The Real World

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The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally executive produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First aired in 1992, the program is one of the first reality television shows to gain a national audience, and is the longest-running program in MTV history and the second-longest running reality television program on television (after COPS). The show is currently in its eighteenth season. Following Bunim’s death from breast cancer in 2004, Bunim/Murray Productions continues to produce the program.

The nineteenth season started filming February 2007 in Sydney, Australia and is now casting for the twentieth and very likely the last season of the show^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Format and structure 3 Recurring themes 4 The Real World seasons 5 Criticism 5.1 Authenticity 5.2 Ethics 5.3 Sexuality and relevance 6 Quick Facts 7 The Real World Vacations 8 The Real World Reunions 9 Trivia 10 Franchise 11 Parodies, derivatives, and references 12 The Real World DVDs 13 References 14 External links

[edit] History

The show focuses on the lives of seven strangers who audition to live together in a house for several months, as cameras record their interpersonal relationships. The show moves to a different city each season. The footage shot during the housemates’ time together is edited into 22-minute episodes. As the narration given over the opening title sequence by the seven housemates states some variation of the following:

“

This is the true story, of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, and have their lives taped, to find out what happens, when people stop being polite, and start getting real. The Real World.

”

Before the televised version of the show debuted, a "scripted" version of it was toyed with. Rather than being themselves, a set of strangers (not the New York cast) were given story and character arcs to attempt to recreate (a la a soap opera). Bunim & Murray decided against this, and, at the last minute, pulled the concept (and the cast) before it became the first season of the show, believing seven different people would have enough of a basis on which to interact without scripts. One of the original seven picked for "season 0" went on to minor fame herself (see Trivia).

One sign of the show’s popularity occurred on the October 2, 1993 episode of the sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live, which poked fun at the show's second season Los Angeles cast, whose members were depicted as contentious and bigoted, a parody of the numerous discussions of racism, bigotry and political differences that served as a recurring theme that season. [1].

The show also gained widespread attention with its third season, The Real World: San Francisco, which aired in 1994, and featured the recurring motif of argument between David "Puck" Rainey, a bicycle messenger with poor hygiene, and AIDS activist Pedro Zamora. As the show gained more popularity, Zamora’s life as someone living with AIDS gained considerable notice, garnering media attention. Zamora was one of the first openly gay men with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media, and after his death on November 11, 1994 (hours after the final episode of his season aired) he was praised by then-President Bill Clinton. Zamora’s roommate and best friend during the show, Judd Winick, went on to become a popular comic book writer, and wrote the Eisner-nominated graphic novel Pedro and Me, about his friendship with Zamora, as well as high-profile storylines in mainstream superhero comics that featured gay and AIDS-related themes. As the San Francisco season continued to grow in popularity, it was clear that the "reality" television format was one that could bring considerable ratings to a network.

Appearing on the program has often served as a springboard into further success in the entertainment and media industry. Eric Nies of the New York cast went on to become a successful model, actor, TV host, and was inducted into the Television and Broadcasters "Hall of Fame" for his pioneering work in reality television. His housemate, Kevin Powell, became a successful author, poet, journalist, and candidate for United States House of Representatives (Powell ran in 2006, in New York's 10th district); and their other housemate, Heather B., enjoyed a successful career as a rap music artist.

Los Angeles cast member Beth Stolarczyk has, among other things, produced men's and women's calendars featuring reality TV personalities, including herself, Las Vegas' Trishelle Cannatella, Chicago's Tonya Cooley, and Back to New York's Coral Smith. Cannatella has also appeared in Playboy magazine, as have Las Vegas' Arissa Hill and Miami's Flora Alekseyeun.

London cast member Jacinda Barrett has become a successful film actress, appearing in prominent roles opposite John Travolta, Joaquin Phoenix, Anthony Hopkins and Renée Zellweger. Lindsay Brien of the Seattle cast became a radio and CNN personality. Chicago cast member Kyle Brandt’s acting career includes starring in the soap opera Days of our Lives. His castmate, Tonya Cooley, also appeared on an MTV special of True Life: I'm a Reality TV Star.

