Get Real

Real World graduates carry on

by Eric Bovim

"I knew the day after the show aired it was gonna be big. I was walking down Madison Ave -- no -- it was Lexington; and this white guy in a business suit, 'bout 35, says to me, `Hey, you're Heather, I saw you on TV last night.'"

Each season since 1992, the producers of The Real World have focused their cameras on different groups of twentysomethings, shipped to New York, London, Miami Beach, Boston; sent on African safaris; vacations to Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard; put in the trendiest neighborhoods, in the best cities; filmed by one of the world's most popular cable networks; all of it set to a soundtrack of the hippest rock and roll. After all, this is MTV.

But the clock struck 12.

"No Robert De Niro ain't gonna come bangin' on your door askin' you to be in his next movie," says Heather, from the New York series; and she's right. The majority of the former cast have unsuccessfully tried to penetrate the entertainment industry.

For the past three years, most have coped by going on the road with "The Real World Reunion Tour," brainchild of Connecticut-based agent Brian Monaco, who represents the majority of the kids from The Real World and MTV's other film-all show, Road Rules. Monaco's only previous tie with The Real World was through his client Pedro, from the San Francisco cast, who toured the US to share his experience of living with AIDS. When he died in 1994, Judd, his friend and castmate, approached Monaco about continuing in honor of Pedro.

"When the kids started hearing about how much money Judd was making, they all started calling," says Monaco. "A lot of them were broke at the time, living with their parents, getting fired from their waitressing and bartending jobs. There are so many horror stories."

Since then, former cast members have passed through colleges, sharing their Real World secrets with students who have packed auditoriums in the hope of hearing what really happened when the cameras were off. Some cast members even try and sell their CDs at the end of the show.

Genesis of the Boston cast loves the tour. Heather loves the tour. All the Real World kids love the tour that enables them to meet other cast members, stay tight with the ones they know, and talk to the audience. Complaints about money woes and MTV surface in student Q&A sessions.

One alum who's done well is Heather, a rapper, who came into The Real World with a record deal, face and name recognition to gain. "Now, people recognize my voice, and I like it." She admits that similar motives compel others to go on the show. "There are two types of cast members: those who do it for the free room and board, and those who want to further their careers," says Heather. She says she did it for the free food.

Life since the show ended has been good to Heather. Her singles have climbed the Billboard charts, hovering there for 26 weeks. She's appeared in motion pictures like Dead Presidents and Above the Rim. Heather has no reason to be bitter, and she claims she isn't, but she adds she's disappointed that MTV has yet to air her videos. "Thank god for BET," she says.

Real World producers John Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim have crafted a veritable phenomenon -- a TV series that receives more cast applications than most colleges.

The show's big -- MTV knows it, and the kids do too, and that's the problem. "Everybody thinks they're gonna be famous afterwards," adds Heather. "But it doesn't happen that way."

Intended or not, there is irony coiled around the title of the series and in the lives of those who have survived it. When Heather says her former castmate Julie was working in an entry-level job for MTV a couple years after her TV debut, I think she gets it. "It's so TV now. They even made the Miami and Boston kids wear makeup when they went in the booths for their private interviews." The kids didn't seem to put up much of a fight.

Just last winter, Genesis and company made for the coldest, nastiest, and brutish season of The Real World, quarreling out of that renovated firehouse on Beacon Street. "Hmmm, we did kind of fight a lot didn't we. But we were all pretty intelligent," says Genesis. "In fact, Mary-Ellis even told me she thought we were the most intelligent cast the show has ever seen."

Though she still won't spare Montana. "Honestly, I think she modeled herself after Flora" (one of Real World's most aggressive characters, from the Miami series).

"She got to promote a book about the show that none of us even knew about," adds Genesis. "She's the one who's getting paid."

After the show ended, Genesis, an openly gay cast member, moved to Orlando, where she works at the front desk of World's Gym. She knows how difficult it is to shake the shadow of celebrity. "I get guys coming in every day who hit on me or try to convert me. I had to tell one guy the other day to fuck off." But Genesis does miss the show, smoking with Elka at three a.m. -- those Road Rules guys who wanted to sleep with Elka -- and most of all, Adam.

If you followed the Boston season, you'll recall that Adam is the homosexual drag queen Genesis met at "Quest." That night, he went by "Eve."

"Sean and Kameelah were talking with Adam, and I was getting angry 'cause I was in a gay club, and nobody was talking to me. I finally got up and said, `Hey, I'm the lesbo!'"

The exchange and ensuing friendship gave directors the material to construct a classic episode that tried to extend the limits of Genesis's lesbianism. "Honestly, I'm attracted to drag queens" she admits, "but I never had a crush on Adam."

Were they hoping she would become a bisexual lesbian?

"Sure, they picked me 'cause I'm gay. They say they didn't but . . ."

"You know they're gonna have someone who's gay," says Heather. "They'll have a musician, too, a model, and a loud-mouthed black girl." Heather agrees that the show has become more contrived with age.

It's become crankier, too. Since the dramatically diffuse London season, the Miami and Boston seasons have navigated through stronger egos that directors have mastered how to clash, producers how to clone.

"They cast complete polar opposites for effect. They put me and Elka together on purpose, because they asked me before how I would react if I had to live with someone who didn't approve of homosexuality," says Genesis, who, ironically, has been good friends with Elka since the show ended. Elka's father even offered to fly Genesis to their home last Christmas. Now, Genesis tells me, Elka has invited her to be her roommate in Las Vegas.

"In many ways, doing the show was a mistake," concludes Genesis. "I've got homophobic parents down here telling their kids they can't be friends with me."

What does Monaco think of the show's chances of continuing?

"The show and the tour won't last forever. It has really died down in the last year."

But Heather, one of the most popular and requested kids to appear on the tour, believes the show will go on for as long as there are kids in the world. She probably hopes the tour will, too. "In three months of work, I can do very, very well.

"I'm not bitter. I'm so over it."

Genesis from Real World VI Boston and Lars from Real World IV London will speak on their experiences at 9:30 p.m. on March 20 at Crossroads, Hogan Campus Center, at Holy Cross. Free.