The Real World: Seattle

The Real World: Seattle
Created by	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
Original release
Network	MTV
Release	Summer 1998 – Fall 1998

The Real World: Seattle is 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).

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" in the opening sequence.

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.

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 horrified 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 The Real World being filmed there. At one point, they notice a lot of people selling and wearing shirts that say "Seattle says: The Real World sucks!"

Cast Members

Cast Member	Age	Hometown	Stats
Janet Choi		Chicago, Illinois	(b. ) She is a Korean-American and attends Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, majoring in broadcast journalism and international studies. On the show she collapsed on the top of a mountain while the cast was visiting Nepal. The tour guide revived her and it was said that the elevation affected her since she was a heavy smoker. 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. She later became an enterprise reporter for KTLA News in Los Angeles after covering stories internationally including in Afghanistan and Brazil. She was one of the youngest reporters embedded on the Navy's USS Constellation during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Nathan Blackburn		Chesterfield, Virginia	(b. October 21, 1976 ) He 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		Richmond, Virginia	(b. ) She 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.
Lindsay Brien	21	Illinois	(b. October 21, 1976) She 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.
Stephen Williams	20		(b. 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 cuddly toy - and denies knowledge of its whereabouts when she searches for it while moving out. As a parting-shot while leaving, Irene purposefully calls Stephen aside and laughingly calls him a homosexual in front of the cameras and thereby confirms his suspicions about her intentions. By way of response, Stephen reveals that he has the toy and taunts her by holding it over the pier, and then by throwing it into the water. Still incensed by her provocation, he then approaches her as she is being driven away, opens the car door, and slaps her - later insisting that it was with very little force. The exchanges between Irene and Stephen cause significant confusion and anger among the remaining housemates, who are then approached by the crew and are shown the video of what happened. Although the degree of provocation and the force of the slap is contested, they do agree that it was an unnecessary and offensive act. The crew reminds the remaining cast of their option to eject Stephen from the house (which would only require a single vote against him). After some tense 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 - though it remained unclear whether the disease played any part in her odd and frantic behaviour prior to her departure. Stephen is also ordered to attend a series of anger management classes, which he completes successfully. Irene later claimed during a reunion show that she left over what she felt were ethical objections to how the show was produced. In a strangely ironic twist to these events, Stephen was subsequently arrested on charges of homosexual solicitation on January 31st 2001 - thereby actually validating to some extent McGee's comments from several years earlier regarding his sexuality. [1] [2]
Irene McGee	21 or 22	Pleasant Valley, New York	(b. 1976) She 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. In what has become one of the most infamous moments in Real World history, Irene is assaulted by Stephen Williams after she reveals that she believes he is gay.
David Burns	20 or 21	Boston, Massachusetts	(b. 1977) He is a cadet from Virginia Military Institute, originally from 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.