Las Vegas cast members Cannatella and Steven Hill appeared in the horror film Scorned. Cannatella herself has also appeared on other reality shows, such as The Surreal Life, Battle of the Network Reality Stars, and Kill Reality, the latter of which also featured Hill and Cooley. Hill, along with housemate Alton Williams, hosts a radio show. Dozens of former cast members from The Real World, and its spin-off, Road Rules, have appeared on the spin-off game show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge.

[edit] Format and structure

Each season consists of seven people, aged 18 – 25 (a reflection of the network’s target demographic), usually selected from thousands of applicants from across the country, with the group chosen typically representing different races, genders, sexual orientations, levels of sexual experiences, and religious and political beliefs. Should a cast member decide to move out, or be asked to do so by his or her roommates, the producers will usually cast a replacement.

Each season begins with the individual members of the house shown leaving home, often for the first time, and/or meeting their fellow housemates while in transit to their new home, or at the house itself. The exception was the Los Angeles season, which premiered with two housemates picking up a third at his Kentucky home and driving in a Winnebago RV to their new home in Los Angeles. Upon arriving at the house, the housemates choose their rooms; this is often the first source of tension, as some housemates don't obtain the room of their choice, or some choose their rooms before the rest of the cast members arrive.

The house is typically elaborate in its décor, and usually includes a pool table, a Jacuzzi, and a fish tank, which serves as a metaphor for the show, in that the roommates, who are being taped at all times in their home, are seen metaphorically as fish in a fishbowl. This point is punctuated not only by the fact that the MTV logo title card seen after the closing credits of each episode is designed as a fishbowl, but also by a poem that Judd Winick wrote during his stay in San Francisco called Fishbowl.

The housemates are filmed whenever they are awake. The house is outfitted with cameras mounted on walls, but to capture more intimate moments, numerous camera crews consisting of 3 – 6 people follow the cast around the house and out in public. Each member of the cast is instructed to ignore the cameras and the crew, but are required to wear a battery pack and microphone in order to capture their dialogue, though some cast members have been known to turn off or hide them. The only area of the house in which camera access is restricted is the bathroom. [2] Despite the initial awkwardness of being surrounded by cameramen, cast members have insisted that they eventually adjust to it, and that their behavior is purely natural, and not influenced by the fact that they are being filmed. Judd Winick, an alumnus of the show’s third season, adds that the fact that their lives were being documented made it seem “more real”. The producers made an exception to this protocol during the third season, when Pedro Zamora requested that he be allowed to go out on a date without the cameras, because the normal anxieties associated with first dates would be exacerbated by the presence of cameras.

At the end of each week, each housemate was required to sit down and be interviewed about the past week’s events. Unlike the normal day-to-day filming, these interviews, which are referred to as “confessionals”, involve the subject looking directly into the camera while providing opinions and reflective accounts of the week’s activities that are used as narration in the final edited episodes. The producers instruct the cast to talk about whatever they wished, and to speak in complete sentences, to reinforce the feeling, in the home viewer, that the cast is actually speaking to them. Winick referred to this practice as “like therapy without the help”. The confessionals were originally conducted by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jon Murray, but were eventually delegated to production staff members like George Verschoor and Thomas Klein. Beginning with the second season (Los Angeles), a small soundproof room was incorporated into the house for this purpose, and the room has also become known as the “confessional”.

The various casts were often creative in their use of the confessional, which Bunim and Murray referred to as “inspired lunacy”, such as a group confessional conducted by all the Los Angeles housemates on their last day, an appearance by San Francisco housemate Judd Winick in a nun’s habit, and Miami roommates Melissa Padrón and Flora Alekseyeun dressing up as prostitutes for a shared confessional in which they discuss why their roommates did not get along with them. During Mardi Gras, New Orleans cast member Danny Roberts used the confessional to engage in a sex act.

Initially, the show would document the housemates as they struggled to find and maintain jobs and careers, with minimal group activities aside from their day-to-day lives in the house and their socializing in the city. The only group activity engineered by the producers during the first season was a trip for the three females to Jamaica. By the second season, sending the entire cast on a vacation would become the norm, and the second season cast was also sent on a day trip to Joshua Tree, California. By the time of the fifth season, the cast would be given an ongoing, season-long activity, with the Miami cast given startup money and a business advisor, Landon, to begin their own business. Subsequent seasons would feature the entire cast working together at a particular job, such as running an after-school daycare program, a radio station, public access television station, etc.

