Rachel Campos-Duffy

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Rachel Campos-Duffy^[1] (born Rachel Campos October 22, 1971 in Tempe, Arizona), is a Cuban-American^{[citation needed]} television personality who first gained fame as a castmate on The Real World: San Francisco, the third season of MTV's long-running reality television show, which aired in 1994.

1 The Real World: San Francisco
2 After the Real World
3 Filmography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] The Real World: San Francisco

Campos is a conservative, Cuban-American Republican, and in her time on the show, tried to break the stereotype that Republicans are "very suburban and Laura Ashley" by getting a tattoo and acting "open and free and running around," according to her castmate Pam Ling.^{[citation needed]} During her stay in the Real World house, Campos also got her belly button pierced, to which her mother responded by telling her that her piercings and tattoos are for low class people with low IQs.

In the premiere, Campos’ roommate, AIDS educator Pedro Zamora, informed the housemates that he had AIDS by showing them his scrapbook of his career as an HIV educator. Although the castmates were informed ahead of time that they would be living with someone who was HIV-positive, they were not informed which housemate it would be,^[2] Campos was made uncomfortable by this, and initially distanced herself from Zamora, stating that she wanted to know how this would affect her, but said nothing to the others for fear of seeming intolerant and homophobic. Nonetheless, Zamora took this as an act of rejection on her part. The two eventually formed a rapport, and he educated her on AIDS. He accompanied Campos on her visit to her family in Arizona, and while her Cuban-American family is very conservative (their cat is named George Bush), they were accepting of Zamora. By the end of the show, Campos expressed greater knowledge about AIDS, but Zamora told her that he was disappointed they could not become better friends.

Campos and her castmate David "Puck" Rainey flirted during their time as housemates. They were shown kissing, and despite previously assuring Campos that he would not reveal their kiss to the others, later did so anyway after tensions between him and Rachel later grew. Although none of their castmates were surprised at the revelation, Campos viewed this as a betrayal on Rainey's part, and in retrospect, as the beginning of the end of their friendship. She came to view him as a hypocrite,^[3] and later stated on-camera that she regretted kissing him.

In another episode, Campos invited her roommate Judd Winick and other housemates to a College Republicans function. Winick said that he felt that the panel of speakers were sexist, homophobic, and racist, which Campos saw as unfair.

[edit] After the Real World

After her stint on The Real World ended, while the fifth season of the show (set in Miami) was being filmed, Campos was in a serious car accident. She sustained injuries to her leg, and the other passengers in the car, including her fiancé at the time (who was a producer for The Real World), were killed. Campos later met Sean Duffy of the Real World: Boston cast. They eventually married and started a family. Despite suffering two miscarriages, they have five children, as of May 2008.^[1] They live in Ashland, Wisconsin,^[4] where Sean is the District Attorney of Ashland County.^[5]

Campos-Duffy twice vied for a role on the daytime television talk show The View. After Debbie Matenopoulos left the show in 1999, Campos competed in an on-air try-out with Lisa Ling and Lauren Sanchez. Ling was eventually hired.^[6] After Ling's departure in 2002, Campos, who by then held her own "coffee talk" show with other Wisconsin housewives, again competed in a week-long on-air try-out, this time against Erin Hershey Presley and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck was hired.

Campos-Duffy was also one of ten Real World alumni who starred in The Wedding Video, a Real World parody centered on the wedding of first season alumnus Norman Korpi.^[4]