By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
August 16, 2001
You’ve got to feel a little bad for the Chicago cast of “The Real World.” The seven young ‘uns probably thought they’d get to live rent-free for the summer in a way-cool house in way-cool Wicker Park, hang with a Pumpkin or two and use the MTV soap opera-style documentary to launch their 15 minutes of fame.
It probably came as somewhat of a shock that so many Chicagoans were irked by their mere presence.
Already, one cast member has been bombarded by wads of paper, of all things. Hooligan-wannabes have used the summer home at 1934 W. North for target practice, exhibiting remarkably good aim with cans, bottles and red paint bombs. And just prior to moving into their building, the real world met “The Real World” when two men not affiliated with the show were gunned down in their car at a Burger King just a few blocks away.
Welcome to the neighborhood, kids. It’s gonna be a long, hot summer, especially when some of your neighbors are giving you the cold shoulder.
So I’m a little unnerved when a grungy-looking kid comes up to me and hisses, “Are you the Asian chick from ‘The Real World’?”
Faster than I could point out my wrinkles, one of his media-savvy friends notices there’s no camera crew with me. Turns out they didn’t want to deck me. Rather, they wanted to see if they could get on TV by being in the same vicinity as a cast member.
Sorry to disappoint you, sweeties. But while I definitely am an Asian chick from the real world, I’m not one of the telegenic cast members on “The Real World.”
And thank goodness for that, too. Its bad enough that your own family knows about your wacky idiosyncrasies. But would you really want them documented on MTV to be broadcast over and over ad nauseum (without any residuals, I might add)?
The “Real World” Seven are fairly easy to spot, especially when they’re out in a pack heading to trendy Whiskey Blue in the new W Hotel City Center. They’re followed by a camera operator, a sound person, an assistant who makes sure that everyone on camera signs a waiver and a team of security guards to protect MTV’s property.
My aforementioned doppelganger has been spotted sipping coffee at the Local Grind–a coffeehouse that, by virtue of being around the corner from their apartment, has become the gang’s unofficial hangout. Her hottie roommate–heretofore referred to as Bodzilla–also frequents the joint and was overheard saying that being on camera 24/7 wasn’t as easy as he thought it’d be.
Patrons also eavesdropped as the requisite Pretty Blond expressed unhappiness about an unfavorable article she read about herself. But like the rest of her Benettonically correct cast members, she appeared savvy enough to realize that all publicity ultimately is good publicity.
So far, the only cast member spotted engaging in any public displays of affection has been the African-American woman who made out with her girlfriend in front of the cast’s apartment building.
Local Grind owner Jack Wasserman welcomes their business and speaks protectively of his frequent customers.
“It would be devastating if viewers got an impression that we’re an unfriendly city,” he says. “The cast is really nice. They aren’t always here with a camera crew, but when they are they’re never in anyone’s face. It’s such old hat now that we don’t realize they’re even here until after they’re gone.”
Which makes one wonder: How will service be at Piece, the new hip-hop pizzeria in Wicker Park, now that two cast members have been hired as waitrons?
Have a “Real World” sighting to report? E-mail me at realworld@suntimes.com
Real World Confidential: Whatever her ailment, it was a hip problem
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
August 23, 2001
Boo hoo. There’s already been a casualty on “The Real World” front.
One of the female cast members was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital last week. The hospital won’t say what was wrong with her, but her ailment wasn’t serious enough to warrant an overnight stay.
Thank goodness for that.
“I didn’t get a good look at her, but she didn’t seem to be hurting real bad,” says a man who wished only to be identified as Matt. “I felt kind of bad for her that she had to do this with a camera following her around.”
Sympathetic Matt gets bonus points for his angst. But surely the savvy cast members realized before signing on the dotted line that their almost every move would be filmed, edited and aired to run ad nauseum on MTV next season. And a trip to a hospital is always a ratings booster.
On a less perilous note, it seems the cast has discovered nightlife outside of their cranky Wicker Park surroundings.
“I saw one of the blond girls at O’Neils [on East Ontario] talking with a med student, who was in his scrubs/lab coat with the prerequisite stethoscope around his neck,” says Nick Hawkins, who has spotted the cast members at various haunts around the city. “What they were talking about was a complete mystery, because the O’Neils staff didn’t care, nor did the patrons. The bartender at O’Neils referred to him as a ‘f—— tool.’ ”
“The blond must have not been real bright, because she had to ask the name and address of the bar. Um, how can you walk into a bar sober and not know the name?”