Physical violence of any kind was not tolerated by the producers. After an incident during the Seattle season in which Stephen Williams slapped Irene McGee as she moved out, the incident was debated by the housemates, who were not present but were shown a videotape of the incident. The producers, not wanting to be seen condoning violence, gave the housemates the choice of having him leave, but instead the housemates chose to let him stay, and Williams was ordered to attend an anger management class.

[edit] Recurring themes

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• Prejudice

As their experiences on The Real World were often the first time that cast members encountered people of different races or sexual orientations, many episodes documented arguments over these issues. First season housemate Kevin Powell had such arguments with Eric Nies, Julie Gentry, and Becky Blasband. The Los Angeles cast was possibly the most contentious, with racial and regional epithets exchanged between Jon Brennan, Dominic Griffin, and Tami Roman in the very first episode. San Francisco housemate David "Puck" Rainey mocked both Pedro Zamora's homosexuality and his Cuban accent, even leaving messages with derogatory jokes about homosexuals on the house's answering machine after he was evicted from the house. During his stay in the house, he at one point wore a T-shirt with a swastika design on it, which the Jewish Judd Winick saw as a betrayal. Flora Alekseyeun, during an argument with Miami roommate Cynthia Roberts, dismissed what she referred to as Roberts' "black attitude". Their roommate Melissa Padrón, during a heated exchange with homosexual Dan Renzi, called him a "flamer" after he called her a "stupid bitch". Racism was also a subject of argument for New Orleans housemates Julie Stoffer and Melissa Howard, as when Howard took offense to Stoffer mentioning that her stay in New Orleans was her first encounter with "colored" people. Howard also took offense when a boat guide referred to a group of birds as "nigger storks". The stereotypical views about blacks that Back to New York’s Mike Mizanin was imparted by his uncle offended Coral Smith and Nicole Jackson when he related them, and they tried to educate him on black culture. They were also, offended by the fact that biracial roommate Malik Cooper wore a T-shirt with the image of Marcus Garvey, who was against miscegenation, despite the fact that Cooper was of mixed heritage and by his own admission had never dated a black woman. Philadelphia's Karamo Brown stated opposition to biracial dating, specifically in regards to Landon Lueck and Shavonda Billingslea's relationship. In the Denver season, Davis Mallory gets into a fight with Tyrie Ballard. Davis then calls his boyfriend and says, "I'm going home tomorrow, because some nigger wants to kill me!"

• Politics

Jon Brennan disagreed with Tami Roman’s decision to have an abortion, and argued with Aaron Bailey's girlfriend, Erin, who was pro-choice. Rachel Campos, a conservative Republican member of the San Francisco cast, clashed with liberal roommates Mohammed Bilal and Judd Winick. Paris housemate Chris "CT" Tamburello became belligerent during a discussion of the Iraq War, even threatening Adam King. Nehemiah Clark, of the Austin, Texas cast, expressed liberal opinions about President George W. Bush and the Iraq War, sometimes coming into conflict with Rachel Moyal, who served in Iraq as a combat medic for the US Army.

• Religion

Philadelphia castmates MJ and Sarah argued over the film The Passion of the Christ. Sarah, who was Jewish, found the film anti-semitic, whereas MJ, a Christian, did not. Also, New Orleans cast member Julie Stoffer's Mormon faith was a recurring topic of discussion throughout the season. Stoffer, then a student at Brigham Young University, was suspended from school in 2000 due to honor code violations televised on the show.

• Romance

Many cast members were documented in various stages of their love lives, either attempting to maintain long-distance relationships with loved ones back home, looking for love in their new city of residence, and in some cases, flirting or even developing serious relationships with their roommates. San Francisco roommates Pam Ling and Judd Winick have since married and had a child. Their roommate Rachel Campos married Sean Duffy of the Boston cast, and they have three children. Las Vegas roommates Trishelle Cannatella and Steven Hill consummated a romance during the show, which resulted in a pregnancy scare for Cannatella. Their roommates Irulan Wilson and Alton Williams began a relationship that continued after they moved out of the Las Vegas suite. The Austin cast spawned two relationships, one being Danny Jamieson and Melinda Stolp, who are currently engaged, as well as Wes Bergmann and Johanna Botta. As of 2006, Wes said an official engagement will happen once he graduates from college.

