RW in the Media: Somehow the Show is Almost Relevant

[Palimelon]

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I feel for her having to be caregiver to her mother and sister, and then dealing with the skateboarding accident.

For those of us not familiar with her life, please elaborate.

[Bob Sambob]

I haven't posted here in years (kinda walked away since all my favorite reality shows took a turn for the worse), but hearing about Sarah's death made me come back.
She was absolutely in my top-five all-time cast members and the scene in the finale with Sarah, Cynthia, Joe and Mike (where Mike is giving Sarah shit (or "thirsting," haha) about her bending over to pick up her hairbrush by the pool in her bikini without bending her knees)? It's the best scene of the season and one of the best scene on the entire show.

They really ended up being the only true friends from that season, and Sarah ended up being the caretaker of Leroy, too. Everything about her was selfless, kind and cool.
A Real World Homecoming season for Miami was the one I wanted the most, but without Sarah, I don't really care anymore.
This one really sucks. It actually feels like losing a friend, especially since we were pretty close to the same age. And a lot of my best friends were skaters and snowboarders (pros, even), so she reminded me of them so much.

Edited June 24 by Bob Sambob

[Bastet]

She was rude to her housemates (and the neighbors) for having her buddies over to build a skate ramp at 1:00 in the morning, and her "I can do whatever I want whenever I want" statement had me, frighteningly, speaking in unison with Flora:  "Not when you live with six other people."  She was too hep and happening to bother with things like cleaning up her dishes.  So she was not someone I'd want to live with.  But I always thought I'd have enjoyed talking with her; we had wildly different interests, but she was so passionate about hers and I find that makes for an interesting person.  She had herself impressively together for her age.

Here's what I've seen (via an article in People) in terms of social media posts from castmates:

Flora: I am beyond myself and sad to just hear that my roomate Sarah died. I can’t believe this. She was the most selfless person I knew. She was always kind and helpful to everyone. I haven’t spoken to her in years and never knew she was troubled. My prayers go out to her family. RIP my roomate, my friend. May you skate with angels and never feel pain again #therealworldmiami

Dan: Yes, I know about the death of Sarah Becker, one of my roommates in "The Real World".  Sarah and I had not spoken since the end of the show, so I don't know anything about her struggles.  The seven of us in that cast went through a bizarre, intense and sometimes traumatic experience together, and that creates a connection between people, even when they choose not to associate with each other.  I can only say, it's very sad.

Joe:  Sarah Becker, one of my six roommates on MTVs ‘The Real World: Miami,’ and for years after in our home in San Luis Obispo, CA, dedicated herself to becoming a life coach and eventually a licensed marriage and family therapist to help others, and perhaps deeper understand her own mental health challenges. Suicide should never be an option, but hopefully she is at peace, and those who knew and loved her will reach out for the care they need, like I must, to mourn, love, LIVE and thrive.

I had no idea Joe and Sarah had roomed together after the show.

 

 

[Palimelon]

Dan's statement was kind of refreshing in it's honesty.

[Yogisbooboo64]

4 hours ago, Palimelon said:

For those of us not familiar with her life, please elaborate.

In many of the obits, it mentions that she took care of her ailing mother and sister.

[heatherchandler]

In the video posted above by @Bob Sambob Flora walks ONTO THE ARRIVING PLANE to fetch Mitchell!  This is obviously pre-9/11.  I remember the days of picking someone up at the airport and being able to meet them at the gate.. I never busted onto the plane to angrily retrieve anyone though!

Edited June 24 by heatherchandler

[txhorns79]

On 6/24/2024 at 6:34 PM, heatherchandler said:

In the video posted above by @Bob Sambob Flora walks ONTO THE ARRIVING PLANE to fetch Mitchell!

I have to think that was because she had the MTV cameras with her and it was arranged ahead of time.  You definitely could meet people at the gate prior to 9/11, but I'm fairly certain you would never be able to have gone into the bridge to wait at the plane while it deboards.  I think that was always a secure area, at least as long as I've been alive. 

I didn't know Joe and Sarah were roommates for so long after the show. 

[Giuseppe]

9 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I have to think that was because she had the MTV cameras with her and it was arranged ahead of time.  You definitely could meet people at the gate prior to 9/11, but I'm fairly certain you would never be able to have gone into the bridge to wait at the plane while it deboards.  I think that was always a secure area, at least as long as I've been alive. 

I dunno...I have a very specific memory of accompanying my grandmother onto the plane as she was leaving from a visit, and I was terrified because I thought the plane was gonna leave with me still on it and I wanted nothing to do with flying, lol. I must have been 5 or 6 and i'm 46 now. Also, when I did study abroad in 2000, I have a vague recollection of my dad coming onto the plane with me because it was my very first flight, and he'd never been on a plane flying internationally before (we were headed to London) and he wanted to check it out. I could be mis-remembering that one, but I'm super clear on the grandmother one, lol.