After announcing to the press last week that a couple of cast members were working at Piece–the pizza joint located directly across the street from the “Real World” house on North Avenue–the proprietors have become strangely silent.
Owner Bill Jacobs says, “They’re not on the schedule right now, but I promised them that I wouldn’t say anything else about them.”
Protective Jacobs wouldn’t confirm whether “right now” meant for the day or forever.
However, one correspondent e-mailed us this report about the service: “My girlfriend and I went there last evening, waited 15 minutes before anyone took our order and left 10 minutes later after we were still not served our beer.”
MTV isn’t releasing any photos of the Chicago cast. Web sites www.liquidgeneration.com and www.realityworldtv.com insist the photos they have posted on their sites are of the real cast members.
Go take a peek. Perhaps you’ve been served by them.
Real World Confidential: Life’s a beach–and then you die
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
August 30, 2001
The next time you’re at North Avenue Beach, look for a cute blond training to be a lifeguard. She’s one of the cast members of “The Real World,” according to Jim Kleckner, who has been detailing the Chicago cast’s day-to-day lives on the Liquid Generation Web site (www.liquidgeneration.com).
“I’m positive the [blond] girl is on the show,” says Kleckner, who has posted photos of the lifeguard-in-training on the site. “She had cameras all around her and the crew was carrying backpacks that had ‘Road Rules’ [another reality-based series on MTV] patches on them. I had spotted her a while ago sitting on her apartment stoop as well, and she had cameras pointed at her then, too. So I know she’s on the show.
“The funniest part is that she smokes and wants to be a lifeguard. She was trying to get away from my camera and went to smoke behind the lifeguard office.”
Kleckner, who also has been posting videos, says he does sometimes regrets chasing after the cast.
“I feel like a paparazzi when there aren’t cameras around them, ’cause that’s probably their ‘off’ time,” he admits. “But when the crew is there, they’re fair game. Everything that I shoot or report will be what MTV airs in a few months anyhow. I’m just getting it out to the public quicker.
“A lot of people want to know about the cast. They want to know who they are, who they’re dating and what their sexuality is. Ultimately all this publicity only helps MTV since the show’s getting so much free exposure before they even promote this cast.”
Hey, Jim. You don’t have to rationalize this to us–we’re just as curious as you are!
Kleckner hopes to have interviews with the cast’s friends soon.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t around when three members of the “Real World” gang chose to enjoy some fine dining at Gibson’s.
The three obviously weren’t dieting and enjoyed a meal fit for stars: three filet mignons collectively weighing 32 ounces, 2.5 pounds of lobster, garlic mashed potatoes, spinach and a slab of carrot cake weighing in just under the size of a small baby.
Luckily, the fourth member of their party never showed up, so the two women and their male companion got to pick at everything themselves.
“They were very gracious and sweet people,” comments one observer. “They weren’t disruptive to the other diners in any way.”
They also weren’t cheap. After paying for the meal, they left their server a generous tip.
Close encounters of red-tape kind
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 6, 2001
Jeff Cahan likes “The Real World.” He gets a kick out of watching the series and, on occasion, spotting the roommates around town.
What he doesn’t like are the production assistants badgering him to sign a release form so they can air him on TV.
“I don’t like going about my business and then being nagged into signing something I don’t want to just because I happen to be in the same vicinity as one of the cast members,” Cahan says. “I think it’s cool that they’re here in Chicago and am glad to let them go about doing their job of being ‘real.’ But that doesn’t mean that I need permission to coexist with them.”
A Wrigleyville resident, Cahan dates a woman who lives in Wicker Park. She hasn’t once spotted the cast or crew. Him? He’s run into them a handful of times.
“I’ve heard other people complaining about those damned release forms, too. I think MTV overestimates how much people want to be on TV. If it was a one-time thing, maybe. But who knows how they’ll make you look? And [MTV] airs these things like 15 times a day.”
Now he knows what it must feel like for the cast members of “The Real World.” Of course, they actually auditioned for the show.
Ironically, the cast missed a chance to party on the lake with the B-96 crew because MTV wouldn’t sign the radio station’s standard release form, which stated that the station would not be liable if the cast members were to, say, fall into the water or injure themselves.