Many cast members had ongoing steady relationships that predated their appearance on the show, but for those whose relationships were of the long-distance variety, remaining faithful was often a challenge. New Orleans’ Danny Roberts cheated on his boyfriend Paul, who was stationed in the military. Seattle’s Nathan Blackburn’s girlfriend worried about their relationship. Miami’s Flora Alekseyeun attempted to maintain relationships with two boyfriends simultaneously. Relationships among cast members of the various seasons of The Real World and its spin-off, Road Rules, are frequent on Real World/Road Rules Challenge, a game show which assembles dozens of alumni from the various seasons together.

• Sexuality

The level of sexual experience varies among a given season’s cast members. Los Angeles’ Jon Brennan, San Francisco's Cory Murphy, Boston's Elka Walker, Seattle’s Rebecca Lord, New Orleans’ Matt Smith and Julie Stoffer, Paris' Mallory Snyder and Austin’s Lacey Buehler, for example, were virgins during their respective seasons. On the other end of the spectrum was New Orleans’ David Broom, who was highly promiscuous, having had many sexual partners during his season, including more than one during Mardi Gras alone, some of whose names he did not even know. New Orleans’ Danny Roberts engaged in a sex act in the confessional room with a man during Mardi Gras. Some cast members expressed difficulty with relationships, such as London’s Sharon Gitau.

Overt sexual behavior was minimal during the show's early seasons, relegated mostly to discussion. In subsequent seasons, the level of sexual activity greatly increased, beginning with the Miami season, which depicted or touched upon activities such as exhibitionism, frottage, voyeurism, and threesomes. This increasing level of sexuality became a focus of criticism of the show, with the Las Vegas season serving as another prominent example.

• Unrequited love

Jon Brennan’s Los Angeles roommates speculated that he had developed a crush, or possibly had fallen in love, with Irene Berrera. New Orleans’ Melissa Howard was attracted to Jamie Murray, who did not reciprocate. Their roommate Julie Stoffer harbored similar feelings for Matt Smith, who also did not reciprocate. Back to New York’s Lori Trespicio developed an attraction for Kevin Dunn, but he did not see her as anything other than a friend.

• Departed housemates

Many times housemates have left the Real World house (and production) before production was completed, usually due to conflicts with others. David Edwards was asked to leave because his volatile behavior made the three women in the Los Angeles house feel unsafe. David “Puck” Rainey was voted out of the San Francisco house when housemate Pedro Zamora, whose contentious relationship with Rainey was affecting his health, told his housemates that he would move out if Rainey did not. Rainey moved out, but he appeared in some subsequent episodes in which he continued to socialize with former housemates Cory Murphy and Rachel Campos, and in the season finale. Irene McGee moved out of the Seattle house because of ethical objections to the show's production, though at the time, she claimed it was because of illness. Melissa Padrón and Justin Deabler moved out of the Miami and Hawaii houses, respectively, though Padrón continued to appear on the show. Irene Barrera moved out of the Los Angeles house when she got married. Frankie Abernathy moved out of the San Diego house due to homesickness.

• On-screen marriage

Irene Barrera-Kearns got married during the Los Angeles season, and moved out. Pedro Zamora exchanged wedding vows with his boyfriend Sean Sasser.

• Life-threatening illness

Pedro Zamora struggled with AIDS. He succumbed to the disease hours after the San Francisco season finale aired. Seattle's Irene McGee suffered from Lyme disease, and ostensibly moved out of the house because of it, though she later revealed that this was a cover for her ethical objections to the show’s production. San Diego housemate Frankie Abernathy suffers from cystic fibrosis. Key West's cast member Paula was battling anorexia and bulimia. Denver's Colie was sick with Infectious mononucleosis.

