The Real World: Hollywood is the twentieth 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. It premiered on April 16, 2008.
The Residence
This season the cast residence, called Stage 20, is housed in the Columbia Square Building, a seven-story, 105,000 square foot building at 6121 West Sunset Boulevard at the intersection of North Gower Street in Gower Gulch that formerly served as a CBS broadcast facility in Los Angeles, where programs such as I Love Lucy were filmed. (Map) The building is part of a 125,000 foot complex that takes up an entire city block, which previously housed eight studios and two radio stations, KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV. The complex also included a 1,050 seat auditorium, a restaurant, and a bank. The northeast corner of the complex was used for filming. It is is 23.3 miles from the Venice beach house where The Real World: Los Angeles was filmed. The property was purchased in August 2006 for $66 million USD by Molasky Pacific, LLC, who intend to redevelop it to attract other residential and office tenants.
According to MTV, this season of The Real World is the first to incorporate environmentally friendly household and lifestyle choices, including a solar-heated swimming pool that uses salt to reduce the need for chemical treatment, energy star appliances, bamboo flooring, recycled glass counters, some sustainable furniture, energy efficient lighting, a computer powered by an exercise bicycle, paperless toilets, a smart stove, an air conditioner system that provides water for an outdoor vegetable garden, a computer that tracks the amount of carbon saved by the housemates, and a hybrid car.
Cast
This season is the first in which a cast member was chosen by the fans via a multistage online poll from a pool of 20,000 applicants. The seventh cast member as voted by the fans was 20-year-old model Greg Halstead. In August 2007, vevmo.com reported that two of the cast members, Greg Halstead and Joey Kovar, left the show following an unspecified "series of events", and were replaced with Nick Brown and Brittini Sherrod.
MTV has stated that the majority of the cast members are entertainment industry types that could best take advantage of the return to Los Angeles to forward their career goals. On December 5th the cast was filmed performing at this season's workplace IO WEST, a comedy club in Hollywood, orchestrating a sketch as the comedy troupe Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Episodes
Episode 1
The cast assembles at the house. Sarah, Kimberly, and Joey perceive Greg to be unfriendly, negative, cocky, and immature. Will is surprised to learn Brianna is a stripper, and she feels that he lost respect for her because of this. She learns an arrest warrant was issued for her back home for an incident in which Bobby, her now-ex boyfriend, hit her and tried to prevent her from leaving their home. She has to return home to resolve it. Will says he has a crush on Sarah. Greg angers Joey by calling him a "weirdo".
When Greg dismisses criticism of his behavior, Kimberly, Dave, Joey and Brianna have a group confessional in which they criticize him. In response, Greg calls them "peasants", "fools", and "clowns", saying he doesn't care about them because he is "perfection". The episode has also been aired with pop-up bubbles saying humorous things about the house guests.
Episode 2. "Let's Not Get Ghetto"
Greg and Joey put their differences aside. Greg invites Will out one night, but Sarah is upset that Will will miss her birthday party. The women are offended when, during dinner, the men flirt with a woman who later shows up at the house and is turned away. The same thing occurs the next night when a man Sarah met at her birthday party shows up at the house. Dave and Kim flirt platonically. Joey and Brianna make out and share a bed. Kim and Brianna argue when the house's maximum allowable number of guests (seven) is exceeded. During this Kim says, "Let's not get ghetto", a statement Will sees as racist, but Kim explains Brianna has said this about herself. Greg helps them make up. Brianna is disturbed over how Joey behaves when drunk. Joey himself doesn't like going to bars or drinking any more, but fears he cannot withstand peer pressure.
Episode 3. "Where's Joey?"
Kim and Dave insist that they do not want their flirtation to lead to a relationship. Joey and Brianna reveal past problems with substance abuse, and fear recidivism. Greg is suspected to be responsible for a series of pranks. Andy Dick tells the cast they will take improv comedy lessons at the iO WEST theater with Artistic Director Charna Halpern, who will be their coach. The cast feels Greg's disinterest in this comes across as rude, and his refusal to attend a mandatory comedy night with them gets him in trouble with Charna. Brianna and Joey's relationship experiences tension, in part due to Brianna's dalliance with another man.
Episode 4. "Joey's Intervention"
Brianna returns to Philadelphia with Will to resolve her legal troubles. Dave and Joey are angered by Kim and Sarah, whom they think are too judgmental of people who become strippers out of financial necessity. Conflict stemming from roommates bringing home guests early in the morning recurs, as from Joey's alcohol-fueled temper, including a tantrum from him that frightens his roommates. He agrees to leave the house to begin a 30-day treatment program. Brianna returns to the house, and realizes she still has feelings for Bobby, her ex.
