The Real World (TV series)

At the end of each week, each housemate is required to sit down and be interviewed about the past week's events. Unlike the normal day-to-day taping, 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, which are used in the final, edited episodes. The producers instruct the cast to talk about whatever they wish,[60][64] and to speak in complete sentences, to reinforce the perception on the part of the home viewer that the cast is speaking to them. Winick described this practice as "like therapy without the help".[60] The confessionals were originally conducted by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan 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 each house for this purpose, which itself has also become known as the Confessional in which cast members could record themselves and provide thoughts about house and life events. (The soundproofing practice appears to have been discontinued in later seasons.[65][66])

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 that the Los Angeles cast conducted on their last day in order to appear less contentious, but which ended with them arguing and storming out, an appearance by San Francisco housemate Judd Winick in a nun's habit, and Miami roommates Melissa Padrón and Flora Alekseyeun dressing up as sex workers for a shared confessional in which they discuss why their roommates did not get along with them.[18] During Mardi Gras, 2000 New Orleans cast member Danny Roberts used the confessional to engage in a sex act.[67]

Initially, the show documented the housemates as they struggled to find and maintain jobs and careers in their new locales, 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 women to Jamaica. By the second season, sending the entire cast on a vacation and/or short-term local trip would become the norm for most seasons. By the fifth season, the cast would be given an ongoing, season-long activity, with the Miami cast given startup money and a business advisor to begin their own business. This aspect of the show remained in most subsequent seasons.[68] The assignments are obligatory, with casts assigned to work at an after-school daycare program, a radio station, public-access television station, etc. Beginning with the tenth season, a rule was implemented that required a roommate fired from the group job to be evicted from the house and dropped from the cast. Hollywood's Greg Halstead and Cancun's Joey Rozmus were evicted from their respective houses after they were fired from their group jobs.[69][70] Later seasons provided the cast with pre-approved jobs they could apply for without the firing rule, while other casts took part in internships or did not pursue work.

Footage taped throughout each season is edited into episodes (half-hour episodes for the first 19 seasons, one-hour episodes beginning with the twentieth).[71]

Physical violence of any kind is typically not tolerated by the producers. After an incident occurs, producers or cast members are typically given the choice as to whether a violent housemate can stay due to a contract clause that prohibits violence. After an incident during the Seattle season in which Stephen Williams slapped Irene McGee as she moved out,[72] a response to the event was debated by the housemates, who did not witness the indicent was viewed a videotape of it. 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.[73] During the 2002–2003 Las Vegas season, Brynn Smith and Steven Hill got into an altercation in which Smith threw a fork at Hill. Hill contacted the producers who notified him that it was up to the cast to decide on Smith's fate. The cast let Hill make the ultimate decision, and he chose that Smith could stay.[74] During the Sydney season, Trisha Cummings shoved Parisa Montazaran to the ground during a heated altercation. Producers gave Montazaran the choice as to whether Cummings could stay or leave, and she chose that Cummings had to leave.[75] Denver housemates Tyrie Ballard and Davis Mallory got into an explosive altercation that required production to intervene on-screen and separate the two before any violence occurred.[76] Similarly, Hollywood castmates William Gilbert and Dave Malinosky got into a similar fight with fellow housemate Greg Halstead that also required intervention from production, as well as Gilbert and Malinosky to undergo anger management.[77] During the Portland season, Nia Moore physically attacked Johnny Reilly in retaliation for Reilly purposely throwing a drink on her during a heated altercation, and later got into a physical altercation with Averey Tressler, when Tressler defended Reilly from an attempt by Moore to attack Reilly again with a hair dryer. Unlike most prior seasons where the one assaulted housemate was given the sole choice as to whether the attacker could stay, the Portland cast had its producers decide that only those not involved in the confrontation could decide whether Moore could stay via a majority vote. They chose to let her stay, and producers did not order Moore to anger management, despite subsequent threats to attack other cast members. As a result, Reilly and Tressler chose to leave the loft during that season's final episode.[78][79] In the final three episodes of the Go Big or Go Home season, castmates Jenna Thomason and Ceejai Jenkins got into two physical altercations while in the house. During the second altercation, Jenkins gave Thomason a black eye and bruises. As a result, both were removed by production due to the altercation.[80]