“I had heard they were going to be on that boat cruise but I didn’t see any camera crews or anything,” writes one e-mail correspondent. “It would’ve been fun to see what they looked like before their show airs on TV, but it’s not like they’re Kid Rock or anyone really cool.”
Meet the cast, if you’re lucky or get an invite
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 13, 2001
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.
Buying retail is one reality cast enjoys
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 20, 2001
Dispelling stereotypes that twentysomethings like nothing better than sniffing out cheap deals at a thrift store, the cast of “The Real World” enjoyed a shopping spree along the Magnificent Mile.
“They all had many different shopping bags, but they all had bags from the Banana Republic,” says Jennifer Mott, 25, of Wrigleyville. “I noticed the cameramen were not allowed to follow them in the stores. Each time [the cast] went into a store, they had to take their mikes off. But when they came out of a store, they gladly got hooked back up.”
Well, not all the time. When they wanted to have private conversations away from the soundman’s ears, the kids were savvy enough to unhook their mikes and scamper off to the benches at Water Tower Place. They also ran to public pay phones at Michigan and Chicago avenues to make private calls.
Mott, a self-proclaimed fan of the MTV series, was pretty impressed with the cast. But she says no one else seemed to notice them.
“There are so many tourists on Michigan Avenue as well as films that have shot here that I think that most people just assumed that they were shooting a commercial or something,” she says. “It was fun spotting them, and I’m definitely going to watch them when the show airs. But I would’ve watched it anyhow.”
Oh, yeah. She’s not sure whether it was Kyle or Chris whom she spotted shopping with Kelly and company, but she says he was h-o-t.
Sounds like Chris, to us.
Not that the female cast members don’t hold their own with the men in town. Security guard Renard M. Mayfield met several of the ”Real World” crew when they visited the Harold Washington Library Center.
“I must say I mostly noticed Tanya,” Renard says. “She is an attractive woman. She struck up a conversation with me when she saw my name tag. She was trying to guess what my first name was, considering it only reads ‘R. Mayfield.’ I eventually told her that the ‘R’ stood for Renard and she said it was unique. Whether that was good or bad, I don’t know.
“My short encounter with them was primarily on the elevator and walking through the library for a few moments. But I would love the opportunity to sit and talk to them. If I was lucky enough, I would love to visit the Wicker Park house and also take them out to some of Chicago’s clubs and restaurants.”
Extra, Extra: ‘They can make you look like an idiot’
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 27, 2001
When Julie Schenker spotted an MTV crew filming a group of young’uns downtown, she decided to follow them.
“I had seen pictures of some of them on Web sites and recognized them,” says Schenker, 18, of Albany Park. “The producers, or whoever they were, kept shooing me away, which was annoying ’cause I wasn’t even in their way. I was just watching. One of the guys–I think Chris, but I’m not positive–winked at me and motioned that it was cool for me to be there.
“He was a doll, but one of the girls who was with him was just plain nasty. She was acting like a big star. No one was really paying any attention to her. It looked like some of the people were embarrassed by her attitude. The blond girl was saying she was hungry, and the mean girl just kind of made a face at her.”
When a production assistant asked Schenker and some of the others milling around to fill out release forms, she pocketed hers and left.
“I thought about signing it, but they don’t give you enough time to read the contract,” she says. “I know enough about the show to know that they can make you look like an idiot if they don’t like you. But it was cool getting that form as a souvenir.”
The “guest/performer release” is fairly standard, giving MTV and Bunim/Murray Productions the right to use your likeness in any way they choose and, guess what? You can’t sue them if they misrepresent you because part of the agreement states you will make no claim of any kind against them.
This is a dilemma Jason Drake didn’t have to worry about. When he and his production crew went by the Real World apartment to tape a segment of their access cable show “3 Guys Pickin,” no one asked them to sign anything, much to their chagrin.
“The ‘Real World’ crew came out to film one of the girls leaving and they filmed us filming them for about 5 seconds,” says Drake, producer of the show. “I doubt they’ll use it, since they didn’t make us sign any release forms. The crew did wave to us as they left.”
He notes that his co-hort “Beer Man” wasn’t impressed with their dwelling.
“Beer Man has a background in construction and engineering,” says Drake. “The air conditioning set-up, the lack of open windows, the reserved parking for the crew, the front door that isn’t really the front door–not impressive.”
