Irene McGee

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Irene McGee

Irene McGee is a San Francisco State University graduate student, radio DJ and host of No One's Listening, a radio podcast program about the mass media. [1] She first came to public attention in 1998, as a cast member of the MTV reality television series, The Real World: Seattle.

McGee left the show during filming, citing illness, but revealed later that her departure was actually due to ethical objections to the production. As a result of her experience with the show, which included an on-camera assault by a fellow cast member, she became a media activist, and now gives lectures and interviews about what she sees as the manipulation of the mass media, and in particular about the dangers of reality television. [1]

Contents

[edit] The Real World: Seattle

Irene appeared on the show's seventh season, The Real World: Seattle, in 1998. One critic at the time called her "the cynical girl from New York state" and noted that she did not get as much air-time as other housemates in the premiere.[2]

She was suffering from a relapse of Lyme Disease, and exhibited symptoms of it such as neuropathy and headaches. On the fourteenth episode of the season, she broke down in front of her fellow castmates and told them about her condition.[3]

On the next episode of the program, McGee left the show. However, it is unclear whether her motivations for doing so were due to complications arising from the disease (as was initially reported[4][5]) or because of ethical objections to the manner in which the show was produced, as McGee hinted in later interviews, including in VH1's Reality TV Secrets Revealed.[6]

In one of the most controversial moments in Real World history, McGee's housemate, Stephen Williams, having been called "a homosexual" by McGee as she was moving out, stopped her car as she was leaving, opened the passenger side door, and slapped her.[7] The producers of the show gave the cast the decision to make Williams leave the house or not, and they decided to let him stay. Williams was then ordered by producers to attend an anger management class.[8] On the final track of his Become the Media spoken word album, activist Jello Biafra discusses the event:[9]

"We know Real World is not the real world. I recently met a woman named Irene McGee who quit this show and said not even the house was real. The fridges were all filled to the brim with Vlasic pickles delivered daily by the crate load along with gallons of Nantucket Nectar. If she drank anything else, the crew took it from her hand and made sure the Nantucket Nectar label was facing the camera instead. When she walked out, another guy in the cast of Real World hit her and the camera guy did nothing . . . When she spoke out, MTV sued her. And Entertainment Weekly rated Irene getting smash mouthed the 47th most interesting event on TV that whole year . . . Can’t you MTV think of a better way to raise audience awareness of domestic violence than to make it look cool?"

She was inspired by her experiences on the show to become an activist on "issues of media ethics, media manipulation and the falsehoods of reality television"[1].

[edit] No One's Listening

In 2005, McGee began a youth-oriented radio show/podcast, No One's Listening, which has been broadcast on two San Francisco radio stations, and covers a wide range of pop-culture and media-related issues.[10] In her time with No One's Listening, McGee has interviewed many notable internet and mass media personalities, including Noam Chomsky, Lawrence Lessig, Brewster Kahle, Violet Blue and Jimmy Wales.[11] The show was honored with the 2006 Pubbie Award as Best Bay Area Podcast by the San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club. [12]

A separate edition of No One's Listening was created for KIFR-FM in 2006 [13], but was later rebranded as the Irene McGee Show with a different crew and a broader range of discussion topics.

McGee has toured colleges to discuss media manipulation and the falsehoods of reality television, as well as appearing on VH1 and E! Entertainment Television.[1] During a reunion show for the various casts of The Real World, which she refused to take part in, producers showed old video clips in which McGee aired her criticisms of the show and negative feelings regarding her time on the program.

[edit] Lyme disease

McGee has spoken out about Lyme Disease on behalf of several organizations, including the Lyme Disease Association and the Lyme Disease Foundation. She has also been involved with a documentary about Lyme Disease, Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease, which is presently in post-production.[14] Irene also interviewed fellow Lyme sufferers Michelle Wallace and author Amy Tan on No One's Listening podcast entitled "Lymeade" in order to educate listeners on living with the illness.

[edit] House fire

On February 20, 2007, Boing Boing reported that McGee's apartment had burned down as a result of an electrical fire, causing the death of one of her cats and the destruction of much of her property.[15]

[edit] Social Brew

On April 28, 2008, McGee premiered as host of Revision3 show Social Brew[16].

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d McGee's biography, irenemcgee.com.
  2. ^ McFarland, Melanie. "Mtv's Series Appears `Real' In Name Only", The Seattle Times, 1998-06-12. Retrieved on 2006-02-01. (English) 
  3. ^ The Real World, Season 7, Episode 140, "The Truth About Irene", First aired on MTV on September 15, 1998.
  4. ^ The Real World, Season 7, Episode 141, "Irene Calls It Quits", First aired on MTV on September 22, 1998.
  5. ^ McFarland, Melanie. "It's a wrap for 'Real World' in Seattle", The Seattle Times, 1998-05-28. Retrieved on 2007-02-01. (English) "Another cast member, 22-year-old New York native Irene McGee, was forced to drop out of the cast because of complications from Lyme disease." 
  6. ^ VH1 News Presents: Reality TV Secrets Revealed (2004). First broadcast in the United States on VH1 on 2004-06-07.
  7. ^ The Real World, Season 7, Episode 141, "Irene Calls It Quits", First aired on MTV on September 22, 1998.
  8. ^ The Real World, Season 7, Episode 142, "The Aftermath of the Slap", First aired on MTV on September 29, 1998.
  9. ^ Biafra, Jello. "Become the Media". Become the Media. San Francisco: Alternative Tentacles. 2000.
  10. ^ No One's Listening website
  11. ^ No One's Listening Guest List (English). Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  12. ^ SFBAPC Announces Winners of its 2006 Media Excellence Awards – “The Pubbies” (English). Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  13. ^ No One's Listening Blog Entry Busy Busy (English). Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  14. ^ Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease (English). Open Eye Pictures. Retrieved on 2006-02-01.
  15. ^ Boing Boing, Irene McGee's apartment burned down (English). Boing Boing. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
  16. ^ Social Brew - Revision3 (English). Retrieved on 2008-04-28.

[edit] External links

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Hahn Choi · Stewart Engesser · Andrew Hahn · Jonathan London · Diane Mizota · Joey Rabier · Irene McGee · David Randolph · Heather Stewart · Wil Wheaton