Oh, I know some of you are so disappointed by that headline. But by this point, the state of the house won’t affect the series. The D.C. filming is totally done. The season is upon us. And people, same as always, are tweeting about all things RWDC. Last night, starting around 6 p.m., rumors about a fire at the house began to spread:

• RealWorldDCNEWZ RUMOR: The Real World DC House at 2000 S Street NW is on fire (unconfirmed so far) #RWDC about 18 hours ago from web

• sloflin @RealWorldDCNEWZ re: fire at real world house – i see yellow tape up but no smoke or firetrucks about 18 hours ago from web

• RealWorldDCNEWZ RT @omgitsmejd: @RealWorldDCNEWZ just heard on the radio the real world house is on fire?! about 17 hours ago from web Read More “The Real World House Did Not Burn Down Last Night” »

From left to right: Chris Wiggins, Beth Ploger and cast members Callie, Emily and Ashley.

So I mis-tweeted last night.

After arriving at Metromix’s Real World DC premiere party, I called the event the “official RWDC party.”

For the event to be official, it would probably need to be thrown by MTV. And no one from MTV was around that I saw at least. Instead of watching the first episode with network publicists, the four cast members at BlackFinn last night sat with Chris Wiggins and Beth Ploger, two of the cast’s certainly unofficial, most devoted local followers during filming.

Wiggins funneled cast member gossip through his RWDC tweets all summer long, while Beth “Elizabethany” Ploger recorded frequent videos of her and her friends on the hunt for cast members, posting them to her pop culture blog.

For months, they were the “stalkers,” showing up wherever the cast might be partying and ticking off producers and crew members. You would think the former housemates would disdain Ploger and Wiggins after a certain point—after all, they only signed up for a certain kind of attention. Official cameramen: Yes. Random girl with camera constantly in hand: No.

But I was mistaken.

Read More “You Want a Piece of the Real World DC—They’re Yours for the Taking” »

Want to attend a party where a bunch of photographers, cameramen and reporters swarm around four twenty-somethings who up until six months ago were completely anonymous?

You probably can’t get within ten feet of them unless you’re a member of the media or a “friend.” But you can buy them shots. And about an hour after this pretty posse arrives, get this: You can watch them—two slender brunettes, one muscular black guy, and one petite blond with a gold bow in her hair—watch themselves debut on the 23rd season of The Real World.

Yup, it’s true: that show is still on television.

Read More “Scenes From BlackFinn’s Real World DC Premiere Party” »

Okay, so there are even more Real World DC videos. MTV has released mini video profiles, complete with some of the original, homemade castings tapes (though multiple cast members told me that their first casting experience was at an event—not submitting a video. So I’m not sure when these are produced.) Cast member Emily is shown returning to the cult-like Christian church of her youth. Ashley talks about how you can spot her Portuguese heritage–apparently it’s all in the nose. And Andrew divulges that he has always been the dumped person, never the dumper, in relationships.

Read More “And Of Course, Now There Are Real World DC Video Bios” »

After a week of Real World DC madness, the blog has transitioned back to its usual housing and development-related content. This week, we welcomed both “Proud Satanist” and “Proud Catholic” as commenters to the blog. Both of them were, of course, posting about Catholic Charities’ recent threat to stop running city-contracted social service programs if forced to extend employee benefits to married gay couples.  Look for more on the same-sex marriage legislation from my colleague The Sexist Amanda Hess this week. As for me, well Ask Housing Complex! is launching in the next few days—should be fun, and by “fun” I mean “full of misery, which will hopefully lessened with sound advice.”

(1) Councilmembers Dig in Heels on Catholic Threat

(2) Catholic Church Threatens to Withhold Social Services if City Passes Same-Sex Marriage Law

(3) Second Chance for First-Time Buyers

(4) Worst Cities for Pedestrians

(5) Meet Real World DC Cast Member Ashley

(6) Second Chance for First-Time Buyers, Part 2

(7) An Explanation for the Boutique Hotel Boom

(8) Here They Are D.C., Your Seven (Eight, Actually) Strangers!

Image by TheChristianAlert.org, Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License.

Okay, in truth, the following list should read Real World, Real World, Affordable Condos, Real World, Real World, First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit, Real World, Real World, Real World, Real World. It’s an unstoppable force! as I predicted.

But in the name of variety and, well, a “housing complex,” I’ll leave most of the Real World posts to be discovered by Googlers and those that click on the top link. All the bios I wrote about the various roommates are collected there.

(1) Here They Are D.C., Your Seven (Eight, Actually) Strangers!

(2) D.C.’s Designated Affordable Condos Are Great—Just Don’t Move Any Time Soon

(3) Congress May Pass New Homebuyer Tax Credit This Week

Read More “Top Blog Posts of the Past Week” »

Or don’t, actually. I never saw her.

There were rampant rumors that Erika Wasilewski left the show before the season wrapped. She was around earlier during the press day, held last month, as evidenced by the Washington Post’s video. But when I stopped by later, Erika was nowhere to be seen.

MTV publicists said that she was in the city, but she was sick. And by “sick,” do you think they meant “sick and tired of all the lies?”

Josh Colon, 23, from Philadelphia is described as a “Puerto Rican/Italian glam rocker/rapper” by MTV. While touring me through the house, he went on and on about his band, and showed off his large sneaker collection—a wide variety of multi-colored Converse Kicks, if I’m remembering correctly.

His last Philly-based band broke up roughly a year ago. “There was a lot of inner turmoil. I had a lead guitarist that had a drug problem. One kid went into the Marines. I was actually thinking of going, but this came through first. It was career decision time for me. I had to make a move!”

Read More “Meet Real World DC Cast Member Josh” »

Andrew Woods is the goofy blond guy spotted in D.C. wearing weird blue goggles and a panda hat. Originally from the Denver area, he decided to audition after a little prodding from his younger brother. “He thought I’d have a better chance of getting on the show, because I’m more of a prick,” he says.

According his MTV bio, he came to Washington after his latest girlfriend cheated on him and dumped him, and he “heads to D.C. a single man, looking to get with any girl who will say yes.”

I must admit, the best anecdote I ever heard about Andrew, I picked up in the Washington Post’s recent video of the Real World house. Andrew tells the story himself, standing in front of a basement couch:

Read More “Meet Real World DC Cast Member Andrew” »

Ty Ruff, 22, came to D.C.  as a recent graduate of Trinity College, and a recently single man (”fresh out of a three year relationship,” according to MTV press docs.)

We soon saw him taking off his shirt at Cobalt, interning with the Caps, and doing other dramatic things like eating Subway sandwiches.

Read More “Meet Real World DC Cast Member Ty” »