[edit] The Real World seasons

1. The Real World: New York (1992)
2. The Real World: Los Angeles (1993)
3. The Real World: San Francisco (1994)
4. The Real World: London (1995)
5. The Real World: Miami (1996)
6. The Real World: Boston (1997)
7. The Real World: Seattle (1998)
8. The Real World: Hawaii (1999)
9. The Real World: New Orleans (2000)
10. The Real World: Back to New York (2001)
11. The Real World: Chicago (2002)
12. The Real World: Las Vegas (2002)
13. The Real World: Paris (2003)
14. The Real World: San Diego (2004)
15. The Real World: Philadelphia (2004)
16. The Real World: Austin (2005)
17. The Real World: Key West (2006)
18. The Real World: Denver (2006)
19. The Real World: Sydney (to air late 2007, filming)
20. The Real World: ?????? (to air 2008, casting)

Miniseries

1. The Real World: Las Vegas II (2007, [3])

Season, location		Cast members
1	New York	Becky Blasband	Andre Comeau	Heather Gardner	Julie Gentry	Norman Korpi	Eric Nies	Kevin Powell
2	Los Angeles	Aaron Bailey	Irene Berrera-Kearns	Jon Brennan	David Edwards	Dominic Griffin	Tami Roman	Beth Stolarczyk
			Beth Anthony		Glen Naessens
3	San Francisco	Mohammed Bilal	Rachel Campos	Pam Ling	Cory Murphy	David "Puck" Rainey	Judd Winick	Pedro Zamora
						Jo Rhodes
4	London	Jacinda Barrett	Neil Forrester	Jay Frank	Sharon Gitau	Mike Johnson	Kat Ogden	Lars Schlichting
5	Miami	Flora Alekseyeun	Sarah Becker	Mike Lambert	Melissa Padrón	Joe Patane	Dan Renzi	Cynthia Roberts
6	Boston	Jason Cornwell	Sean Duffy	Montana McGlynn	Genesis Moss	Kameelah Phillips	Elka Walker	Syrus Yarbrough
7	Seattle	Nathan Blackburn	Lindsay Brien	David Burns	Janet Choi	Rebecca Lord	Irene McGee	Stephen Williams
8	Hawaii	Ruthie Alcaide	Amaya Brecher	Kaia Beck	Justin Deabler	Tecumseh "Teck $" Holmes, III	Colin Mortensen	Matt Simon
9	New Orleans	David Broom	Melissa Howard	Kelley Limp	Jamie Murray	Danny Roberts	Matt Smith	Julie Stoffer
10	Back to New York	Rachel Braband	Malik Cooper	Kevin Dunn	Nicole Jackson	Mike Mizanin	Coral Smith	Lori Trespicio
11	Chicago	Chris Beckman	Kyle Brandt	Tonya Cooley	Aneesa Ferreira	Keri Evans	Theo Gantt III	Cara Nussbaum (later Kahn)
12	Las Vegas	Trishelle Cannatella	Arissa Hill	Steven Hill	Frank Roessler	Brynn Smith	Irulan Wilson	Alton Williams
13	Paris	Ace Amerson	Leah Gillingwater	Adam King	Simon Sherry-Wood	Mallory Snyder	Chris "CT" Tamburello	Christina Trainor
14	San Diego	Frankie Abernathy	Randy Barry	Jamie Chung	Cameran Eubanks	Brad Fiorenza	Robin Hibbard	Jacquese Smith
		Charlie Dordevich
15	Philadelphia	Shavonda Bilingslea	Karamo Brown	Sarah Burke	M.J. Garrett	William Hernandez	Landon Lueck	Melanie Silcott
16	Austin	Wes Bergmann	Johanna Botta	Lacey Buehler	Nehemiah Clark	Danny Jamieson	Rachel Moyal	Melinda Stolp
17	Key West	Janelle Casanave	John Devenanzio	Tyler Duckworth	Zach Mann	Paula Meronek	Svetlana Shusterman	Jose Tapia
18	Denver	Tyrie Ballard	Colie Edison	Jennifer Grijalva	Brooke LaBarbara	Davis Mallory	Stephen Nichols	Alex Smith

[edit] Criticism

[edit] Authenticity

As with other reality shows, The Real World has received criticism for being staged. During a reunion show featuring the first four Real World casts, Heather Gardner, of the original New York cast, asked some members of the San Francisco cast if their situations were real. She noted that situations from the original season seemed to repeat themselves in the other incarnations, stopping short of accusing them of acting. On an edition of the E! True Hollywood Story that spotlighted the series, Los Angeles cast member Jon Brennan revealed that he was asked by the producers to state on the air that he felt hatred towards housemate Tami Roman for her decision to have an abortion, and that he refused to do so, stating that although he disagreed with her decision, he did not feel hatred towards her. Another issue is how MTV actually portrays the people on the show. There have been accusations of them toying with the material to make it seem like people react in certain ways or feel certain emotions.