Sad to hear about Sarah. She was probably my least favorite roommate from Miami and I kind of agree with the poster above who mentioned she was kinda rude to her housemates, but I did think she had a good heart and I hate to hear about this happening.

[Palimelon]

TBH for me while seasons 1 to 10 were my "golden era" of TRW, Miami was probably my least favorite of all those seasons. Still better than anything that came after Chicago 1.0, though.

Edited June 26 by Palimelon

[heatherchandler]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

I have to think that was because she had the MTV cameras with her and it was arranged ahead of time.  You definitely could meet people at the gate prior to 9/11, but I'm fairly certain you would never be able to have gone into the bridge to wait at the plane while it deboards.  I think that was always a secure area, at least as long as I've been alive. 

I didn't know Joe and Sarah were roommates for so long after the show. 

Oh no you were able to go onto the bridge and even the plane, it was common.  I remember passing between people to find my friend.  Not like Flora pushing and shoving people aside!  
 

Did Joe marry that tall woman, Nic?

[txhorns79]

1 hour ago, heatherchandler said:

Did Joe marry that tall woman, Nic?

I think they were engaged, but broke up before marrying. 

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Oh no you were able to go onto the bridge and even the plane, it was common.

 

I really don't recall ever seeing people wait at the opening of the plane while they passengers deboarded onto the bridge (just for practical reasons, as could cause delays in getting people off the plane, it seems like a bad idea), but I could be wrong.   

[ljenkins782]

On 6/24/2024 at 4:13 PM, Palimelon said:

Dan's statement was kind of refreshing in it's honesty.

I thought it was unnecessarily cold. Like, if you can't muster any kind of genuine sadness about someone you knew dying young, maybe just don't saying anything at all. 

I didn't get to read the articles yet, but from context, I guess it was suicide?  Very sad and not something I would have foreseen based on the person she was in her 20s, but it sounds like her life was difficult.

[heatherchandler]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

I think they were engaged, but broke up before marrying. 

I really don't recall ever seeing people wait at the opening of the plane while they passengers deboarded onto the bridge (just for practical reasons, as could cause delays in getting people off the plane, it seems like a bad idea), but I could be wrong.   

It’s a terrible idea!  But that was allowed.  

[txhorns79]

5 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

Very sad and not something I would have foreseen based on the person she was in her 20s, but it sounds like her life was difficult.

I suppose in fairness, we only ever saw an edited version of her. 

[Bastet]

On 6/26/2024 at 8:54 PM, txhorns79 said:

I suppose in fairness, we only ever saw an edited version of her.

Plus decades of life's shit had happened to her between when we - and most of her castmates - last saw her and when she decided to put an end to the pain.  Even if the RW edit was a faithful representation of who she was then, that says nothing about who she was in her final years.  (I didn't develop chronic anxiety and depression until my mid-thirties, so if I made the same choice in my early-fifties, there would be a plethora of people who knew me pretty well in my twenties but we later lost touch, so they'd say they had no inkling of my turmoil -- I didn't have that kind of turmoil then.)

Joe apparently knew her best after the show, and he's the one who said she went into her line of work to "help others, and perhaps deeper understand her own mental health challenges".  So who knows how far back it goes, in terms of her own mind, and when she started letting others in on her struggles.

Edited June 30 by Bastet

[Bastet]

Cynthia had not yet posted anything at the time that article I cited above reported cast reactions; she has since weighed in with: “RIP Roomy. I pray there’s happiness for you on the other side.”

[Palimelon]

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I thought it was unnecessarily cold. Like, if you can't muster any kind of genuine sadness about someone you knew dying young, maybe just don't saying anything at all. 

I mean, he said it was a sad situation. Again, I never saw it as cold, he was just honest about. It seems like he never spent any time with her after the show wrapped. And people would want him to address it, since famous people aren't allowed to keep thoughts to themselves after someone famous they know has passed away.

[Tatum]

On 6/30/2024 at 3:48 AM, Palimelon said:

I mean, he said it was a sad situation. Again, I never saw it as cold, he was just honest about. It seems like he never spent any time with her after the show wrapped. And people would want him to address it, since famous people aren't allowed to keep thoughts to themselves after someone famous they know has passed away.

I agree. I am sure he was asked for a comment, and he did say he still felt a connection with her even though they had not been in touch for nearly 30 years. I always find it annoying when someone exaggerates their relationship with someone who has passed away in order to get attention or sympathy.

[snarts]

Speaking of Dan Renzi, he popped up on a House Hunters episode tonight (S251.E14 Crazy Concepts in Kansas). He's been a traveling nurse, now settling down in the Kansas City suburbs where he grew up to be close to his mom. First house purchase. 

