The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the longest-running reality series in history, credited with launching the modern reality TV genre.
The series was hailed in its early years for depicting issues of contemporary young-adulthood relevant to its core audience, such as sex, prejudice, religion, abortion, illness, sexuality, AIDS, death, politics and substance abuse, but later garnered a reputation as a showcase for immature and irresponsible behavior.
Following Bunim’s death from breast cancer in 2004, Bunim/Murray Productions continues to produce the program. The 28th and most recent season, set in Portland, Oregon, premiered on March 27, 2013, and ended its first run on June 12, 2013. An upcoming 29th season, set in San Francisco, California, is currently in production, and is expected to air in 2014.
The series has generated two notable spin-offs, both broadcast by MTV: Road Rules, which lasted for 14 seasons, and the reality game show The Challenge, which has run for over 20 seasons since 1998. The Challenge is mostly cast-contestant dependent on both The Real World and Road Rules, as it combines contestants from various seasons of both shows. Coordinating the series with its spin-off, MTV alternates between airing seasons of The Real World and The Challenge and ends out seasons of both shows by showing previews for the upcoming season of the other.
All Episodes
You May Also Like
3 charming and gorgeous suitors, all housed together, compete to win the heart of one of the nation’s most eligible gay heartthrob. The sexy suitors grapple to stand out from the crowd all hoping for a moment of intimate connection, romance and, perhaps, true love. One by one, the suitors are eliminated until the heartthrob chooses one ideal man to sweep him off of his feet and commit to an exclusive relationship.
Four professional bakers leave their modern businesses behind to bake their way through the Victorian era. They set up shop in 1837, when their trade was vital to the survival of the nation.
Jamie Oliver is here to start a revolution. The impassioned chef takes on obesity, heart disease and diabetes in the United States, where its children are the first generation not expected to live as long as their parents.
A raw look at three teenage pregnancies and the effects it has on their families as everyone prepares for the arrival of the babies.
Follow the passionate, volatile and hot-and-bothered-staff at Lisa Vanderpump’s West Hollywood mainstay SUR. Lisa balances her motherly instincts and shrewd business sense to keep control over this wild group of employees as they pursue their dreams and each other while working at her “Sexy, Unique Restaurant.”
The search to find the greatest holiday baker begins as amateur bakers enter the kitchen, where they show off their family traditions and superb baking skills. To survive the challenges from week to week, they must prove their abilities in front of our tough-love judges.
Three strangers push themselves to their absolute limits in complete darkness – enduring days buried underground while navigating prehistoric cave systems, ancient subterranean cities and centuries-old abandoned mines. Are you afraid of the dark?
Mother/daughter duo Karen Laine and Mina Starsiak transform dilapidated properties in and around their hometown of Indianapolis. Karen’s legal background and Mina’s real estate knowledge help them secure diamonds in the rough, then they enlist demo and construction help to get the houses rehabilitated on budget and transformed into stunning homes.
Filmed from the perspectives of dealers, users and the police, this vivid series offers a bracing look at the war on drugs.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent, contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. Created by Simon Cowell, the show began in September 2004 and has since aired annually from August/September through to December. The show is produced by FremantleMedia’s Thames and Cowell’s production company SYCOtv. It is broadcast on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and TV3 in Ireland, with spin-off behind-the-scenes show The Xtra Factor screened on ITV2. It is the originator of the international The X Factor franchise. The X Factor was devised as a replacement for the highly successful Pop Idol, which was put on indefinite hiatus after its second series, largely because Cowell, who was a judge on Pop Idol, wished to launch a show to which he owned the television rights. The perceived similarity between the two shows later became the subject of a legal dispute. The “X Factor” of the title refers to the undefinable “something” that makes for star quality.
The original judging panel was Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. Dannii Minogue joined the panel in series 4, and Cheryl Cole replaced Osbourne in series 5 after her departure. After series 7, Cowell and Cole both left to judge the American version of the show whilst Minogue left the show due to commitments on Australia’s Got Talent. Kelly Rowland, Tulisa Contostavlos and Gary Barlow then joined Walsh on the judging panel for series 8, though Rowland announced she would not return for series 9 and was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Osbourne later returned in 2013, replacing Contostavlos. Since 2007, the show has been presented by Dermot O’Leary, who replaced original host Kate Thornton. The show is split into a series of phases, following the contestants from auditions through to the grand finale. In the original televised audition phase of the show, contestants sang in an audition room in front of just the judges. From series 6 onwards, auditionees sing on a stage in front of the judges and a live audience. Successful auditionees go through to “bootcamp” and then to “judges’ houses”, where judges narrow down the acts in their category down to three or four acts to mentor for the live shows, where the public vote for their favourite acts following weekly live performances by the contestants.
