Directions spot in an unusual way. “Our first episode back [on Glee] is always auditions.”

By his own admission, Murphy struggled judging the contestants. He admits that at least once during the season, he got a bad impression of an otherwise capable contestant who struggled with an “off” day, and later regretted not keeping the hopeful around after seeing the full body of the contestant’s work.

Generally, though, Murphy says he didn’t go into the competition really caring first about contestants’ likeability outside the tasks at hand. This was no popularity contest, he claims. Still, he feels the winner made a positive impression upon “Glee” cast mentors such as Max Adler, Darren Criss, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Dot Marie Jones and Idina Menzel.

 “I don’t care if you’re likable, but what I do care about is ‘Are you professional? Do you have a good attitude?’ That’s really important to me,” Murphy said. “The person we’ve chosen has a great work ethic, really wants to be there, and having hung out with that person now quite a bit, is actually very lovable.”