In order to complete their “Real World” experience, Drake and company went across the street to Piece for a bite to eat.
“We tried to enjoy some very unenjoyable pizza,” he says.
He didn’t spot Tanya or Cara, who had been hired earlier this summer as a waitron and hostess, respectively.
Neither did I during any of my stops there in the past few weeks. But I must say that I found the Wolfgang Puckish pizza to be quite tasty and worth the trip, even without any “celebrity” servers.
Overseas, out: Kids stay close to home base
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
October 11, 2001
After spending a couple of weeks on the East Coast, the cast members of ”The Real World” are back at their Wicker Park apartment.
Originally, they were supposed to go overseas–probably to Prague–but after the tragic events of Sept. 11, MTV nixed that idea and kept the kids in the United States.
“I know they were really bummed about that,” says a source close to the cast. “They were really looking forward to traveling and didn’t want to be limited to staying in the country.”
Not all the kids were disappointed about remaining on U.S. soil.
“One of the girls was scared to go to Prague,” says Jim Kleckner, who has been detailing the Chicago cast’s day-to-day lives on the Liquid Generation Web site (www.liquidgeneration.com).
“She was worried because of the climate of the world now and was telling her friends she didn’t want to go.”
Kleckner reports that the majority of the Real World cast members have jobs at the old Time/Life Building on Fairbanks in River North. He and his Liquid Generation colleagues have encountered them at neighborhood bars and hot dog stands.
But at least one of them has gone his own way. Theo, the hip African-American cast member and the only one not to get a job in Chicago (as MTV mandates of its cast), has gotten a gig. Check it out: he’s working for the trendy nightclub the Dragon Room, 809 W. Evergreen.
Every Friday night–starting this week–Theo will be one of the resident hosts of the club. This week’s theme: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Room.”
Cute.
“He has been hanging out at the club for a while,” says owner Billy Dec. “He likes the parties and our staff and has gotten really close to some of the people who work here.”
OK, but how’d he go from party boy to employee?
“He and my partner at the Dragon Room have become good friends, and they approached me with the idea for him to work here,” Dec says.
“They had this idea to do visual stuff in the background with a martial-arts theme. We’re all kind of winging it at this point, but he’s excited to be a part of this, and we’re happy to have him.”
Dec says all of Theo’s fellow cast members are expected to show up to support him.
Well, almost all. The club is 21-and-older, which means Kelly, 19, won’t be able to come in and play.
“We’re really strict at the door,” Dec says. “If you’re not 21, you can’t get in no matter who you are or know. No exceptions.”
Beware of pick-up lines from pathetic ‘King Pimp’
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
October 18, 2001
“Do you want to be on ‘The Real World?’ ” That’s the pickup line one of the cast member’s friends was using all night at Wrigleyville’s John Barleycorn.
“He was cute, but he was really lame,” says Sarah, a perky 22-year-old brunet who was too embarrassed to give her last name. “He was kind of drunk and you couldn’t even be flattered by his come-ons because he was pretty much trying to pick up everything that moved. If he had a couple more drinks, I think he would’ve tried hitting on my friend Paul.”
The “he” in question is “King Pimp” John (that’s what his friends were calling him), one of Kyle’s buds from Princeton. A whole slew of them were in town visiting their soon to be kinda-sorta famous football buddy and getting their own 15 minutes of fame.
Another eyewitness says, “He even tried to convince women to go back to their hotel room at the W by saying that his friends from ‘The Real World’ were going to be there. He said they were going to have a little party if they wanted to come back to the hotel room with him. I am happy to tell you that his pathetic approach got him no action at all.”
Kyle, on the other hand, fared better. His castmate and romantic interest, Kelly, tagged along. Every time they talked or kissed, the crowd at the bar erupted in cheers.
“Everyone in the bar was happy to see them,” says bartender Brendan Melanson. “It was nothing like you saw in Wicker Park. There were men and women all around them and people were watching because they were curious. But no one was giving them a hard time. From what I saw, they weren’t drinking much.”
Probably because they’d already downed a few shots of kamikazes at Gibsons Steakhouse before bar- hopping.
Where does cast go to see and be seen?