Also, the whole concept of being in "the real world" is seen as a misnomer by some critics, citing that in the real world, people don't live in nice apartments, houses, or lofts for free, aren't "given" jobs in the media without any effort, and aren't taken to exotic locations free.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ethics

The show has been accused of disregarding ethics. On the final track of his Become the Media spoken word album, activist Jello Biafra discusses a conversation he had with Real World Seattle cast member Irene McGee:

We know Real World is not the real world. I recently met a woman named Irene McGee who quit this show and said not even the house was real. The fridges were all filled to the brim with Vlasic pickles delivered daily by the crate load along with gallons of Nantucket Nectar. If she drank anything else, the crew took it from her hand and made sure the Nantucket Nectar label was facing the camera instead. When she walked out, another guy in the cast of Real World hit her and the camera guy did nothing . . . When she spoke out, MTV sued her. And Entertainment Weekly rated Irene getting smash mouthed the 47th most interesting event on TV that whole year . . . Can’t you MTV think of a better way to raise audience awareness of domestic violence than to make it look cool?

McGee has toured colleges to discuss media manipulation and the falsehoods of reality television. She recently began a radio show/podcast, "No One's Listening,"[4] which is a youth-oriented show covering a wide range of pop-culture and media-related issues.

[edit] Sexuality and relevance

The show has also been accused of being overly sexualized, most notably with its Las Vegas cast. [5] There is a larger conception that it has become increasingly unserious. As critic Benjamin Wallace-Wells put it:

“

No longer an outlet for 20somethings to brood about their future careers, the show has become a cyclic three-month on-air party for young adults to mingle in hot tubs and obsess about the present. The locales have changed from creative meccas like New York and London to vacation spots like Las Vegas, New Orleans and Hawaii. MTV has rejiggered the show to require characters to engage in artificial, season-long contests or projects -- like putting together a fashion show -- which the characters embrace in the way most American teenagers experience spring break: as a big party.

”

[6]

Another more recent quote from LA Weekly's Nikki Finke reflects the same sentiments:

“

The show that once seriously delved into hot-button issues like homosexuality, AIDS, racism, religion and abortion was now purposely pushing someone’s buttons to have that person implode on air.

”

[7]

[edit] Quick Facts

• Total no. Of Episodes: 383
• Total no. of castmembers: 130
• Location Statistics: 3 Countries, 12 Different States Within US, 17 Different Cities Total
• Longest Season Running: Las Vegas (28 Episodes)
• Shortest Season Running: New York (13 Episodes)
• Season With the Largest Number of Roommates: Los Angeles, 9
• Biggest house: Seattle (140,000 sf, including production areas)
• Oldest House: New Orleans (The Belfort Mansion) built in 1833.
• Newest House: Key West (built in 2003)

[edit] The Real World Vacations

1. The Real World: New York - Jamaica
2. The Real World: Los Angeles - Mexico
3. The Real World: San Francisco - Hawaii
4. The Real World: London - Kenya
5. The Real World: Miami - Bahamas
6. The Real World: Boston - Puerto Rico
7. The Real World: Seattle - Nepal
8. The Real World: Hawaii - India*
9. The Real World: New Orleans - South Africa
10. The Real World: Back to New York - Morocco
11. The Real World: Chicago - New England**
12. The Real World: Las Vegas - Australia
13. The Real World: Paris - Italy
14. The Real World: San Diego - Greece
15. The Real World: Philadelphia - Fiji
16. The Real World: Austin - Costa Rica
17. The Real World: Key West - Spain
18. The Real World: Denver - Thailand
19. The Real World: Sydney - Brazil