His voice was familiar but until he mentioned doing the Real World & The Challenge, I hadn't yet recognized him. 

Now i keep hearing "It wasn't yours to open up, you stupid bitch" in my head. 

[Bastet]

36 minutes ago, snarts said:

Speaking of Dan Renzi, he popped up on a House Hunters episode tonight (S251.E14 Crazy Concepts in Kansas).

Julie from New Orleans was featured in a House Hunters episode, too, buying a lake house.  She was as awful as anyone familiar with her would expect, and it amused me to see posters in the HH thread who had no idea who she was annoyed by her.

36 minutes ago, snarts said:

He's been a traveling nurse, now settling down in the Kansas City suburbs where he grew up to be close to his mom.

I remember seeing a social media video from him picked up by a news outlet in 2020, about how he'd traveled from Kansas to NYC to help during the height of the COVID pandemic.  So it seems that had been his home base for a while, and now he's settling down there.  He talked about his dad's ridiculous rebellion against stay-at-home recommendations, but I guess by now it's just his mom left.  I only vaguely remember them from when they visited in Miami; were they jerks afraid he was a "bad influence" on his little brother for being gay or am I mixing them up with someone else?

Anyway, I hope he's happy there.  His bug-eyed reaction to being the subject of a homophobic slur when he'd just lobbed a sexist slur at Melissa was not a good look, but I generally liked him.  I'll have to see if I can find this HH episode on Discovery+ or at least on the HGTV app, as D+ has proven to be a real pain in the ass in terms of watching HH; it will be interesting to see him again.

[heatherchandler]

55 minutes ago, snarts said:

Now i keep hearing "It wasn't yours to open up, you stupid bitch" in my head. 

I can hear this!  It was so uncomfortable.

[aghst]

Theo Von apparently has a huge podcast, with some comparisons to Joe Rogan.

Recently Donald Trump appeared on the podcast.

How did Theo become so big?  Did he have a remarkable standup career?

He didn't seem to be particularly charismatic.  Then again Rogan doesn't seem to be either, don't know how people go through his shows, which are like 3-4 hours long each.

But Rogan and Von have huge appeal to younger males, even though both are middle aged -- Rogan is almost a senior now.

They're considered kind of role models.  Rogan is associated with MMA, not sure what the basis of Theo's appeal to young men is.

 

[Palimelon]

I guess what they are saying matters more to their fans than how they say it.

[aghst]

Not sure if confirmed but Sean Duffy to be the nominee for Secretary at the Dept. of Transportation.

You know, airlines issues or when trains derail dumping toxic fumes into a community.

 

[Lantern7]

Shouldn’t be he tabbed for the Interior or Environment? If you’re hankering for continued global deforestation, who better to be in charge than a ex-competitive lumberjack?

[Tatum]

On 8/31/2024 at 3:07 AM, aghst said:

Theo Von apparently has a huge podcast, with some comparisons to Joe Rogan.

Recently Donald Trump appeared on the podcast.

How did Theo become so big?  Did he have a remarkable standup career?

He didn't seem to be particularly charismatic.  Then again Rogan doesn't seem to be either, don't know how people go through his shows, which are like 3-4 hours long each.

But Rogan and Von have huge appeal to younger males, even though both are middle aged -- Rogan is almost a senior now.

They're considered kind of role models.  Rogan is associated with MMA, not sure what the basis of Theo's appeal to young men is.

 

I didn't think anyone who wasn't an early 2000s Road Rules superfan would know who he was, and it shocked me when I heard he was doing standup comedy because I don't remember him saying anything remotely funny during his seasons. The one that sticks out to me was his horrid analogy about Holly being like "an Indian that doesn't want to walk down the trail of tears", and I also recall him saying he went to a special school where he did puzzles all day instead of regular classroom lessons.

 

Theo was once a very skilled physical competitor (managing to combine a lot of muscles with extreme coordination and agility- I still remember that he was the only one able to land a basket while being shot out of a human cannon) but that was over 20 years ago so I really don't know what would inspire his popularity now. Without getting too political, I'd venture to guess he just says what a lot of his fans want to hear, and leave it at that.

[ljenkins782]

On 12/5/2024 at 11:14 AM, Tatum said:

I didn't think anyone who wasn't an early 2000s Road Rules superfan would know who he was, and it shocked me when I heard he was doing standup comedy because I don't remember him saying anything remotely funny during his seasons. The one that sticks out to me was his horrid analogy about Holly being like "an Indian that doesn't want to walk down the trail of tears", and I also recall him saying he went to a special school where he did puzzles all day instead of regular classroom lessons.

 

Theo was once a very skilled physical competitor (managing to combine a lot of muscles with extreme coordination and agility- I still remember that he was the only one able to land a basket while being shot out of a human cannon) but that was over 20 years ago so I really don't know what would inspire his popularity now. Without getting too political, I'd venture to guess he just says what a lot of his fans want to hear, and leave it at that.

