After getting to watch their “real lives” on TV, West Chester students had a real life opportunity to see three cast members of MTV’s hit reality show “The Real World.”On Friday, Feb. 2, Colie, Tyrie and Davis, three of this seasons “The Real World: Denver” cast mates, visited West Chester University. The event took place in the Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall.
The three first came on stage and made a few jokes with the crowd. They introduced themselves, spoke a little about their roommates on the show who were not present and then they each spoke separately about a different issue.
Tyrie was up first. His main focus was how diverse this year’s cast is. He went on to describe the cast and how they differentiate e in politics, race and religion. He pointed out why the show is so successful.
“You bring seven separate people together to really see what is going to happen and what you can learn. It’s been on 18 seasons for a reason,” Tyrie said.
Colie spoke next and she concentrated on mononucleosis (mono), which she was ill with while filming the show. A clip then aired of her being sick on the couch in the house and her in the hospital. Colie listed the symptoms of mono as well as describing ways to catch the virus. One way the virus is spread is through saliva, hence why it is sometimes called the kissing disease. She emphasized the importance of college students being knowledgeable about the disease.
Davis spoke last about being an openly gay man. He spoke about his life in college and how he finally got comfortable enough to come out.
“I went to a small college and it spread like wildfire, but it was such an amazing feeling to not have to feel like I had to fix myself,” Davis said.
He gave advice from his personal experience, “Find a friend who won’t gossip about you or someone you can trust to tell and who will support you. There are also support groups,” Davis said.
After they each spoke, the mood changed from serious to funny as they showed a gag reel of footage not shown on TV, including the building of the house they lived in and clips of the cast singing and dancing.
They then answered questions from the audience. They revealed a great deal of insider information about rules they were required to follow on the show, including being prohibited from talking to the production crew and getting fined for not always using the home phone, not wearing their microphones, or passing notes so the camera can’t see.
Cast members only get to see the episodes a day before the public does and they went into detail about how the episodes are put together.
“The scenes aren’t always in chronological order,” Davis said.
Colie explained that the editors of the show do that because they have to make some sort of story line.
Tyrie added to that by saying, “There is a big discrepancy between what happens and what you see happen.”
With all the questions that were answered, the audience was most excited to hear that the three of them, along with their Denver roommate Jen, will be on the next Real World/Road Rules Challenge.
Now that the shows have completed filming, Colie, Tyrie and Davis talked about what their future plans are.
Colie currently lives in East Brunswick, New Jersey, but plans to move to Los Angeles with Davis. She hopes to get into broadcast journalism, and he hopes to get into modeling or acting.
On that same line, Tyrie said that he is involved with an entertainment company that mainly focuses on parties and charity events.
The night ended with an autograph and picture session.
“The Real World: Denver” airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. on MTV.