[edit] The Real World Reunions

Reunion Title	Year	Casts Involved	Notes
The Real World Reunion	1995	New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London	The London season had not yet aired, but they were first introduced on this special.
The Real World Reunion 2000	2000	Miami, Boston, Seattle, Hawaii	This reunion was marked by several participants who seemed disillusioned by their experience.
The Real World 10th Anniversary Special	2001	New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Miami, Boston, Seattle, Hawaii, New Orleans	The entire cast gathered for a photo shoot commemorating the 10th year of the series.
Stop Being Polite	2002	Chicago	The format is switched to film a reunion immediately after the season airs.
The Las Vegas Reunion Special	2003	Las Vegas	Trishelle doesn't show up because she's in Mexico.
French Kissing and Telling	2003	Paris
2 Punk Rock 4 This	2004	San Diego
Fistful of Philly	2005	Philadelphia
Austin Reunion	2006	Austin	Nehemiah blows up at Danny.
Key West Reunion	2006	Key West	The cast singles out Tyler for his antics.
The Real World: Las Vegas II	2007	Las Vegas	The cast is reunited to live in the same suite for three weeks.

[edit] Trivia

• Dutch tv producer Erik Latour claims that the ideas for The Real World were directly derived from his television show Nummer 28, which aired in 1991 on Dutch television.^{[citation needed]}

• Tracy Grandstaff, one of the actresses from the unused scripted season ("Season Zero", or “Season 0”), became the voice of the animated Beavis and Butt-head character Daria Morgendorffer, who eventually got her own spinoff, Daria.

• The Los Angeles season's original title was The Real World: California until 1994, when the San Francisco season premiered.

• The New Orleans cast was the first (and to date the only) cast to be featured on the cover of TV Guide, appearing on the June 24, 2000 edition.

• The Chicago season was in production during the September 11th attacks, during which, for the first time since the Miami season, production stopped for about 3 hours. Producers made an exception to the "no-T.V." rule and allowed the Chicago cast to have a television in order to see the latest national developments concerning September 11th.

• Actress Barbie Wilde, who appeared as the Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser II was the Casting Director for the London season (1995).

• The Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Denver seasons were the only casts to have only castmembers 21 or older.

• The Key West cast (2006) was evacuated from their house because of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and Hurricane Wilma.

• The Boston cast was housed in the very same firehouse used in Spenser: For Hire and What's the Worst That Could Happen?

[edit] Franchise

Since the introduction of The Real World, Bunim/Murray has spun off a number of other reality shows, including most notably Road Rules, in which 5 strangers (6 in later seasons) are put in a Winnebago and asked to complete certain tasks to eventually gain a "handsome reward". Other shows include the game show Real World/Road Rules Challenge, which pits teams of alumni from both shows in physical competitions.

[edit] Parodies, derivatives, and references

• A satirical TV movie called The Lost Season parodied The Real World. It depicted a season of the show that supposedly took place in Vancouver, BC, and was abandoned because its participants were kidnapped.

• The show was also satirized in the October 2, 1993 episode of the sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. The episode, which was hosted by Shannen Doherty, featured a skit depicting a Real World cast patterned after the Los Angeles cast, and poked fun at the discussions of racism, bigotry, and political differences that served as a recurring theme that season.[8]. Another SNL parody of "The Real World" came in a 1996 episode hosted by John Goodman where Bob Dole (Norm MacDonald) is thrown out of the Real World: Chicago house (even though there wouldn't be a Real World Chicago until 2002) and takes his favorite chair with him while R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" plays in the background.

• The reality show The Surreal Life is structured similary to The Real World, except that the housemates, who live together for ten days, are celebrities. The show's original name was "The Surreal World". [9]

• An episode of the crime drama Law & Order featured a plot involving the investigation into the murder of a housemate on a reality show akin to The Real World.

• An episode of the crime drama Diagnosis Murder also featured a plot involving a murder committed during the filming of a reality show similar to The Real World. The main character of the show, Dr. Mark Sloane (played by Dick Van Dyke) was one of the roommates at the time of the murder, and solved the crime, as he did every episode.

• Dave Chappelle, lampooned what he perceived as the targeting of minority cast members for criticism or ejection on the show on his Comedy Central sketch comedy show, Chappelle's Show, with a skit called "The Mad Real World", portraying, with hyperbole, the results of what would happen if one white person were to cohabitate with a collection of crazy black people. The white man is raped and beaten, his father is stabbed and his girlfriend cheated on him with multiple other housemates. Finally he loses his temper in asking his roommates one night to turn down the music so he can sleep; the next day they all vote him off, saying he's getting out of control and they're afraid of him. They conclude with "If you don't leave, we reserve the right to f**k you up."

