The Original ‘Real World: New York’ Cast Back for Paramount Plus Reunion Series

Twenty-nine years after they essentially invented reality television, the seven original strangers from the first season of MTV’s The Real World are coming back for a new season of the show. The Real World Homecoming: New York will premiere on Paramount Plus streaming March 4th.

It will feature the complete cast (Becky Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie Gentry, Norman Korpi, Eric Nies and Kevin Powell) moving back into their original New York loft to catch up and reveal how the groundbreaking show changed their lives.

“The Real World is credited with creating the Reality TV genre and was one of the first series to tackle important and yet unrepresented topics such as LGBTQ, race, gender, HIV/AIDS and religion,” President of MTV Entertainment Group Chris McCarthy said in a statement. “With Paramount+ being the home to so many global reality hit franchises it seems only fitting to bring back the franchise and cast that started it all for the launch.”

There hasn’t been a new season of the show since The Real World: Atlanta premiered on Facebook Watch in the summer of 2019 and failed to generate much interest. “We’re a little bit a victim of our own success,” Real World co-creator Jonthan Murray told Rolling Stone in 2014, when the show was already showing major signs of rust. “The idea was that we were gonna put seven diverse people together and that would result in conflict , and out of that conflict would come growth. Well, we’ve done that for so long that our audience is used to diversity.”

And while The Real World has been slowly fading for the better part of a decade, the spinoff series The Challenge (originally the Real World/Road Rules Challenge) has only grown in popularity. It features reality show veterans from around the world competing for a large cash prize. The 36th season was shot in Iceland during the pandemic and debuted in December to strong ratings.

According to fan reports, the next season will reunite “OG” Challengers that haven’t been on the show for a long time, including Real World alumni like Beth Stolarczyk from the Los Angeles incarnation of the show. And while there’s no official word about follow-up Real World Homecoming seasons, Real World: Hawaii cast member Amaya Brecher Tweeted in December that she’d been contacted by producers.

“They’re trying to get us to do a 2 week reunion show for Real World Hawaii,” she wrote. “Apparently, someone thinks a bunch of 40-something people, who mostly lead quiet lives, could offer compelling content. I disagree… “

“Prepare yourself for the possibility of seeing the exciting things I accomplish,” she continued, “like: Embroidery! Propagating plants! Stretching/hearing clicking sounds emitted by my body! Adjusting my anxiety meds to a new schedule in a different time zone! Shopping for mumus!”