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
October 25, 2001
The Chicago cast has been getting a taste of Chicago’s cuisine. Here are a few places they’ve hit on a regular basis:
TIMMY O’TOOLE’S PUB (River North): Kyle and two young women were enjoying lunch. Jim Kleckner, who has been detailing the cast’s lives at www.liquid generation.com, says a colleague sent shots over to the cast members. “The kids rejected them because they were being filmed,” says Kleckner. “My friend went up to them and asked why they turned down the shots. They were nice and just said they couldn’t drink them. The crew members then came right up to my friend and stood by him until he left.”
HOT DIGGITY DOG (River North): The kids like their Chicago-style hot dogs. They’ve eaten here several times. But when they saw Kleckner (see above), they hightailed it to Pockets, a nearby fast food joint. “Kyle and two of the blond girls were at Hot Diggity Dog first,” says Kleckner. “We always see the kids there. They like greasy food. Kyle was really nice and shook hands with us. One of the girls was really bitchy. I was filming them for our Web site and she said, ‘I don’t want to be filmed. You don’t have my permission.’ Then the producer touched my arm and said she’d appreciate it if we respected the cast and didn’t film them. I said, ‘You’re filming them.’ Then they left.”
GIBSONS STEAKHOUSE (Gold Coast): Kyle has been there several times. He recently took 14 young football-player types (but not fellow cast member and burgeoning girlfriend Kelly) for dinner before heading off for drinks at John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville. The dining room was filled to capacity, so the boys were ushered into a private room upstairs to dine a la carte. All that testosterone must have been satiated by the food and drink, because they were as well-behaved as could be.
Some of the boys were friends from Kyle’s Princeton days. Though they liked being thisclose to fame, they didn’t seem to enjoy the production crew. When they managed to get away from the cameras, they dished like little schoolgirls.
“They didn’t have anything good to say about the show,” says a source. “They complained about the production people and the un-realness of it all. They weren’t knocking Kyle, though, and they never discussed any of the other roommates at all. They just complained and made jokes about production.”
Elusive cast is ready to disappear entirely
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 1, 2001
Chicago may not have the cast of “The Real World” to kick around for much longer. Rumor has it the show will wrap up on Monday–three weeks earlier than originally planned.
But one source close to the show isn’t so sure. “[One of the cast members] was talking about how he had another month of shooting to go and how he couldn’t wait until it was all over,” this source says.
And just when the kids were getting good at ditching the producers and crew.
The other day, one of the blond girls tricked the camera crew by pretending to go into the General Cinema theater at Western and Fullerton. Shooting isn’t allowed in the theater, so the behind-the-scenes folks stepped into Potbelly to get a bite to eat. Just as they were getting into their sandwiches, the cast member pulled a Forrest Gump and ran far away from them. They never caught up with her that night.
No word on if she was reprimanded for ducking her “Real World” duties.
Not that Chris cares. He figured out a while ago that he could outmaneuver the cameras by biking his way to solitude. On foot, crew members can’t keep up with him. If they drive, he just ducks into alleyways that they can’t navigate.
This must thrill the Wicker Park protesters. One of them had said early on he was there to help “liberate the Real World kids.” Seems they’re doing a pretty decent job of this themselves.
The camera crew had another run-in, this time with management at the Cheesecake Factory in the John Hancock Center.
“The crew wanted to record audio in the restaurant, and I guess that’s not allowed there,”‘ says a witness. “The Cheesecake people were saying they would sue ‘The Real World’ if they didn’t honor their wishes, and ‘The Real World’ was being sneaky and filming it all like through the windows.”
Adds another witness, Charles Matthews, 26, of Andersonville, “I thought the whole thing was pretty funny. I don’t see what the big deal was. It’s so noisy in that place that they wouldn’t have gotten a lot of the conversation anyhow. The kids seemed all right to me. It’s the crew that was annoying.”
Back in their own ‘hood, the cast members feel safe within the confines of Digits, a Wicker Park beauty salon literally across the street from their digs. Kyle is a regular there, as is the curly-haired blond girl (who would like us all to know that it is her own hair and not a wig, as a myopic tipster had suggested in an earlier column).
The kids must not hold grudges. Before they got jobs with the Chicago Park District, a couple of them applied for jobs at Digits. None was selected to shampoo or coif do’s.
And finally, remember that Asian girl in the Chicago cast of “The Real World” whom I was supposed to resemble? Well, not only do I not look like her, but there is no Asian cast member, period, in the Chicago bunch. Bummer.
