“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, because frankly, I have no idea what I want to hear,” MTV supervising casting director Damon Furberg told a small group of hopefuls aspiring to be one of the seven strangers in the upcoming 20th installment of reality television show “The Real World.”

In one of many interviews with groups of 10 potential stars — some who waited in line for more than two hours at Faneuil Hall in Quincy Market — Furberg said he looked for candidates with strong personalities who will sustain audience interest.

“We can’t have people that will just be walked all over,” he said. “We try to figure out: Are they engaging? Do they express themselves well? We’re trying to find people who are complex, and if you’re a listener and not a talker, and you don’t like conflict, you’re probably not the right person.”

Furberg said quiet, likeable types and attention-grabbing people are two distinct types usually cast on the show, notorious for its colorful characters and frequent blowups among housemates.

Jen Stebbins, a University of Connecticut junior, told the group she gets drunk quickly because of a childhood accident.

“When I was in third grade, I fell out of a tree almost 30 feet and broke my liver,” she said.

After the interview, Stebbins said taking time off from school would be worthwhile if she was selected for the show — which she would find out within 24 hours if producers were interested.

“You only live once,” she said. “Something like this could never happen again.”

Furberg dismissed rumors that the upcoming season might the be last in the series. An MTV without “The Real World,” he said, would be less successful.

“‘The Real World’ has had a lot to do with MTV’s identity,” he said. “They grew up together, and the ratings are still big.”

Furberg noted a change in the direction of the series, though. The casting company said it is looking for a group of young people with ambition and professional goals and will consider models, athletes and artists, according to the company’s website. The move will bring back the show’s initial appeal, which debuted in 1992 with an aspiring rapper and a political activist among housemates, Furberg said.

“I don’t feel like it’s changed who’s coming out [in auditions], though,” Furberg said. “But, we want to remind people of what the show is for.”