Cast members are also subject to random drug tests, and a cast member failing a drug test will lead to him or her being evicted from the house. During the Hollywood season, it became known that Joey Kovar, had used large amounts of alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, as well as steroids that he used in bodybuilding since he was a teenager, and had suffered near-fatal overdose. Because of the erratic behavior he displayed as a result of this, he was asked to leave the show to pursue treatment.[81] Kovar would later die of opiate intoxication on August 17, 2012, at the age of 29.[82] During the St. Thomas season, Brandon Kane was removed from the house in that season's eleventh episode after testing positive for cocaine use.[83]

Cast members are held responsible for any damage to property that occurred within the house. For example, Brooklyn's J.D. Ordoñez was required to pay $350 after destroying a coffee table in one episode.[84][85] Cancun's Bronne Bruzgo was evicted from the hotel that served as the cast residence following a drunken incident in which he threw a fire extinguisher from a balcony to a pool below, though he was provided with nearby alternative housing by Student City, the cast's season employer.[86][87] 2011 Las Vegas' Adam Royer was held responsible for the $3,105 worth of damage that his drunken and disorderly behavior caused to the suite that housed that season's cast.[88]

As their experiences on The Real World were often the first time that cast members encountered people of different races or sexual orientations,[89][90] many episodes documented conflict over these issues. First season housemate Kevin Powell had such arguments with Eric Nies, Julie Gentry, and Rebecca Blasband. The premiere episode of the Los Angeles season depicted regional epithets exchanged between Jon Brennan, Dominic Griffin, and Tami Roman. 1994 San Francisco housemate David "Puck" Rainey's treatment of Pedro Zamora's homosexuality was an issue for Zamora.[91] Flora Alekseyeun, during an argument with her Miami roommate Cynthia Roberts, dismissed what she referred to as Roberts' "black attitude", and their roommate Melissa Padrón, during a heated exchange with openly gay Dan Renzi, called him a "flamer".[92] Racism and religious intolerance was a point of contention among 2000 New Orleans housemates Julie Stoffer, Melissa Howard and Jamie Murray on more than one occasion.[93][94]

The stereotypical views about black people imparted to Back to New York's Mike Mizanin by his uncle offended Coral Smith and Nicole Mitsch when he related them, and they tried to educate him on African American culture.[95][96] 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.[97]

Philadelphia's Karamo Brown expressed being "borderline racist" towards White people,[98] though he had softened in these feelings by the end of the season.[99] In the Denver season, Davis Mallory and Stephen Nichols confronted each other over Mallory's homosexuality and Nichols' race,[100] and Mallory later used a racial epithet during a drunken argument with black housemate Tyrie Ballard.[76][101]

During the Sydney season, Persian housemate Parisa Montazaran was offended at an anecdote related by housemate Trisha Cummings, in which Cummings described an Asian McDonald's employee whose command of English was not perfect, though Cummings later insisted that she misworded her anecdote.[102] A similar confrontation occurred during the Brooklyn season between J.D. Ordoñez and Chet Cannon, after a drunk Ordoñez made offensive statements about immigrants, following an incident at a drugstore.[103]

Hollywood's Kimberly Alexander got into an argument with Brianna Taylor, who is African American, and said, "Let's not get ghetto." When roommate William Gilbert saw this as racist, Alexander explained that Taylor had previously described herself as sometimes behaving "ghetto", and was merely referencing that.[104]

During the 2010 New Orleans season, tensions escalated between Ryan Leslie and openly gay Preston Roberson-Charles, amid questions about Leslie's own sexuality, and their mutual use of homophobic slurs.[105] In addition, Roberson-Charles also drew some homophobic remarks from housemate Ryan Knight.[106] During the 2011 San Diego season, tensions arose between Frank Sweeney and his male housemates Zach Nichols and Nate Stodghill over Sweeney's bisexuality,[107] and Nichols later made what he said he intended to be a humorous remark to lesbian roommate Sam McGinn that alluded to gay bashing, to which McGinn took exception.[108][109] In the Go Big or Go Home season, Jenna Thomason made homophobic and racist comments toward her roommates, causing tension between her and the rest of the cast.[80]

