Lea Michele to mentor singers on Oxygen’s “The Glee Project”

Oxygen’s The Glee Project was a pleasant surprise last season, and a big reason it resonated was because it featured current Glee cast members mentoring the very contestants who were auditioning to appear on the hit Fox show.

If there was one void, though, it was that the star of the show that spawned the reality show never made an appearance. Fortunately, for Gleeks all over the world, it was announced this past weekend by Lea Michele herself that she will be making her debut when the reality series returns this summer.

“So excited to announce that I’ll be guest mentoring on the season 2 premiere of The Glee Project!” she tweeted to her 1.5 million followers.

The Glee Project was embraced by fans of the show, and it was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in the category of “Outstanding Reality Series.” Many of the stars of the show stopped by to offer their advice to the singers, but you could sense there was something missing when Michele never emerged as the surprise guest week after week.

With Michele’s future unknown on the hit Fox show — her character, diva Rachel Berry, is scheduled to graduate this year — it will make her appearance this summer even more interesting. The show, which awards one winner a seven-episode arc on Glee, will feature 14 contenders who were chosen from thousands of hopefuls auditioning online and in person.

Creator Ryan Murphy will once again join casting director Robert Ulrich, choreographer and Glee co-producer Zach Woodlee and vocal coach Nikki Anders to determine who advances each week and who is the ultimate winner. And as good as they all are, none of them can top the star power and ratings that Lea Michele will surely bring for her cameo this summer.