Real World Philadelphia, The Reunion: Fistful of Philly

Our hostess, Vanessa Minnillo (former Miss Teen USA), welcomes us and the seven roomies back. Vanessa asks if the gang feels a bit weird about seeing each other, now that the show is over (and the confessionals are aired). Everyone agrees no. Willie says before they left, everyone admitted they were "honest." Mel cleans up that everyone talked crap about everyone, and they all agreed they weren’t going to get upset by what they saw.

Vanessa heads to the leading plotline of the season… Landon and Shavonda. What happened? Shavonda says they were anxious to see how things went without cameras following them around. She went to see Landon in Wisconsin, and left Wisconsin definitely over! Somewhat politically, Landon says they are just different people, and outside the context of the show, they just didn’t have anything in common. Karamo chirps that he’s "ecstatic" that it didn’t work out! Someone mumbles "of course" and MJ playfully slashes Landon’s throat! (Ha!)

Karamo clarifies that Shavonda had a great guy in Shawn, and she blew it fooling with Landon (how does HE know how great Shawn is? Grrr!). Shavonda says Shawn wouldn’t even speak to her for three months. (How did he survive without a daily phone argument?) She finally had to force the issue, and while they are dating, they are not where they once were.

Then, Karamo was in the spotlight. Montage of Karamo coming out to MJ. MJ’s mouth qualifying as a cave in some states. Karamo says he knew it would be big because there had never been a "masculine" homosexual on before. Willie says he has been called flamboyant before (you? No!), but when he realized there would be another gay "character" (character?) on the show, he knew he was gonna look like sugar plum fairy dust uber-gay. Karamo says he never tried to hide it, he just flatout told Sarah one day that he would love to *bleep* that fireman over there, and Sarah said, "o-kay, sweetie..."

MJ says it has changed his perception, and the people at home’s perception of gay people and he’s grateful for that. Speaking of MJ, what was up with him and Sarah. Montage of Sarah giving the full court press, MJ playing masterful defense. MJ says the show made more of it than it actually was. Sarah says it was all about convenience! She added they would play with production and dash into a photo booths and kiss just to make them think they had something. Vanessa notes many of them came in with significant others, dot dot dot. MJ picks up the ball and says the source of turbulence with Ashley was that he never came out and told everything. There were things they didn’t want to discuss on camera (as I recall, she didn’t want to discuss on camera!), but they have got it worked out and are together to this day. Shot of Ashley in the audience, to lukewarm applause.

Now, let’s talk about Fiji. Montage of the high points (or low, depending on your view) - Sarah with the three guy pursuit, Karamo and the throat slashing comment, Mel being judgmental again. Sarah says it was a situation where they were all forced to be together, where in Philly, they could leave the house and be by themselves and de-stress. Mel said it was made to look worse than it was. MJ diplomatically offers that everyone had problems with everyone by then. Willie puts Mel back on the stand, "it was bad then, Mel. By then everyone was like gawd I can’t stand Melanie!"

Karamo says he was kinda drunk and he said he would slash MJ’s throat! (I hadn’t noticed that before.) Mel says that was coming long before Fiji and Karamo agrees. It was the Shavonda thing, and that played a role, and, "frankly, at that time, I didn’t care for the bastard!" Good natured laughing. Mel says people think she and Sarah didn’t get along, Sarah interrupts that if she didn’t like Melanie, Sarah wouldn’t have cared about Mel’s duplicity. Sarah says her mother called after that show and said, you know Mel cares about you. Sarah says that shows Melanie’s true feelings did come out in that episode.

Vanessa says it seemed like Sarah was on a mission in Fiji. Willie agrees, and says Sarah was not on a mission in Philadelphia, but the show made it seem like she was constantly on the prowl. It was, to him, "fake drama." Then a segment of clips called "What Not To Do In Philly" airs. This includes Sarah trying to seduce the gay man, Shavonda vs. MJ, and "huggable" Landon with a fistful of knives.

Sarah says she realized that the guy is truly gay and she has sworn off converting. Vanessa points out the rather poignant juxtaposition of Landon in the "huggable" shirt behaving like a psycho. Vanessa asks if anyone felt unsafe that night. Shavonda says all the girls did. Not physically so much, but Landon had verbally attacked all of them that night. Landon says where he comes from, there is a lot of drinking, and when he came home from Philly, he saw with fresh eyes how much drinking really goes on. He says he still struggles with it. And, he hasn’t picked up a knife since. Willie snidely comments, "but you’ve picked up a bottle!" Shavonda says she didn’t come on the show to make enemies, she maintains good relationships with everyone, but on that night she felt like MJ disrespected her and she was only standing up for herself.

Now, unseen footage. Lots of walking into things, stumbling, tumbling, crashing, general tom-foolery, and what looked like a really cool ‘80s Prom Night Party. Willie says it was the funnest night ever! (Why didn’t they show us that?) But, there was also a clip of some furious making out between Sarah and Landon! (What????), and a magical night between Willie and Karamo! (What????)

Sarah says early on in the show, she thought Landon was cute, but when Shavonda had made it clear she was interested in Landon, Sarah backed off. Landon says it was just fun. As for Willie and Karamo, Karamo says that happened on one of the first nights they went out together. Willie says it wasn’t anything, they kissed, Karamo gave him a massage (we saw the massage! Hoo-fah!), that was it, even though Karamo tried to get friskier. Karamo admits he was very horned up and was going for it. The other houseguests are just slack-jawed. Karamo says he told them it happened, MJ says yeah but, wow.

Now, a rather awkward segment, where Karamo says he and MJ just started speaking again about three weeks ago. Karamo says he had college campuses chanting "eff MJ!" MJ says he didn’t know about that. MJ also adds that the show made MJ and Landon seem closer than they were. Landon says production started calling them the Wonder Twins, and Landon liked being associated with MJ, but they are nothing alike, and he began to resent it. He felt like he was in MJ’s shadow. I’m just flummoxed by that!

Vanessa asks if they have any advice for the cast of Real World: Austin (currently filming). Sarah says not to try to hide anything. Karamo says cuss someone out every other day. You’ll feel better.

So ends Real World: Philadelphia. Lord, this was a long season. I enjoyed it, hope you did too!

Sting7 has been a respected published writer for 16 years, as a music editor, entertainment critic, columnist, and interviewer. He also has a curious love for pro-wrestling! You can email Stinger at stingseven@yahoo.com.

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