Los Angeles housemate Jon Brennan disagreed with Tami Roman's decision to have an abortion, and argued with castmate Aaron Behle, and Behle's girlfriend, Erin, who were both pro-choice.[110] Rachel Campos, a conservative Republican member of the 1994 San Francisco cast, clashed with liberal roommates Mohammed Bilal and Judd Winick.[111][112] Paris housemates Simon Sherry-Wood and Leah Gillingwater argued over the Iraq War,[113] and in a subsequent episode, Chris "C.T." Tamburello became confrontational and threatening toward Adam King, referencing the war himself.[114] Nehemiah Clark, of the Austin cast, expressed disapproval of President George W. Bush and the Iraq War, coming into conflict with Rachel Moyal, who served in Iraq as a combat medic for the U.S. Army.[115] Sydney's Dunbar Flinn angered Parisa Montazaran and Trisha Cummings with his comments about Jesus and the Bible.[116] The 2008 United States Presidential election served to highlight the political differences among the Brooklyn cast.[117][118] In the Washington, D.C., season premiere, atheist Ty Ruff got into an argument with Christian roommates Ashley Lindley and Mike Manning.[119]

Many cast members tried to maintain long-distance relationships that predated their time on the show, though remaining faithful was often a challenge. Miami's Flora Alekseyeun attempted to maintain relationships with two boyfriends simultaneously.[120] 2000 New Orleans' Danny Roberts cheated on his boyfriend Paul, who was stationed in the military.[67] During the Seattle season, Nathan Blackburn's girlfriend worried about their relationship.[121][122][123][124] Shauvon Torres departed from the Sydney house to reconcile with her ex-fiancé.[125] Her housemates, Trisha Cummings,[126][127][128] KellyAnne Judd[125] and Dunbar Merrin,[129][130] all flirted, dated or had sex with people other than their significant others back home. Cancun's Jonna Mannion,[131][132] Washington D.C.'s Josh Colón[133] and 2011 Las Vegas' Nany González severed long-term relationships following suspicions and admissions of infidelity, and in the case of González, after she began a relationship with housemate Adam Royer.[134]

Some cast members developed romantic relationships with their castmates. 1994 San Francisco roommates Pam Ling and Judd Winick have since married,[135][136] as have their roommate Rachel Campos and Sean Duffy of the Boston cast.[137] In the 2002–2003 Las Vegas season, Trishelle Cannatella and Steven Hill consummated a romance during the show,[138] while their roommates Irulan Wilson and Alton Williams began a relationship[139] that continued for three years after they moved out of the Las Vegas suite.[140] The Austin cast spawned two relationships, between Wes Bergmann and Johanna Botta, as well as Danny Jamieson and Melinda Stolp; the latter couple married in August 2008 but divorced in spring 2010.[141][142] Hollywood's William Gilbert became involved in a relationship with The Real World: Key West alumna Janelle Casanave, who made guest appearances in several episodes during that season. However, their relationship ended when Gilbert later became attracted to his roommate Brittni Sherrod.[143][144] Portland housemates Johnny Reilly and Averey Tressler developed a mutual attraction,[145] leading to a relationship that they continued for one year after filming ended.[146][147]

The level of sexual experience varies among a given season's cast members. New York's Julie Gentry,[148] Los Angeles' Jon Brennan[149][150] and Aaron Behle,[110] 1994 San Francisco's Cory Murphy and Rachel Campos,[151] Seattle's Rebecca Lord,[121] 2000 New Orleans' Matt Smith and Julie Stoffer,[152][153][154] Paris' Mallory Snyder,[155] Austin's Lacey Buehler,[156] Brooklyn's Chet Cannon[157] and Atlanta's Meagan Melancon,[158] for example, all stated they were virgins during their respective seasons. On the other end of the spectrum was 2000 New Orleans' David Broom,[159] Cancun's Joey Rozmus,[160] and 2011 Las Vegas's Heather Cooke,[161] who took pride in their promiscuity with various sexual partners during their respective seasons.[162] Denver's Jenn Grijalva[163] and Alex Smith,[164] Sydney's KellyAnne Judd[165] and Dunbar Flinn,[166] Cancun's Ayiiia Elizarraras,[167][168] and 2011 Las Vegas' Nany González[169] and Heather Marter[170] were sexually intimate with multiple castmates during their respective seasons.

