History was made in 1992 when The Real World debuted on MTV.
The series' original cast of seven strangers consisted of three women and four men, who
showed us all what happens when people stop being polite, and start getting real.
Here's what these stars of The Real World Season 1 look like today.
Heather Gardner
Heather B. Gardner, better known by her rap name Heather B., became known for both her
outspoken nature and burgeoning career in hip hop during her tenure on The Real World.
Gardner didn't intend to get too personal while filming the show, hoping instead to
keep her head down.
She once revealed in an interview with People:
"I had a plan.
I told myself, 'I am not going to get caught up, I'm not speaking to anyone, I will just
be me and get my money.'"
While Gardner did find some commercial success in film and hip hop with 1995's "All Glocks
Down" because of her presence on the show, in the end her reality TV stardom turned into
a successful career in radio.
In addition to co-hosting Shade 45's Sway in the Morning on Sirius XM, she's also hosted
the popular show The Happy Hour with Heather B.
Eric Nies
If anyone on the first season of The Real World gets to be deemed the eye candy of the
group, that honor goes to Eric Nies, a model who never missed an opportunity to get noticed.
"Just recently started getting into commercials and acting and stuff."
MTV even signed him up to host the dance show The Grind after The Real World wrapped, as
well as a series of affiliated workout videos.
Since his days as a television star, Nies has worked as an alternative and holistic
wellness facilitator and hosted men's wellness retreats in California.
In his personal life, Nies married the love of his life and mother of his child in Vietnam.
He said of his wife in a 2014 episode of Oprah Winfrey's Where Are They Now?:
"Iona kind of came in and amplified my light."
He added,
"There was an energy about her that was undeniable…[As] soon as she looked at me, she saw all of our
past lives together."
Looks like this hunk has settled down for good.
Becky Blasband
There were a few things that made Becky Blasband stand out when she was on The Real World,
one of them being her romance with one of the show's directors, which wound up getting
him fired.
Slight televised scandal aside, she was also known as an aspiring musician, although her
open mic debut on the show didn't go very well.
She recalled in an interview with Pause & Play.
"I was put up to doing that show and the next thing I know it happened.I wasn't ready to
do it and I was very uncomfortable and I felt exploited.
I didn't want to be exposed to the public as somebody who thought they were ready when
they weren't."
She added that the experience was anything but organic.
Frustrated by the sudden fame of The Real World, Blasband left civilization to go live
in a cabin in Northern California in order to reset.
When she returned to New York, she jumped back into the music hustle, something she
still continues today.
Norman Korpi
There's no question that artist Norman Korpi was a groundbreaking reality television star,
given that he was openly gay at the time when it wasn't as widly accepted.
But Korpi was up for the task, even though he hadn't yet come out to his parents, which
he did before The Real World premiered on MTV.
Korpi's presence was well-received by audiences, both straight and queer alike.
He explained in an interview with People:
"All of a sudden on TV is this average, dorky kind of person who was gay, not the stereotype.
People were refreshed."
After The Real World, Korpi continued to work in showbiz, first creating Gay Entertainment
Television, and later directing his first feature film, The Wedding Video.
He also continued to create art, and has maintained an active presence on social media.
To top it all off, Korpi has also become known as the inventor and entrepreneur of the Aero-tray.
Kevin Powell
Scholar and activist Kevin Powell didn't have cable when he was cast in The Real World,
and because of that, he didn't know a lot about MTV.
But once the cameras started rolling, Powell was quick to jump into an argument with other
cast members over a variety of issues.
He admitted in an interview with People:
"Being in that space with someone who was gay, and with women, made me see how human
they were.
I had to start working on some of my own issues."
Powell has been on a journey to self-discovery ever since, having written and published more
than a dozen books.
Most notably has been his autobiography, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey
into Manhood, which chronicles his childhood and rite-of-passage into adulthood.
Powell has also been active on Instagram, where he's often promoting a vegan diet, yoga
practice, as well as activist causes.
Andre Comeau
Andre Comeau confessed that the main reason he signed up for the show was to get exposure
for his band, Reigndance.
But that was evident from the very beginning, as the vast majority of Comeau's arc was about
the band, which appeared frequently on the show.
But Comeau has admitted that MTV wasn't the right place to promote the group, as the audience
it drew in wasn't necessarily serious about the music.
He lamented in an interview with Generations of Gotham in 2011:
"They were teenyboppers who bought our album and then threw it away as soon as the next
flavor of the month came along."
But the band broke up with Comeau eventually moving out to Los Angeles permanently.
He has continued to make music with his band River Rouge, which has incorporated new influences
on the rocker.
"My love of acoustic music and bluegrass stems from my own prejudice against it.
It spoke to me when I realized how wrong I was."
Julie Gentry
When Julie Gentry, now Julie Oliver, was cast on The Real World, she didn't quite realize
what it would become.
She revealed in an episode of Where Are They Now?:
"I was just thinking that I would have rent paid for while I studied dance, and that that
would be my springboard.
I was under the impression that it would be seven people who were coming from all over
the country to, kind of, pursue their different art in New York City."
She added that it was intimidating to learn how accomplished her roommates were in comparison
to her.
As the show progressed, the producers wanted her to be the fish out of water, a bumpkin
from Alabama in the big city.
"But the producers were using stereotypes to cast us, and it worked for that."
But Gentry isn't mad about it, and has since kept busy as a wife and mother back in her
native state of Alabama, according to People.
And when the time was right, she plans to show The Real World to her son, as she shared:
"I think he'd be really impressed with his mom."
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