“This is the true story of seven strangers picked to live in a loft and have their life taped. Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.”
Did the nostalgia from that opening sequence give you chills?
Samesies!
The cast:
The original cast of MTV‘s groundbreaking reality show, The Real World, is coming back…almost 30 years later for The Real World Homecoming: New York.
Rebecca Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie (Oliver) Gentry, Norman Korpi, Eric Nies, and Kevin Powell return to the OG New York City loft to stop being polite and start getting real (again) for a six-episode reunion series.
The creators:
Jonathan Murray, who created The Real World with his late production partner Mary-Ellis Bunim, spilled the insider tea to People Magazine.
“It was trippy, almost 30 years later, walking back into the same loft with these people.”
The iconic producer boasted to the publication regarding the cast, all these years later. “What’s so cool is they all have their essential essence, the thing that made us choose them for this first social experiment.”
A nostalgic look back:
Heather admitted that she was freaked out, as “The last time we were back in the loft, all seven of us, obviously, was in 1992.”
“I didn’t know we were going to be in the loft,” explained Rebecca, just before she “Burst into tears” seeing it again. She was delighted to add, “And it still had the scaffolding!”
Norman described the experience as “Stunning. I don’t know how many people will ever get a chance like this in life. To get to go back 29 years later and be in your same space with your same people? That just really doesn’t happen. It was crazy.”
“I kept saying, ‘This is a real brain f—.’ And it really just was. Everyone looks older, but we’re in that same room with the same kind of conversations happening.”
The drama:
People teased, “Like any reunion, this one comes with a rehashing of some of the frank conversations — and arguments — about issues such as race that became a hallmark of the early days of the long-running series (33 seasons and counting).”
“We are still talking about the same things,” says Gardner. “While we were there, a Black Trans Lives Matter march went past the loft. To be next to Norman, who came out on television at a time when it was not cute, and Kevin, who had been about Black Lives Matter — it was powerful and crazy.”
Full circle:
Eric acknowledged the parallels between the social struggles from the original series and the homecoming. “There’s a bigger reason behind all of this, and it will unfold. And I have the same exact feeling that I did 29 years ago.”