More than once, fellow housemates have been involved in pregnancy scares, such as Steven Hill and Trishelle Cannatella during the 2002–2003 Las Vegas season,[171] Cohutta Grindstaff and KellyAnne Judd during the Sydney season,[172] and Leroy Garrett and Naomi Defensor during the 2011 Las Vegas season.[173]

London's Sharon Gitau expressed difficulty with relationships, and with being open about this and other aspects of her life with her castmates.[174]

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.[175]

Jon Brennan's Los Angeles roommates speculated that he had developed a crush, or possibly had fallen in love, with Irene Berrera.[176] 2000 New Orleans' Melissa Howard was attracted to Jamie Murray, who did not reciprocate.[177] Their roommate Julie Stoffer harbored similar feelings for Matt Smith, who also did not reciprocate.[178][179] Back to New York's Lori Trespicio developed an attraction for Kevin Dunn, though he only saw her as a friend.[180]

Many times, housemates have left the Real World house (and the cast) before production was completed, due to conflicts with other roommates, personal issues, homesickness or violations of work assignment policies. Replacement roommates would sometimes move in as a result. Housemates who departed over personal conflicts with other housemates include Los Angeles' David Edwards, San Francisco's David "Puck" Rainey, Sydney's Trisha Cummings, 2010 New Orleans' Ryan Leslie and Ex-Plosion's Ashley Mitchell, though Rainey, Leslie and Mitchell continued to appear in subsequent episodes following their departures. Housemates who moved out due to personal issues back home include Hawaii's Justin Deabler,[181] Sydney's Shauvon Torres[125] and Portland's Joi Niemeyer.[146] Housemates who moved out due to homesickness include 2004 San Diego's Frankie Abernathy[182][183] and Washington D.C.'s Erika Wasilewski.[184] Housemates who were evicted after being fired from group work assignments include Hollywood's Greg Halstead[69] and Cancun's Joey Rozmus,[70] though Rozmus returned by that season's finale.[185] Housemates who were evicted for either physical altercations or reckless behavior include 2011 Las Vegas' Adam Royer,[186] Go Big or Go Home's Jenna Thomason and Ceejai Jenkins, Bad Blood's Theo King-Bradley and Peter Romeo and Atlanta's Clint Wright,[187][188][189] though Royer later returned for that season's twelfth episode.[190]

Housemates have also departed for other reasons. Irene Barrera moved out of the Los Angeles house when she got married.[176] Irene McGee claimed a relapse of Lyme disease was the reason for her moving out of the Seattle house,[191] though in a previously unaired[192][193] interview from her time on the show that aired during the 2000 reunion show, The Real World Reunion 2000, she explained that the main reason was her ethical objections to aspects of the show's production, which she characterized as an inauthentic environment designed to fabricate drama and conflict, and not the social experiment it was portrayed to be. McGee further explained that this was an unhealthy environment for her to live in, and that the stress and manipulation of the production exacerbated her illness.[194][195] Joey Kovar moved out of the Hollywood house, fearing a drug and alcohol relapse after spending time in rehab,[196] though he returned for that season's finale.[197] St. Thomas' Brandon Kane was the first cast member ever evicted for failing a random drug test during filming.[83] Ex-Plosion's Lauren Ondersma and Bad Blood's Tyara Hooks departed after finding out they were pregnant.[198][199]

Irene Barrera got married during the Los Angeles season.[176] Pedro Zamora exchanged wedding vows with his boyfriend, Sean Sasser, during the 1994 San Francisco season.[200]

Pedro Zamora lived with AIDS.[26] He succumbed to complications related to the disease on November 11, 1994, hours after the 1994 San Francisco season finale aired. 2004 San Diego housemate Frankie Abernathy suffered from cystic fibrosis. She died on July 9, 2007.[201]

Philadelphia's Sarah Burke,[202] Key West's Paula Meronek,[203] and Skeletons' Violetta Milerman[204] each suffered from an eating disorder, anorexia and/or bulimia. Denver's Colie Edison battled mononucleosis.[205] Cancun's Ayiiia Elizarraras had a history of drug abuse and self-harming,[206] the latter of which manifested during that season's fifth episode. She received treatment for it after filming ended, and recorded a public service announcement on the condition that it aired at the end of that episode.[207][208] 2010 New Orleans' Ryan Leslie suffered from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, which had deleterious effects on his relationship with the rest of the cast.[209][210][211]

One recurring illness with which a number of cast members have dealt is addiction. While cast members sometimes become inebriated in social situations during filming, Hawaii's Ruthie Alcaide[212] and Hollywood's Joey Kovar[213][214] entered treatment programs for drug or alcohol addiction during filming. Other cast members have recounted past troubles with addiction that they had endured prior to filming, including 2002 Chicago's Chris Beckman,[215][216] Hollywood's Brianna Taylor,[217] 2010 New Orleans' Ryan Knight,[218][219] St. Thomas' Brandon Kane,[220] and Skeletons' Madison Walls.[221]

In addition to the main edition of the show, a handful of reunion specials of The Real World have been produced, where the casts from a particular season were reunited for another season of the show. The original Vegas reunion followed the cast as they returned to stay in their original residence with planned activities for them. The reunion series that began in 2021 (titled The Real World: Homecoming) maintained this basic premise while having an additional element of having the original cast occasionally watch footage from their original show and answering prompts.