It seems a server at the Local Grind, this cast’s cafe of choice in Wicker Park, mistook Melissa–the half Filipino, half African-American cast member from last season’s New Orleans cast–for a member of the Chicago Seven. Melissa arrived in Chicago around the same time the Wicker Park kids did to tape a special for MTV.
It’s been ‘real’: MTV show to exit Chicago
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 2, 2001
Say goodbye to the Wicker Park cast of “The Real World.” It’s confirmed: They wrap filming today and will remain in town through the weekend to meet the press on Monday, an MTV source has confirmed.
But it looks like not all the kids will head directly home once the interviews are over.
“There is going to be a big blowout at the Dragon Room on the 16th that they are going to stick around for,” says an insider at the club, where cast member Theo got a job a few weeks ago. “Then they all head home for Thanksgiving.”
We’re not sure how all this will play out once MTV begins airing the Chicago installment of “The Real World” early next year. Previous cast members have complained that their lives are edited to peg them as certain types: the virgin, the gay guy, the angry black man, the slacker, the slut, etc. Things should be no different once the producers get done editing the heck out of this cast’s stay in Wicker Park.
But don’t count on MTV to show the unwelcome wagon that greeted the cast members in July when they moved into their swanky digs. The protests and general dislike for the Chicago Seven most likely will be cut, pronto, which is a shame. Not getting along with your neighbors is a part of the real world.
On previous seasons, MTV appeared anxious if there wasn’t enough sexual tension between the cast members. But they’ve also glossed over threesomes (remember the Miami tryst?) in a fairly tasteful manner (for MTV–remember, this is the network that makes a staple out of tacky, sexist Spring Break programming). I’m sure there’s no way the camera crews were allowed to film the menage a cinq that one of the cast members enjoyed in the relative privacy of the cast’s Wicker Park digs. But I’m betting there will be plenty of footage of the others sitting around dissecting this event.
“The Real World” isn’t about reality as much as it is a glossed-over version of what these kids’ lives could be like. By now, any cast members who complain about being used by MTV or not knowing what would be involved need to get ahold of themselves. The cast of the first couple of seasons couldn’t have known how popular the series would become, or that their young adult embarrassments would be airing almost 10 years later ad nauseum on MTV and now in syndication.
But as long as there are kids who want a taste of fame, “The Real World” will do just fine. Because there are plenty of people out there who enjoy watching them live out their fictionalized real lives.
Auction lets you make your world more real
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 15, 2001
Do you want to sleep on the same sheets as the Chicago cast members of “The Real World”? How about using their kitchen appliances? Or maybe you want to nab the awesome fish tank that’ll be inescapable when the new season airs in January.
Or would you enjoy just taking a peek inside the tricked-out, two-story building at 1934 W. North where the cast lived until earlier this month?
No matter. If you’ve got the cash, you’re all invited.
MTV is selling all the household furniture, kitchenware and fixtures used by the Chicago cast in a pair of auctions at the house. Smaller items will be available for purchase from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, and the furniture and high-end pieces will be auctioned off from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday. Admission is $15 Sunday, $25 Monday or $35 for both.
Admission proceeds will benefit the Hearts Foundation, a not-for-profit organization providing funding for five Chicago area AIDS/HIV service providers. Most of the sale proceeds will be divided evenly between all the past and present cast members of the MTV series, which seems only fair considering the pittance MTV pays them for their services.
So what’s for sale? Everything that can be lifted, unnailed and carried out. They range from Calvin Klein sheets and gray sound panels lining the walls (prices vary) to a gorgeous set of Martel lights that retails for $9,000 (proceeds from the lights will benefit the Hearts Foundation–not the “Real World” cast).
Other interesting items available for purchase include six quirky linoleum rugs (opening bid $600 each). And while most of the beds were slapped together by the production crew, one cast member got to sleep on a specially made bed by Jasper Morrison. With an opening bid of $2,350, we’re betting the bed can fetch more if it’s learned that Chris or Kyle slept on it at least once.
If you have at least $1,800 to spare, bid on the three pedestal sinks in the unisex bathroom. They don’t seem any worse for the wear and would look perfect as a set in a slick condo or loft.
