by Gina Scarpa

 

No sooner did Marissa hit her stride on The Glee Project when the rug was pulled out from underneath her. After winning her second homework challenge in a row, the mentors felt she wasn't electric enough on camera and she landed in the bottom three. After performing "Hate On Me" by Jill Scott for Ryan Murphy, she found that her name was not on the callback list. Today, we caught up with Marissa in an exclusive interview to find out more about her time on The Glee Project.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you decide to audition for The Glee Project?
A. Marissa: I'd heard about the open casting call audition on MySpace through the grapevine. I don't really know why I decided to try out. I thought it was probably just a publicity stunt to generate Glee hype at first and that they wouldn't actually look through every single submission, but Robert Ulrich, superhero that he is, actually did! And I had had the fortune of being picked!

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you feel at all intimidated being on the show?
A. Marissa: Being on the show was very intimidating at first! You initially freeze up the second the cameras start rolling, but after so much time passes, it becomes habitual. You forget that what's happening will one day be relayed to the world! Interviews were especially hard for me because you have to talk to a huge, lit-up camera a foot from your face and it's just not easy if you've had to work on speech in the past! In addition, there were countless embarrassing moments, mess-ups, and stupid faces, voices, or jokes I made that didn't even end up making the final edit because of the time constraints, but you always think to yourself in that moment, "Crap! Why'd I do that?! The world will probably despise or at least ridicule me now!"

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which contestants stood out to you as your biggest competition?
A. Marissa: At first, Lindsay and Emily stood out as my main competition to me. Mainly because we could be cast in the same general role type, and I would be somewhere in the middle of them; a mix between sweet and sassy. Not to mention they were both contenders to be reckoned with, definitely in the triple threat category!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Some contestants seemed like they started to have egos as the competition went on, but you remained humble throughout. How did you keep things in perspective?
A. Marissa: I was raised by doting parents who never failed to let me know how loved I am. However, amidst all the praise they've given me growing up, they also taught me the most important lesson of all: humility. Nobody is invincible! There is no room for an egotistical mindset, even in this industry. I firmly believe that. I also believe in karma. Be kind and you will receive kindness. Unless someone goes out of their way to hurt you, there is no sense in burning bridges and being unnecessarily nasty and difficult. Otherwise, you will make many enemies who will rejoice in your failures, and have nobody left to celebrate your successes with.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Last week, you dumped Cameron in favor of Samuel for the "Pairability" challenge but it paid off. Was Cameron upset by that? He did end up in the bottom group.
A. Marissa: It was not an easy decision to pick Sam over Cameron for the music video. I like Cameron a lot and didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I needed to follow my intuition. Picking Sam was nothing more than a business decision, as he had been my runner-up. In addition, I had a sense that he would be up to the acting challenge ahead and that Cameron would be a little more uncomfortable and uncertain about it. Cameron was a good sport about it. I felt bad that he wound up in the bottom, but I don't think it would be fair to attribute it to any of the choices I made, as I can only do so much to keep myself out of the bottom, let alone another contestant! Regardless, he wound up safe that week, and once again the next week where I got the boot instead! I think that more than evens the score, right?

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What advice did Max Adler give you that you found most helpful?
A. Marissa: My discussion with Max was an eye-opening reminder to just how much work and self-sacrifice goes into achieving success in this industry. Things like The Glee Project don't happen. He had to work for years, amidst experiencing great loss and hardship, to get to where he is now. I was so touched and inspired by our conversation

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You started to get on a roll with challenges. What went wrong this week?
A. Marissa: I suppose I can't entirely answer that question. I felt that I had done a decent job that week, but I wasn't aware that the way I'd worded an apology for messing up one of my vocal parts during my recording session with Nikki would have came off the way it did; as if I had slacked in practicing. Also, I wasn't aware that my performance in the music video was coming off less electric than usual. As I've said before, that's something that's easier assessed from an observational standpoint, and that's something that Robert Ulrich does for a living and really knows how to judge! Unfortunately, these two discrepancies came up as a shock to me and may have shaken me up a little at the time. I could probably have given a better last chance performance, and shown Ryan more of who I was. He only get's to see us in that instance. He doesn't see any of the other footage and base a decision off of that later, whether I'd been doing well up to that point or not. Yes, I do think I was just beginning to blossom and getting to show more vocal and acting chops, but then again, who's to say that what happened is not to my benefit? Maybe it's better to get cut from the bush as a blossom rather than stay and wilt.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Any regrets about the way you performed or handled the competition?
A. Marissa: The only regret I have about the competition is that I should have trusted myself more and been more self-encouraging. It was those times when I followed my instincts that I did the best job.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What's next for you? Are you going to keep pursuing acting and singing?
A. Marissa: I'm not 100% certain at this point about what's in store for my future. One great thing I learned during the show is that film and TV is more of my medium, so I definitely want to pursue a career in that field. I want to continue singing too. If I were to give up, it would be a huge discredit to all the people who have invested so much time, money, and resources into believing in my talent. I'm a big believer in fate as well, so whatever is meant to happen to me will. However, I do think that I people will see more of me soon, and I'm fortunate to have a lot to look forward to!

 

The Glee Project airs Sundays at 9/8c on Oxygen.

 

(Image courtesy of Oxygen)

 

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