Agreed on all counts. Theo was once phenomenal competitor, one of the best ever actually, because he was good at physical stuff and puzzles. 

He was a mixed bag as a personality though, he definitely had some racist tendencies that would surface in heated moments. And he would make weird analogies like the above mentioned, he was occasionally funny, but often more like wtf? 

As for his podcast, I could definitely see it being popular in this particular political climate. I know I attempted to watch one of his stand up things once and it was painfully unfunny.

Christina from RR Australia is also in comedy and apparently married to a successful comedian and has a podcast as well. 

It will never not be weird to me to see RWers and RRers in other contexts, I can totally understand why it's not a great springboard to success. It seems like the lesser knowns who can make the transition whereas the people who are front and center on the RW/RR shows can be too famous to be famous if that makes any sense. 

[Tatum]

On 12/7/2024 at 10:57 AM, ljenkins782 said:

It will never not be weird to me to see RWers and RRers in other contexts, I can totally understand why it's not a great springboard to success. It seems like the lesser knowns who can make the transition whereas the people who are front and center on the RW/RR shows can be too famous to be famous if that makes any sense.

Who is the most successful RW/RRer (as a public figure)? Mike from RWB2NY has done really well in WWE (from a name recognition and financial perspective). Jacinda has been in some A list movies, although not for awhile. Jamie from RW San Diego had a few movies and TV shows, also not for awhile. Dave from RR South Pacific was the lead in a network TV show (which shocked me), Kyle Brandt had a pretty good run on daytime TV before turning to sports reporting...who am I forgetting?

[snarts]

26 minutes ago, Tatum said:

Who is the most successful RW/RRer (as a public figure)? Mike from RWB2NY has done really well in WWE (from a name recognition and financial perspective). Jacinda has been in some A list movies, although not for awhile. Jamie from RW San Diego had a few movies and TV shows, also not for awhile. Dave from RR South Pacific was the lead in a network TV show (which shocked me), Kyle Brandt had a pretty good run on daytime TV before turning to sports reporting...who am I forgetting?

Although I purposely try to exclude both from my thoughts...Sean (RW Boston) was a US congressman and is currently nominated for Transportation Secretary. His wife Rachel (RW SF) is a Fox tv host.

I just caught a bit of Kyle Brandt recently on NFL coverage, must've been either when the Lions played the Bears on Thanksgiving or a recap of that game before they played the Packers last Thursday.

[Tatum]

2 hours ago, snarts said:

I just caught a bit of Kyle Brandt recently on NFL coverage, must've been either when the Lions played the Bears on Thanksgiving or a recap of that game before they played the Packers last Thursday.

I still remember when Kyle had a blog and he said he couldn't stand it when women tried to argue with him about football. I think he said something along the lines of, good for you for knowing something about the sport, but you're still not going to know more than the guy you're trying to impress with your NFL knowledge (that you obviously made an effort to learn just to impress men).

Edited December 9 by Tatum

[atomic]

1 hour ago, Tatum said:

who am I forgetting?

Karamo from RW Philadelphia - part of Netflix's Queer Eye cast and also hosts his own talk show

[ljenkins782]

12 hours ago, Tatum said:

Who is the most successful RW/RRer (as a public figure)? Mike from RWB2NY has done really well in WWE (from a name recognition and financial perspective). Jacinda has been in some A list movies, although not for awhile. Jamie from RW San Diego had a few movies and TV shows, also not for awhile. Dave from RR South Pacific was the lead in a network TV show (which shocked me), Kyle Brandt had a pretty good run on daytime TV before turning to sports reporting...who am I forgetting?

Out of the gate, Eric Nies had the most crossover success following the RW, but I remember NY 1 Julie (arguably the most featured person in the original series) talking about how she got turned down for things she tried out for because she was too recognizable from the show. Eric was doing the Grind, which was also MTV, so they liked that he was recognizable from the show. 

But for the rest of the NY1 cast, I think the show did some damage to their entertainment aspirations. 

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I still remember when Kyle had a blog and he said he couldn't stand it when women tried to argue with him about football. I think he said something along the lines of, good for you for knowing something about the sport, but you're still not going to know more than the guy you're trying to impress with your NFL knowledge (that you obviously made an effort to learn just to impress men).

Ugh, Kyle is the worst. It's irksome that his born on third base ass continues to fail upward. 

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 Dave from RR South Pacific was the lead in a network TV show (which shocked me), 

Yeah, that one surprised me too, I would not have pegged him to be a breakout. He had Grimm and also a co-starring role in A Million Little Things. 

I saw an ad recently for some reality show about villains that featured a very plastic surgeried Trishelle from LV. She's a person that I think should have stayed in her small town, I don't think reality tv had a great impact on her life.