Several hundred young Wisconsinites tried their luck at a casting call for the 26th season of MTV’s “The Real World” at State Street Brats Saturday morning.
The show’s producers were looking for University of Wisconsin students, young professionals and recent graduates who demonstrate “characters from real life.”
Producers were also seeking students who have had to work to support themselves or who have been negatively affected by the recent economic downturn.
The casting directors added they were looking for well-rounded characters with strong personalities and diverse backgrounds.
Previous seasons of the show have featured individuals such as an HIV/AIDS educator, an Iraq War veteran and a recovering addict, as well as freshman Congressman Sean Duffy, R-Ashland, who was on “The Real World: Boston” in 1997.
“My tagline was that I’m racially ambiguous, liberal in mind and body and socially diverse,” said Olivia Schmit, a UW freshman who auditioned for the show.
The casting directors also said in a statement they were targeting a “younger demographic, ages 18 to 24” and the turnout at the casting call consisted primarily of UW students.
Typically, the show casts seven or eight young adults from across the country who then live together in what the show’s producers call an “incredible social experiment.”
“I want to be one of those eight strangers picked to live in a house and work together, but so does everyone else here,” UW freshman Scott Mendlinger said. “The [auditions] were packed.”
The previous season of the show took place in Las Vegas and prior seasons have taken place in cities across the world.
The program began in New York City in 1992 but crossed international borders in 2003 when the casting crew moved to Paris and then Sydney in 2008.
The casting directors would not say what location had been selected for the filming of the upcoming season.
Auditions were simultaneously taking place Saturday on campuses in Houston and Boston. They are scheduled to continue in cities across the country until March 30, with an audition taking place in Chicago this Saturday.
The show’s producers urged those who missed Saturday’s auditions to submit application videos on the show’s website for consideration.