Episode 5. "I Need Lovin'"
Premiered May 14, 2008
Kim and Dave's relationship, which is revealed to have become sexual, experiences conflict. Greg lands a fashion show that conflicts with his improv classes. Brianna ponders her music career prospects, and her lack of motivation. Brianna brings JoJo home, and has sex with him as Kim and Sarah lie awake in their beds nearby, angering them, particularly Sarah. Sarah then calls home cxrying to her mother about this situation. Will plays his music for rapper Sticky Fingaz, who responds positively. Brianna makes up with Sarah, and resolves to work harder on her music.
Episode 6. "Greg Vs. The House"
Premiered May 21, 2008
Tension is created by a visit by Sarah's boyfriend, Ryan, by Dave's dalliances with other women, despite his having consumated his relationship with Kimberly, and by comments made by Greg, Sarah and Kimberly about these women. As a result, Greg claims to now be on bad terms with every one of his housemates. The conflict continues when Sarah reports her underwear stolen from her drawer, for which Greg ultimately admits responsibility, and when Will romances Reva, a girlfriend of Greg's.
Episode 7. "Get It On"
Premiered May 28, 2008
Tension between Greg and Will continue, as with the others over Greg's cleanliness and continued pranks. This leads to a exchange of insults, threats, and thrown objects, and an intervention by the producers, who have Will leave the house for one night, before deciding that he and Dave must take anger management classes. The cast enjoys a visit to Joey in rehab, and are consulted as to how to support his recovery upon his return. The cast continues their improv performances.
Episode 8. "Arrival and Departure"
Premiered June 4, 2008
Joey returns home from rehab, but he is troubled by the lack of support from his roommates, who he sees as unsympathetic to his needs, and who refuse to abstain from drinking in his presence. Will meets Janelle Casanave from The Real World: Key West, whose connections may help his career, and to whom he is attracted. Brianna's attempts to resolve her legal troubles continue. Joey feels his lack of practice hurt his improv performance, but Charna insists that it was decent, and praises his courage in going on stage after coming back from rehab. She also implores the others to help Joey, invoking the memory of comedian Chris Farley, who was best friends with IO Artistic Director James Grace, and whose addictions killed him. Charna also fires Greg for missing yet another improv performance, and he moves out. With his next improv performance, Joey finds his confidence increasing.
Episode 9. "Joey Checks Out"
Premiered June 11, 2008
Joey feels his struggle to remain sober may be threatened by a visit by his friend Mike, who first introduced him to cocaine. Sarah's attempt attempt to help him is rebuffed, and Joey confesses to fearing failure in his career, and feeling depressed. Will introduces Brianna to a music producer who offers positive words of encouragement, but her mother worries about Brianna's lack of a backup plan. She also gets to sing with Alex Band of The Calling. Feeling that his return from rehab has not improved things, and realizing that he has lost interest in acting, Joey decides to move out, and return to Chicago. Before he leaves, he reads to the others the goodbye letter to alcohol that he wrote in rehab, which brings him to tears.
Episode 10. "In With The New"
Premiered June 18, 2008
Will's feelings for Janelle deepen as their relationship continues. She also introduces him and Dave to some of her friends from past Real World seasons. Alcohol threatens Dave's performance during an improv show. Nick and Brittini, the two new roommates, move in. Will and Brittini share a mutual attraction and enjoy flirting, much to Kimberly and Sarah's disapproval. Because of Janelle, however, their friendship experiences conflict. Dave gets the opportunity to experience hosting duties at the iO.
Episode 11. "Making It"
Premiered June 25, 2008
Alex Band's plans for Brianna don't mesh with her music, but other opportunities present themselves. Nick's late-night cavorting with a woman upsets Sarah and Kimberly. The three of them begin internships at Movies.com, whose producer, Brandon, is undergoing treatment for cancer, but who has high hopes for Nick, who becomes friends with him. Kimberly and Nick excel at interviewing moviegoers, but Sarah is disappointed with her performance, though she also gets work as a correspondent for think.mtv.com. She later drinks too much during a night out with the girls, resulting in nausea, and conflict between her and Nick. The roommates learn Brandon has passed away. Carson says he will help Nick with his career, but Nick is devastated.
Episode 12. "Mexi-Loco"
Premiered July 2, 2008
The cast vacations in Cancun, Mexico. Will tries and give his friendship with Brittini a chance, but escalating flirtation between the two leads to a passionate kiss, much to their subsequent regret. Brianna is angered by comments Sarah and Kimberly have made about her. Nick and Dave have one-night stands with two Canadian women. Janelle breaks up with Will after he confesses his infidelity, but after returning to Hollywood, Brittini holds off on telling her boyfriend, Jeremy, who visits the house. Dave tries to cheer Will up by taking him out, resulting in a foursome involving them and two women back at the house. Will later regrets this upon a call by Janelle, who agrees to try to renew their relationship. She later realized that she no longer saw him as she did when she first met him, and broke with up with him again, later learning that his activities went beyond a mere kiss.
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