The Real World: London

The Real World: London
Title frame
Format	Reality
Created by	Jonathan Murray Mary-Ellis Bunim
Starring	Kat Ogden Neil Forrester Jay Frank Michael Johnson Lars Schlichting Jacinda Barrett Sharon Gitau
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	23[1]
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	MTV Syndication
Original run	1995 – 1995
Chronology
Preceded by	The Real World: San Francisco
Followed by	The Real World: Miami

The Real World: London is the fourth season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow and document their lives and interpersonal relationships. This particular season first aired in 1995 and featured the cast living in the Notting Hill Gate area of London. This was the first of four seasons of The Real World to be filmed entirely outside of the United States. The Real World: Paris followed in 2003, The Real World: Sydney in 2007, and The Real World: Cancun in 2009.

Season changes

This was the first season of The Real World to be set outside the United States. The cast is made up of three Americans, two Britons, a German and an Australian.

The residence

The Powis Terrace flat where the cast resided.

The cast lived in a four bedroom flat at 19 Powis Terrace on Notting Hill Gate in the Notting Hill neighbourhood of London. The ground floor of the building is leased to ScreenFace, a professional make-up supply company.^[2]

Cast

Cast Member	Age1	Hometown	Biography
Kat Ogden[3]	19[4]	Yelm, Washington[3]	Kat is an American drama student and an aspiring fencer from Washington. She has read accounts that describe her as "applecheeked and bubbly", but insists that she has "a hard, cynical streak".[4] Although Mike perceived romantic feelings between her and Neil (who was in a long-term relationship at the time), Kat denied any physical relationship with Neil and was offended about Mike speaking about her and Neil outside of her presence. However, in an interview conducted subsequent to the season's completion, Jay accused the pair of "[trying] to hide it from the cameras" and commented that "the directors got all pissed off about it. It brought an uncomfortable element to the house", with Mike adding his opinion that "[they both] lied to all of us".[5]
Neil Forrester[6]	24	Keynsham, England	Neil is the lead singer in an punk and screamo-influenced band called Unilever. He is also involved in a number of other underground music groups of differing music styles, such as techno, in order "to keep my options open". He claims to dislike America, remarking that Americans "demolish all semblance of culture. It's interesting in the same way car crashes are interesting."[4] In the premiere, Mike expresses irritation with what he perceived as a secretive romantic tension between Neil and Kat, an observation corroborated by Jay, but the other roommates refuted this notion, and Mike was implicitly accused by Kat of being jealous of Neil as a result. Neil's girlfriend of five years, Chrys, communicated her feelings on the relationship by mailing him a pig's heart embedded with steel nails as a Valentine's Day gift. At one point in the season, Neil responded to a drunken male heckler during a Unilever performance by leaning over and French kissing him. In response, the heckler bit the tip of Neil's tongue off, requiring it to be stitched back on. [7] Neil subsequently spent a portion of the season communicating during his "confessionals" using a computer voice synthesizer and through Chrys' recollections.[5]
Jay Frank[8]	19[4]	Portland, Oregon[8]	Jay is an aspiring playwright and actor. He puts on a performance of his one-man show, Bedroom, for a small audience of friends at the house. Due to Jay and Mike's habit of staying up late into the night watching TV, playing pool and socializing, and then sleeping during the daytime, Mike, Jay and Sharon were labeled "The Night Crew" by the other cast members.[episode needed]
Mike Johnson	22[4]	St. Louis, Missouri[9]	Mike is an aspiring race car driver. He has observed that Britons do not seem as enamored of Americans as they are portrayed to in the American media.[4] Mike perceived romantic tension between Neil and Kat in the beginning of the season. Responding to the accusation that this was motivated by jealousy, he stated in an interview, "I'm not attracted to [Kat] in the slightest", with Kat also referring to the suggestion that Mike had a crush on her as being "rubbish."[5]
Lars Schlichting	24	Berlin, Germany	Lars is a party organizer who works as an underground DJ at night. Remarking on his line of work, he says, "There's not a lot of good German house DJs. I'm the first German who's ever spun on a Saturday at [London's] Ministry of Sound."[4] He becomes upset in one episode when his bike is stolen from the flat's vestibule, which he believes is a result of carelessness on the part of his flatmates. He is further angered by their general indifference to the theft and expresses his frustration with what he perceives as lack of sympathy to the issue.[episode needed]
Jacinda Barrett	22	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	Jacinda is an Australian model, who hopes to do something different in life, saying, "Modeling is great money and great travel, but I just find it really empty, so I can't continue doing it full-time. I would do my head in."[4] Some of Jacinda's escapades included getting her tongue pierced, smearing chocolate cake all over her face, buying a dog she then named Legend, and a streak down the street outside their house at night with Kat. Lars opined that "Jacinda wants a dog like a little girl wants a Barbie doll", and suggested that her antics were largely a means of drawing attention to herself from both the cameras and other housemates. Lars and Jacinda also clashed when she adopted a very casual and indifferent manner towards repaying a loan for the phone bill.[episode needed]
Sharon Gitau[6]	19	Essex, England[6]	Sharon is an English singer/songwriter. Earlier in the series, when Sharon became ill with tonsillitis, the cast rallied around and comforted her. Mike even visited her in the hospital, despite his very evident aversion to hospitals. When the housemates go on their group vacation to Kenya, Sharon, a vegetarian, expresses discomfort at the Maasai slaughtering a goat for dinner. She tearfully admits during this trip that she has problems when it comes to love and letting men into her life.