• The Comedy Central series Drawn Together is an animated reality show parody that borrows much of its format and conventions from The Real World, but whose cast is populated by animated cartoon archetypes.

• The music video for the Eminem track, "Without Me", contains scenes which parody The Real World, with appearances by New Orleans castmate Julie Stoffer, Boston castmate Syrus Yarbrough, and San Francisco castmate David "Puck" Rainey.

• In the 1999 romantic comedy film 10 Things I Hate About You Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) is watching television, on which the opening credits of The Real World: Seattle can be seen.

• In "Morality Bites", a second season episode of the television series Charmed, the sisters travel to 2009, and on the TV you can hear "Coming up, The Real World: On The Moon!"

• The 1999 romantic comedy film She's All That features Matthew Lillard playing Brock Hudson, an ex-Real World cast member.

• In "Text, Lies & Videotape", a fifth season episode of the television series Dawson's Creek, Audrey (Busy Philipps) is speaking with Joey (Katie Holmes) about recording her audition tape for the fictional The Real World: Ibiza season; as well as in episode "The Importance Of Not Being Too Earnest" from the sixth season, some college students comment if Joey sent an e-mail to the whole campus (by accident) in an attempt to get attention or because she was on "The Real World".

• In "The Route of All Evil", a third season episode of the television series Futurama, Fry, Leela, and Bender are watching an episode of "The Real World" set on the sun. Leela's comment on how much an apartment that big would cost on the sun is a reference to the criticisms of how people in real life wouldn't be able to afford the upscale houses that the castmembers on The Real World live in.

• The first episode of the show Robot Chicken, featured an animated short called The Real World: Metropolis, which cast famous comic book characters as the familiar castmates, including Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, The Incredible Hulk, Aquaman, and The Falcon, bickering amongst themselves in Real World fashion. [10]

• The WB television series Mission Hill based an entire episode around The Real World, in which the show's protagonist joins the cast and attempts to destroy The Real World from the inside by exposing it as an elaborate hoax with microphones and hidden cameras telling each person how to act and behave on camera.

• In the humorous, quasi-autobiographical memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, author Dave Eggers recounts his audition for The Real Word: San Francisco.

• The TV show Muppets Tonight featured a skit called The Real World: Muppets. Most segments of it were only shown in United Kingdom. It showed Rizzo the Rat, Bobo the Bear, Clifford, Bill the Bubble Guy, and a gothic girl named Darci.

• Several television commercials for the U.S. version of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube parodied The Real World.

• The film "The Real Old Testament" is a film that uses the style of Real World to look at some events in the Old Testament.

• The MTV Canada crew parodied a Real World, with a trailer for "The Real World: MTV. All 9 VJ's had different personas. Most were from the Real World Denver.

[edit] The Real World DVDs

DVD Title	Release Date	DVD Cover
The Real World: A Decade of Bloopers	05/28/2002
The Real World: Exotic Vacations	09/24/2002
The Real World: Greatest Fights	10/17/2000
The Real World: Hookups	11/11/2003
The Real World You Never Saw: Back to New York	12/04/2001
The Real World You Never Saw: Chicago	05/28/2002
The Real World You Never Saw: Hawaii	11/02/1999
The Real World You Never Saw: Las Vegas	01/28/2003
The Real World You Never Saw: New Orleans	10/17/2000
The Real World You Never Saw: Paris	11/11/2003
The Real World: Complete New York Season 1	09/24/2002
The Real World: Complete Las Vegas Season 12	05/20/2003

[edit] References

1. ^ Martin, Michael; "MTV Real World 20 Casting Call - May be the Last Season"; http://www.mm-agency.com/; March 12, 2007

• Biafra, Jello. "Become the Media." Become the Media. 2000.
• Pedro & Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned by Judd Winick (Henry Holt; 2000)
• Zeven werklozen samen op zoek naar een baan by Raymond van den Boogaard, NRC Handelsblad, September 28, 1996 (Dutch) - about Nummer 28 being the inspiration for The Real World.

[edit] External links

• MTV's official Real World Website

Seasons of The Real World
New York | Los Angeles | San Francisco | London | Miami | Boston | Seattle | Hawaii | New Orleans | Back to New York | Chicago | Las Vegas | Paris | San Diego | Philadelphia | Austin | Key West | Denver | Sydney