In 2002, MTV also produced a made-for-TV movie, The Real World Movie: The Lost Season, ostensibly about a season of The Real World whose cast members are terrorized by a rejected would-be member.[259]

The Real World: Chicago residence on July 16, 2001. Note the vandalism (red paint on the door)[260][261] and street-level brick that has been worn due to graffiti and its continued removal due to protests.[262]

As with other reality shows, The Real World has received criticism for being staged.[263][264] During a reunion show featuring the first four Real World casts, Heather Gardner, of the original New York cast, asked some members of the 1994 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, 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 accusation is that producers selectively edit material in order to give the false impression of certain emotional reactions or statements from the castmates.[265] New York cast member Rebecca Blasband says producers paid a man $100 to ask her out on a date, and that she terminated that plan when she learned of it. She also says that the argument she and Kevin Powell had in the seventh episode of that season was edited to make both of them appear more extreme.[13]

Some critics see the very concept of being in "the real world" as a misnomer, asserting that in the real world, people do not live in luxurious dwellings for free, are not given jobs in the media without any effort, and are not taken to exotic locations for free,[266] a 'reaction' that has been 'experienced' by Judd Winick, who calls the series "reality in context".[59]

The early seasons have been reassessed in light of history, and in comparison to that of later seasons, particularly in terms of the cast. Writing in 2011, Meredith Blake of The A.V. Club found the first-season cast's career goals to be "ambitious, articulate, and thoughtful", particularly in the context of the time when the show was produced, when cast members may have sought to be on TV to further their career goals, but not to be reality TV personalities, which was not yet a common goal at the time, stating, "What's so curious about the show's somewhat chilly critical reception is that, compared to today's reality fare—Jersey Shore, the Kardashians, the various Real Housewives—The Real World: New York now seems incredibly, achingly earnest, bracingly raw, and sweetly idealistic." Blake contrasts this with the casts of later seasons, such as that of 2011, who tend to be defined more by their pasts than by their career goals, and who are never unaware of their own onscreen "narrative".[15] In addition, the later seasons earned the series a reputation for immature or irresponsible behavior on the part of the cast,[267] which Nola.com has described as being "sometimes fit for a police report".[3] On the final track of his Become the Media spoken word album, activist Jello Biafra discusses a conversation he had with The Real World: Seattle cast member Irene McGee, who was slapped by castmate Stephen Williams, saying:

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?[268]

McGee has toured colleges to discuss media manipulation and the falsehoods of reality television. She later started a youth-oriented radio show/podcast, No One's Listening, covering a wide range of pop-culture and media-related issues.[269]

The show has also been accused of being characterized by the casts' drunken and sexual antics,[270][271] beginning with the show's 2002 Las Vegas season.[272][273][274] There is a larger conception that it has become increasingly superficial with respect to the drama and angst depicted on the part of cast members. As critic Benjamin Wallace-Wells put it:

No longer an outlet for twentysomethings 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 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.[275]

A 2006 comment 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.[276]

The Parents Television Council, which has frequently criticized MTV, has also frequently criticized The Real World for its overtly sexual content.[277] In addition, that organization contends that because MTV routinely reruns Real World episodes with a simple "TV-14" rating without the "L" (language) descriptor, parents cannot block out the show with a V-Chip,[278] although countering reports claim that the V-Chip does not totally rely on content descriptors added to the general ratings to work.[279] An episode of The Real World: San Diego that was broadcast in January 2004 came under intense criticism from both the PTC[280] and American Family Association for its sexual content.[281]

In December 2005, Aaron Gillego, a columnist for The Advocate, criticized the series for having never cast an Asian man in the then-13 years of its existence, opining that Asian women have been cast on the show because heterosexual men have been socialized by the media to think of them as exotic beauties or sex objects, but that Asian men have been largely invisible in popular media.[282] As of 2018, an Asian man has never been cast in the 25 years of the show's existence.