September 13, 2001
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
Plan on dropping by "The
Real World" apartment complex unexpectedly? Don't bother, 'cause you won't
get inside without an invitation.
There is no bell at their
front door. So in order to drop by, you first have to call ahead and ask
if you may go over. Then you have to walk around to the back of the building
where the production entrance is located. An assistant will buzz up for
you and, given clearance, will let you inside their abode.
Not very friendly, but it
must be a nice way to keep out those pesky solicitors.
The cast members ventured
outside their apartment earlier this week to do a photo shoot at North
Avenue Beach. They were seen clowning around, though bystanders said Chris--one
of the resident hunks--couldn't dance his way out of a box. Ironically,
he works at the salsa-happy nightclub Circuit in Lake View--hopefully not
as a go-go dancer.
"He was a real spaz," says
an observer. "One of the girls, not Kelly, had really long, curly blond
hair. ...It may have been a wig, but it looked pretty on her."
It also turns out that the
Chicago cast includes a native. Kyle, 22, hails from Lincolnshire. The
6-foot, 205-pound athlete was quite the football star at Stevenson High
School and Princeton University. Inexplicably, though, he also is a huge
fan of Tool and created a Web site devoted to the band during his freshman
year at college.
He and Kelly are the two
most likely to pair up on the set, says a cast member's pal.
At 19, Kelly is the youngest
member of the show. Blond and pretty, the smoking lifeguard is from New
Orleans and is this cast's resident innocent. Those who've met her describe
her as a combination of Elka from Boston and Julie from New Orleans.
Chris, 24, is the oldest
cast member. He wants to be an actor when he grows up and probably is the
silliest and nicest of the kids. He calls Boston home and has been spotted
dining with fellow cast member Tanya at Tomboy in Andersonville.
Tanya is the show's All-American,
African-American lesbian.
Also in this season's cast
is an incredibly buff, bald African-American male whose body puts Kyle's
to shame; a blond woman who isn't Kelley, and another woman who apparently
never leaves the apartment.
Other tidbits about the
Chicago cast:
• Sometimes the boys are asked to wear
makeup on camera to cover up imperfections . . . and they do!
• They read everything written about them.
A friend of the cast says the negative coverage hurts their feelings, but
that Kyle takes it all with good humor.
• They have no idea if there is any truth
to the rumor that they will be sent on a trip to Romania and then return
to another house somewhere in Wisconsin.
Got a scoop about "The Real World" in Wicker Park? E-mail me at realworld@suntimes.com
Read more Real World Confidential
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