"Real World" comes to campus
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
Ruthie and Randy spoke frankly about their experiences as “Real World” cast members Tuesday night. Both reality stars were well known for their excessive consumption of alcohol while taping the show and asked the audience to learn from their mistakes. |
By Katie Hicks
The Collegian
Two of MTV “Real World’s” most controversial houseguests came to Fresno State Wednesday to spread a message that strongly contradicted their actions on television.
Ruthie, best known as the bisexual alcoholic on season eight “Real World, Hawaii,” and Randy, the slurring, stumbling drunk guy from season 14 “San Diego” spoke to a group of students about alcohol awareness, sexuality, race and diversity.
“One of my favorite things to do is come here and speak to students,” Randy said. “And hopefully you learn from some of our mistakes.”
The pair, brought to campus by USU Productions, sat relaxed on the side of the stage interacting with the crowd and showing clips from the past 17 seasons of the hit show. After each clip the two discussed similar issues they faced while on the show and how they dealt with them.
One segment dealt with race and the problems cast members faced when placed in a house with no television, no radio and a very racially and sexually diverse cast.
“How many people out there are prejudiced?” Ruthie asked the audience.
Two people raised their hands.
“Let me tell you why the rest of you are liars,” Ruthie said.
She went on to tell the audience how whenever two people are introduced they prejudge each other based on unrelated things like the color of their skin, the way they dress, their voice and the person’s own upbringing.
That was the problem many housemates had on “Real World,” Ruthie explained.
Another segment of their presentation covered alcohol awareness and the problems with alcohol seen on the show — something Ruthie and Randy knew about first-hand.
“When you have no other forms of entertainment on the show, you turn to each other for entertainment,” Randy said.
The film clip that followed showed a laundry list of heavy drinkers including Ruthie, who is famous for being carried out of a bar and rushed from the house by ambulance with alcohol poisoning.
“The thing about that is, I had never passed out from drinking before that night,” Ruthie said. “And the first time happened to be on national TV.”
Ruthie went on to explain that before the show she had begun binge drinking in college, but she was not an alcoholic.
“I actually believe that anyone who drank alcohol was an alcoholic,” Ruthie said. “But there’s such a thin line between being college binge drinking and being an alcoholic.”
Randy said one of the advantages of being on the show is getting to see yourself four months later on national television.
“I thought I was cool when I drank, but when I saw myself for the first time I was like, ‘That’s what I look like? Damn,’” Randy said. “But the good thing is, we have a producer that is like a mother to us and he stops us before we get in a car or do something bad.”
Unfortunately we don’t have that in real life, Randy said.
Fresno State freshman Edith Ramirez said she went to the event because it sounded like a good message from someone she could relate to.
“I watched the season and I remember Ruthie being the alcoholic,” Ramirez said. “I think an event like this attracts more people when someone famous is involved.”
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