The bedrooms are on the first floor and the kitchen and pool room are upstairs. The rooms are decorated with Pucci-style prints and streamlined, functional furniture–much of which was either designed or commissioned by interior designer Suhail (no last name, thanks very much).
Suhail’s bold approach gives the set a funky pop-art vibe. Eschewing generic pieces from Ikea, which offered free merchandise, he opted for the eye-catching and the unusual. For instance, the kitchen schools utilize the same technology that hospitals use for their patients. Sitting on one is like perching on a giant silicone breast.
“It was a challenge, because MTV approached me to do the project about three weeks before they hired me,” says the Chicago-based production designer. “Then I had less than eight weeks to build the house from scratch. There was nothing in here when we started. Except panic.”
For more information, call (773) 435-1250.
It’s a ‘Real’ mystery: Who’s the rock star?
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
January 25, 2002
While Keri was busy making moon eyes at fellow “Real World” castmate Kyle, Cara–the roomie who has never been without a boyfriend–aimed outside their Wicker Park apartment to land a “date” with a rock star in this week’s episode of the MTV docudrama, which was shot in Chicago last summer and fall.
The object of her affection? Most likely, it was Todd Park Mohr, lead singer of Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
Her date wouldn’t consent to being filmed for the series, so his face was rubbed out and his voice distorted. But between Keri and Cara gushing about how hot the lead singer of this famous group is and MTV filming the shenanigans at the Old St. Pat’s block party in July, it wasn’t difficult to deduce.
The lineup at the party was Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Blues Traveler, Verbow, Gertrude, Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel, the Riptones, David Mead, Marty Lloyd Band, Cadillac Dave and the Redhots and World Class Noise. And the singer’s silhouette definitely was too slim to be John Popper of Blues Traveler. (Mohr’s management didn’t return our calls by press time.)
But Cara was definitely pleased with her catch. When she stumbled back home the next morning, she coyly told her giddy roommates how much she enjoyed canoodling with her famous friend and rated him as a great kisser. But she wouldn’t say whether she saw more of Mohr than his big head.
Over at www.chicago.citysearch.com, the show’s fans already have concluded that the pair did the big nasty. Decide for yourself: The episode repeats at 11 a.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
‘Real World’ outtakes were too rotten for TV
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
May 28, 2002
You will not see any nudity in “The Real World You Never Saw–Chicago,” now out on video and DVD. However, you will be inundated with more scatological humor than the average “Beavis and Butt-Head” reunion.
It’s difficult to shock an audience of “The Real World” fans when they’ve already seen the Chicago cast walk around naked and grope everyone in sight.
This bonus show seems much longer than 44 minutes, most likely because the producers let the kids sit around and pontificate rather than showing us what we really want to know: Do Keri and Kyle ever admit to hooking up? Did Theo ever convince Aneesa to make out with him? Was the uninsured Tonya able to pay her hospital bill? Did a modeling agency ever snap up Chris? And did Cara ever confirm whether the rock star she made out with was Todd Mohr of Big Head Todd and the Monsters?
Instead, we get blurred-out shots of Aneesa’s bare breasts and outtakes of the cast literally bumping heads with the MTV cameramen. How very “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
Then there are the lies when bystanders ask the kids why a camera crew is trailing them. Kyle even goes so far as to say they’re filming for the soft-core Spice Channel. Speaking of which, here’s something you won’t even see on that naughty network: three blondes popping a stud’s back zits. Ewwwwwwwwww!
In the first season of “The Real World,” there was a scandal when Becky and a crew member had an affair. He lost his job. In this 11th season, one of them (surprise–it’s boy-hungry Cara) develops a crush on hottie director Richard Kim. She admits to flirting with other men hoping to make Kim jealous. Doesn’t work. Kim says flat-out he’s not interested.
For interviews, the cast is divided into groups, and the one with Kyle, Keri and Cara is particularly snarky. Like the popular high school crowd ostracizing the class geek, they poke fun at Tonya and her frequent misuse of the English language (she referred to the MTV production team of Bunim/Murray as “Bill Murray”). And during a conversation about bad dancers, Chris is singled out. In turn, he quotes one of this paper’s “Real World Confidential” columns: “The Chicago Sun-Times said I couldn’t dance my way out of a box.”
The extras include a tour of their Wicker Park abode and a look at the house blueprints (yawn). From the cast profiles, we learn that Kyle likes aggressive sex but isn’t into spanking.
Enough said.
