Entertainment

Oxygen's "The Glee Project" names two winners

August 22, 2011 / 9:10 AM EDT / CBS/AP

From left, Samuel Larsen, 19, Damian McGinty, 18, Lindsay Pearce, 20, and Alex Newell, 18, make up the final 4 contestants on "The Glee Project." AP/Oxygen

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - "The Glee Project" has come to an end, and two winners were crowned during Sunday night's finale.

Nineteen-year-old Samuel Larsen from Los Angeles and 18-year-old Damian McGinty of Derry City, Ireland, both won the inaugural season of Oxygen's talent competition show. The actors will each get a seven-episode arc on "Glee."

Larsen, a rocker with dreadlocks, was described as having a "cool, indy, rock spirit" that has been missing from the hit Fox show. But the judges believed that McGinty was the most likable and most improved.

The show put 12 contestants through a "Glee" bootcamp where they were critiqued on their singing, dancing and acting throughout the 10-week series.

The other finalists, Lindsay Pearce, 20, and Alex Newell, 18, didn't go home losers. The show's co-creator Ryan Murphy was so impressed he decided to write them into two episodes of the show.

"Glee" returns for its third season on Sept. 20.