A DERRY TEENAGER has secured a role in the next series of the international TV hit ‘Glee’, after being named as one of the two winners of a reality TV show aimed at finding its next stars.

Damian McGinty, an 18-year-old from Derry, will appear in seven episodes of the show’s third series after finishing as one of the top two entrants, at the climax of an international audition process with over 40,000 entrants.

McGinty had been the only one of the twelve contestants to make it through to the final televised stages not to be from the United States.

In the show’s finale, broadcast on US television last night, the show’s judges – led by Glee’s creator Ryan Murphy – earmarked Damian as one of the most improved finalists through the 10-week televised stage, and commended him on his likeability.

McGinty has been an active musician since the age of 14, when he came to the attention of songwriter Phil Coulter, who then cast him in the singing group Celtic Thunder of which he was a director.

In a last-minute change to the show’s format, two acts were announced as ‘winners’ – with dreadlocked Los Angeles 19-year-old Samuel Larsen joining McGinty in the cast of the show next year.

The two other finalists – including Lindsay Pierce, who had been hotly-tipped to win the show – were given two-episode arcs in the series.

It has not yet been confirmed when McGinty and Larsen will make their debuts in the show, for which filming began a week ago. The first episode of the new series will be broadcast in the US in four weeks’ time.

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