Waking up at the Real Worldhouse in Key West, Fla. contestant Zach Mann said he barely opened his sleepy eyes only to have a giant black camera shoved in his face and forced to put on his mic. He walked to the kitchen—\there is nothing to eat and the sink is full of dishes""—and checked his Facebook. This might seem all too familiar to the typical Madison student, minus the camera crew, of course.
On Tuesday night, four of the seven cast members of the current season, Zach, John Debenanzio, Svetlana Shusterman and Janelle Casanave, spent time at State Street Brats, 603 State St., with winners of a contest sponsored by Expo.live.com, where they spoke about misconceptions, drama and life after the show.
Svetlana said the show is not as glamorous as it looks. Affectionately known to the cast as ""Svitz,"" she said being on the show was ""depressing"" because there was no TV in the house. According to Svetlana, the cast was either ""in the kitchen eating or talking about each other.""
Svetlana said the show made her appear to always be fighting with her boyfriend and be ""immature and annoying"" because the show was ""catering to ratings and drama.""
John said he felt the Real World was a rare opportunity to examine his life from an outsider's point of view. Although he said he worried about being portrayed as a ""fun-loving meathead, party animal and womanizer,"" after viewing the show he said he comes off as ""the sane one in the house.""
Despite their larger-than-life personas on the boob tube, each castmate was candid in revealing their fears and ""real"" feelings about the show. Zach said while he does not regret any of his actions on the show, he knows his grandmother might see him in a ""compromising position"" with a girl on the show.
Each cast member said being on the show was life changing, but John, who went to Big Ten school Penn State, said even though he knows his newfound fame will only last for 15 minutes, he is enjoying the payoff for ""being on a stupid show for four months.""
Since shooting the season, the cast members haved moved on.
After finishing other college tours, Svetlana said she wants to continue public speaking at college campuses and Janelle said she might go to law school or pursue a career as a professional makeup artist.
MTV currently airs the season of the show featuring the four every Tuesday at 10 p.m. EST/PST.
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