The Real World: Seattle
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| The Real World: Seattle | |
|---|---|
 Cast of the The Real World: Seattle at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington |
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| Genre | Reality show |
| Creator(s) | Jonathan Murray, Mary-Ellis Bunim |
| Starring | Irene McGee Stephen Williams David Burns Lindsay Brien Rebecca Lord Janet Choi Nathan Blackburn |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | MTV |
| Original run | Summer 1998 – Fall 1998 |
The Real World: Seattle was the seventh season of MTV's popular reality television series The Real World, which focuses on seven diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. First airing in 1998, the Seattle cast lived in a house on Pier 70 of Seattle, Washington's Elliott Bay. This was the third season of The Real World filmed in the western United States (after The Real World: Los Angeles in 1993 and The Real World: San Francisco in 1994).
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[edit] Season changes
- This season was the first to feature cast members who knew each other before arriving at the house, David and Nathan, who were both cadets at the Virginia Military Institute, which is why they say "This is the true story of seven people" instead of "seven strangers".
[edit] Assignment
Every season of The Real World, beginning with its fifth season, has included the assignment of a season-long group job or task to the housemates. The Seattle cast worked as "modulators" at KNDD FM, an alternative rock radio station. Their job begins as a series of promotional duties but eventually leads to producing and hosting a live radio show.
[edit] Season highlights
- Nathan must deal with the perils of a long-distance relationships with his girlfriend, exacerbated in part by his close friendship with housemate Irene.
- Irene's experiences a relapse of Lyme Disease. She eventually moved out of the house, ostensibly over health concerns over the disease, but years later, during a reunion show for the various casts of The Real World, she appeared in a video in which she aired her criticisms of the show and her bitterness regarding her time on it. Roommate Nathan Blackburn, with whom McGee became close friends during the show, took offense at her statements.
- Lindsay is horrifed when she is told over the phone that a friend of hers has committed suicide.
- In one of the most dramatic and controversial moments in Real World history, McGee's housemate, Stephen Williams, having been insulted by McGee as she was moving out, stopped her car as she was leaving, opened the passenger side door, and slapped her. Williams was ordered by producers to attend a series of anger management classes, which he is then shown to complete successfully.
- The cast traveled to Nepal. The trip served a number of purposes. In addition to the customary exotic vacation that is handed to RW cast members in each season, the trip was also used as a means of promoting REI, a local outdoor equipment store, and also for creating an audio diary to support their radio program.
- The cast reacts negatively to the way the city of Seattle takes to them being on the show. At one point, they notice a lot of people selling and wearing shirts that say "Seattle says: The Real World sucks!"
[edit] Cast
Irene McGee (1976 in Pleasant Valley, New York) develops a close, playful friendship with Nathan. She suffers a relapse of Lyme disease. She later leaves the show, trying to explain that she is relapsing and is "not crazy" and that "art shouldn't have to hurt". In the days prior to her departure, Irene is restless and obsessively cleans the house, worrying that her housemates think she is not clean. Her housemates are sad but also angry to see her leave, especially since Irene had talked Janet into not leaving when she was considering it. They had also thrown a birthday party for her. When Irene leaves the house, she attempts to embarrass Stephen by saying that a relationship between them would never have worked out because "you're a homosexual". Stephen chases after her and her car begins to leave, he opens the passenger side door and slaps her across the face. Irene laughs and leaves.
Stephen Williams (April 28, 1978) is an African-American whose initial warmth and friendship with Irene sours dramatically as the season progresses, as their relationship descends into a series of heated arguments. Sensing that Irene is planning to avenge their arguments by embarrassing him in some way, he hides her much treasured stuffed animal, and denies knowledge of it when she searches for it while moving out. As a parting shot before leaving, Irene purposefully calls Stephen a homosexual in front of the cameras, confirming Stephen's suspicions about her intentions. Stephen then reveals that he has her stuffed animal, and taunts her by holding it over the pier, and then throwing it in the water. Still incensed by her insult, he then approaches her as she is being driven away and slaps her, stating it was with very little force. The housemates are then approached by the crew and are shown the video of what happened - although there is some disagreement over how hard the slap was, they agree it was an unnecessary act that could be viewed as offensive. MTV never calls the police, and the crew gives the cast the option to decide if they want to eject Stephen from the house. After some deliberation, the housemates agree that they want Stephen to stay. The cast then attends a seminar about Lyme Disease to understand what Irene had been going through. Stephen is also ordered to attend an anger management class, which he completes successfully. Irene later reveals during a reunion show that she left over what she felt were ethical objections to how the show was produced. Stephen was subsequently arrested on ironic charges of homosexual prostitution on January 31st, 2001. [1]
Lindsay Brien (October 21, 1976 in Illinois) is still dealing with her father's death, and consequently, is very close to her mother and brother "because they're all I've got". When she learns via a phone call that a friend committed suicide, she is inconsolably heartbroken. Rebecca tries to comfort her but Lindsay pushes her away. Over the next few days Lindsay isolates herself from the house and refuses to talk about her friend's death. The other housemates worry and want to help, but Lindsay says she prefers to deal with it on her own. Lindsay's past radio experience makes her one of the lead DJs on the program they produced.
David Burns (1977 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a cadet from Virginia Military Institute, originally from a bad part of town in Boston. David begins a relationship with Kira, a casting director for Bunim-Murray Productions. This is a violation of the rules, and Kira lost her job as a direct result. David knew Nathan from VMI before they joined the show. David naturally has one blue eye and one brown eye.
Nathan Blackburn is a fellow VMI cadet and friend of David's. He and the long-distance relationship he struggles to maintain with his girlfriend Stephanie is another focal point of the show. They broke up after the show ended. (Stephanie at one point was considered by Bunim-Murray Productions as being a potential castmember of The Real World: Seattle.)
Rebecca Lord is an aspiring singer and later becomes a model. She claimed to be a virgin at the time of the season's taping. Rebecca is an aspiring singer who gets to record a song with Sir Mix-a-Lot during her time in Seattle. She is now the lead singer of the band Becky, which used to include Keanu Reeves as a member.
Janet Choi is a Korean-American. She met Jason Cornwell from The Real World: Boston after she moved out of the Seattle house, and they dated briefly. She was also an anchor for Channel One News.
| Seasons of The Real World | |
|---|---|
| New York | Los Angeles | San Francisco | London | Miami | Boston | Seattle | Hawaii | New Orleans | Back to New York | Chicago | Las Vegas | Paris | San Diego | Philadelphia | Austin | Key West | Denver | Sydney |