After filming

Mike Johnson and his wife Cheryl run a real estate business.^[10] Mike is also the team manager for the Stevenson Motorsports Grand-Am road racing team.^[11][12]

As of March 2011, Jay Frank is a news anchor for KIMA/KEPR Action News in Pasco, Washington.^[13]

Lars Schlichting lives in the United States, and runs his own company that deals with DJ equipment. He is also a nationwide consultant and trainer for Pioneer ProDJ.^[14]

Jacinda Barrett went on to become a feature film actress, and appeared in such films as Ladder 49, The Namesake, The Human Stain, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

Real World/Road Rules Challenges

Cast Member	RW/RR Challenges	Challenges Won
Kat Ogden	Challenge 2000	None
Neil Forrester	RW/RR Challenge	None
Jay Frank	-	-
Mike Johnson	Battle of the Seasons	None
Lars Schlichting	-	-
Jacinda Barrett	-	-
Sharon Gitau	Battle of the Seasons	None

^{^*} The contestant was a finalist on the Challenge, but lost in the Final Race.

References

1. ^ Episode synopsis list at MTV.com
2. ^ The Powis Terrace flat at Real World Houses
3. ^ ^{a b} Engstrom, John (22 June 1995). "A Daily Peek Into the Life of Kat Ogden". Seattle Post-Intelligencer: p. C1. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Fretts, Bruce; "The British Invasion The Real World returns for fourth season — The MTV hit invades London"; ew.com; July 21, 1995; Page 4 of 4
5. ^ ^{a b c} Fretts, Bruce; "The British Invasion The Real World returns for fourth season — The MTV hit invades London"; ew.com; July 21, 1995; Page 2 of 4
6. ^ ^{a b c} Moreton, Cole (16 July 1995). "London is Hippest, says MTV Show". The Independent On Sunday: p. 7. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-is-hippest-says-mtv-show-1591678.html. Retrieved 21 November 2010. 
7. ^ Montgomery, James. "David Cook and the Reality Show ER All Stars". MTV. April 2, 2008]
8. ^ ^{a b} Schulberg, Pete (25 June 1995). "`Real World' No Easy Life For Portlander". The Oregonian: p. 07. 
9. ^ "Moving In: London - Part 1". The Real World: London. MTV. June 28, 1995. No. 1, season 4.
10. ^ "Meet the Team" page at Johnson Realty
11. ^ Team page at Stevenson Motorsports
12. ^ Stevenson Motorsports at Grand-Am
13. ^ Wojtanik, Robin. Jay Frank, KIMA CBS 29, April 12, 2011, accessed May 13, 2011.
14. ^ Interview on YouTube from 2009

External links

• The Real World: London at mtv.com
• The Real World: London at the Internet Movie Database
• Neil Forrester's website
• Sharon Gitau's website
• Mike Johnson's racing website
• Lars Schlichting's website