I love my MTV: Where did the REAL WORLD go?
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Hello, my name is Bert and I have a confession. I am a 35-year-old mom of three and I love television shows that most high school and college students love. I love MTV. Love it. I’ve started to ask myself, where did their show THE REAL WORLD go?
I love MTV’s TEEN MOM, TEEN MOM 2, and THE CHALLENGE. I’m pretty sure if they brought back the REAL WORLD (which come on, that was a reality TV gold mine before the last season) I’d be all over that like jam on toast. One of the most memorable recent seasons of the REAL WORLD was when they tried to recreate the greatness that was season 12 REAL WORLD: LAS VEGAS. You know, the one where Trishelle was on there and she had a pregnancy scare with Steven Hill? It was epic and little known fact, but it is the second longest season of the REAL WORLD to date with 28 episodes.
Then came Real World: Go Big or Go Home and it was also set in Las Vegas. The season itself was kind of dark. There were racism problems, bigotry and it was just too much to handle as we all watched all of the roommates turn against cast member, Jenna, a girl from South Carolina with many opinions and no qualms about sharing them.
The season just became too much and too serious. That brings up why I find myself watching these shows. Escape. I love these mindless, reality TV shows because for at least one hour I can tune out all of the crap and dysfunction in our world and be entertained. Yes, I like to be entertained. I think most of us do. While your idea of entertainment might be different from mine, the affect it has on you is the same, isn’t it? Honestly, I think it’s part of being an older millennial. We grew up with MTV’s reality TV shows. We remember when Pedro died, we know who Puck is and there’s something amazing about being able to decompress and not be the grown up, right?
What happened in MTV’s REAL WORLD: GO BIG OR GO HOME?
Jenna. Jenna happened. She was like a tsunami and left nothing but hatred and pain in her aftermath. Okay that’s a little dramatic. I’m sure in her real life she’s nice and hopefully she learned from her experience.
Like I said, the last Las Vegas season was contentious and one of the cast member’s leaked out information regarding his roommate, Jenna, and her beliefs. This created a firestorm within the Las Vegas house and what was once a place where the roommates could learn from each other became a place of unrest, frustration and quite honestly a boiling pot of hostility. Jenna will probably go down in REAL WORLD history as the worst person to ever appear on the TV show. To understand what fully happened, here’s a little history on Jenna.
Jenna is from South Carolina and is about as far right on the political spectrum as anyone has been (publicly at least) on the REAL WORLD. Here’s what her bio says on MTV,
Don’t let this Southern bombshell’s looks fool you, this feisty tomboy knows how to get down and dirty – from shooting guns to bow and arrows in her bikini. A proud Southerner, Jenna is very vocal about her beliefs and the traditions she was raised with; and is no doubt the only roommate with a pet pig at home. Jenna was raised by her deer-hunting Mormon father, until she moved in with her mother at the age of 15. Real World will be a chance for Jenna to explore life, culture, and beliefs outside of her country town of Easley, South Carolina.
Some of the things that Jenna chose to say to her African American cast member, Ceejai, and other members of the house, were absolutely repulsive to watch. Time after time again, Jenna would say something so completely off either racist or homophobic, sometimes provoked, and sometimes unprovoked, and Ceejai would respond, even though she was frustrated with Jenna, trying to be patient with her and educate her that she just cannot say the things she was saying. Push came to shove and while Jenna was FaceTiming with a friend from home, who appeared to be even more racist than Jenna, names were called and Ceejai came to her breaking point. A fight ensues and both women are kicked off of the show. Jenna had started a physical altercation the week before by pushing Ceejai but for some reason, other than both her and Ceejai promising to never get physical again, she wasn’t asked to leave the house despite MTV’s rule about no physical altercations between cast members. Fast forward to one week later and the MTV cast and crew found themselves in the same place: Jenna and Ceejai fighting. This time it was enough.
While GO BIG OR GO HOME wasn’t the last season of the REAL WORLD it’s definitely the one that most likely turned off fans. It turned me off that’s for sure. I had a difficult time wanting to watch something that was just so wrong. I’d like to believe that producers talked with Jenna about her behavior but maybe they didn’t. When TV gets that mean, it just isn’t entertaining.
What was the most recent REAL WORLD season?
The most recent REAL WORLD season was filmed in Seattle and was called REAL WORLD: BAD BLOOD (season 32). It featured the seven roommates living together like what we’re used to but of course there was a twist. The twist this time was that the seven original roommates were forced to live with someone whom they had “bad blood” with. Some were forced to deal with a past relationship that had gone wrong while others had to deal with people from their childhood who bullied them. The season was only 12 episodes long and aired from October 2016 – January 2017.
Was the REAL WORLD cancelled?
MTV hasn’t officially said anything about the show’s fate but we haven’t seen a REAL WORLD season since 2017 so I think it’s safe to say that for now MTV isn’t resurrecting their first reality TV hit. Call it a hiatus. With MTV’s twist on an athletic, Survivor-esque show, that brings back a lot of the old REAL WORLD stars as well as new MTV reality stars, THE CHALLENGE, I don’t really see why they would need to bring back the REAL WORLD. It’s a different time now and with the advance of social media and communications it’s challenging for the cast members to be disconnected from their lives at home. Leaks happened on the GO BIG OR GO HOME season. I honestly don’t remember if that happened on BAD BLOOD.
How do I get on MTV REAL WORLD?
Bunim/Murray Production who produce REAL WORLD does have a casting application up on their website. Maybe it’s for the REAL WORLD or maybe it’s for a different show with a concept similar to the REAL WORLD.
What is MTV’s THE CHALLENGE?
Only the best show on MTV!! It’s a competition based show similar to SURVIVOR only they live in a mansion. While they compete during the day, either on teams or individually, they play and act all a fool at night. I’ll write more about that later.