Boston University students waited for over three hours outside BU Central Tuesday night for their opportunity to meet Danny Jamieson and Melinda Stolp from MTV’s “The Real World: Austin.”
More than 350 students filled the George Sherman Union’s basement and 200 more were turned away from the episode screening and discussion with the former “Real World” cast members.
Jamieson is a native of Billerica, a northern suburb of Boston, and attended Suffolk University before joining the “Real World” cast during his junior year. He said he got the idea to try out for the show from friends at a BU party and applied as a joke.
He also said he was wait-listed when he applied to BU.
Stolp is from Wisconsin and attended Madison Area Technical College, where she studied to be a dentist, she said.
“It’s really laid-back here,” Jamieson said before the event. “I’m pumped.”
While their public appearances are usually about social issues and concerns, Tuesday’s event was more candid.
“We like to talk to kids about the pressures of alcohol abuse and practicing safe sex,” Stolp said. “But tonight we’re not going to do that.”
The event, sponsored by the Student Activities Office and the College of Arts and Sciences Forum, included an hour-long question-and-answer session. Students could also watch the latest episode with Jamieson and Stolp and afterwards the pair signed autographs.
SAO Programs Coordinator Josh Hiscock said the event organizers were excited about the turnout.
“We’ve been trying to think of great events all year,” he said. “We just contacted [Jamieson and Stolp’s] talent agent, and we got very lucky that they were both available.”
The event drew many long-time fans – some of them unexpected – of the series, which is in its 16th season.
“I am a ‘Real World’ fan,” Dean of Students Dean Elmore said. “I watch it religiously.”
While some students said they came just to meet Jamieson or Stolp, others said it was to get an inside scoop on the show. SMG senior Lucia Eguiluz said “it’s fake, but it’s fun to watch.”
Jamieson warned, “don’t believe everything you see,” and both he and Stolp said the MTV editors are “manipulative,” putting film clips out of order and misrepresenting many relationships.
After watching Tuesday’s episode at a previous screening, Jamieson said he was really “pissed off” and “mad that I looked like an [expletive deleted]. That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”
Stolp said the editing was so bad that at the end of the season she was “really ready to go.”
“The last night in the house was insane,” she said before the event. “I really thought one of our roommates was going to be killed.”
Jamieson said he was frustrated by the show because he couldn’t wear his Red Sox gear, but also because of the show’s creator, Bill Murray.
He said Murray does not care about the people on the show and thinks they are just characters. Jamieson added that he openly told Murray to “[expletive deleted] off.”
Jamieson and Stolp are under contractual obligation to not give away anything about the end of the season and he said when cast members sign onto “The Real World”, “you sign your life away.”
Because of this they could not answer the question they said they hear most, “Are they still together?” But they offered some other details about the show.
While past seasons of “The Real World” lasted six months, Stolp said after the four-month mark the producers cut the show short.
“We took a trip to Costa Rica,” she said. “And when we got back, they said that we only had one week left, because there was so much drama in our house.”
Both Stolp and Jamieson said they will take place in the next “Real World/Road Rules Challenge,” but the location has not yet been disclosed. Both said the Challenge is much more relaxed and the cast gets more time without cameras filming.