Alcohol Hit 'Real World' Hard
By DAVID BAUDER, AP
NEW YORK (AP) - MTV's "Real World'' is all about video voyeurism: The
network sets up a house full of strangers and lets cameras watch their lives unfold
without intruding. But in its eighth, and most popular, season, MTV changed its
hands-off policy to help a cast member with a drinking problem. Ruthie, a
21-year-old Hawaiian, is sent to a 30-day rehab program after a series of incidents. The
situation culminated in a fight with some of the six other cast members who shared a home
in Honolulu.
``It was like watching a train wreck,'' said Mary-Ellis Bunim, executive
producer and co-creator of the series, ``and we couldn't let that happen.''
In the ``Real World'' season premiere, housemates had to call an ambulance for
Ruthie when she got alcohol poisoning. Tuesday's episode showed Ruthie kissing another
female cast member, then claiming no memory of it the next day.
For ``Real World,'' MTV selects a cast and houses them for several months.
Although cameras are ever-present, MTV has rarely tried to change the course of events,
though a producer once took the car keys from someone who was about to drive drunk.
During one evening, to be shown later in the season, an apparently drunk Ruthie gets into
a car with a companion, then switches to the driver's seat at a traffic signal.
They arrive home without incident, but the next morning ``Real World''
supervising producer Matt Kunitz tells Ruthie on camera that she needs to get help or risk
being fired. Ruthie undergoes counseling but keeps drinking, and it's her fellow cast
members who later confront her, Bunim said.
She completes a rehab program paid for by MTV. But Bunim, wanting to maintain
the suspense, won't say whether it was successful.
MTV had an obligation to help Ruthie, network president Judy McGrath said.
``We tried to do it in a way that didn't look parental or intrusive or too
authoritative,'' she said. ``We think this is something that a lot of viewers can relate
to and would do for a friend. If there's any chance to make it more public and acceptable,
we will take it.''
Jeffrey Hon, a spokesman for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug
Dependence, worried that MTV was exploiting someone's troubles to get ratings. But after
watching three episodes, Hon applauded MTV's response. The story line, he said, may help
other young viewers fighting alcoholism.
``This is not a new topic for television,'' Hon said, ``but what seems to be new
here is that it's actually happening to real people. One of the reasons that `Real World'
is so successful is that people who watch it can see something of themselves in it.''
Bunim said exploitation charges might have been valid if MTV knew of Ruthie's problem
ahead of time. In fact, one of the finalists for this year's cast appeared to have a
drinking problem and was rejected.
In her application, Ruthie identified herself as a ``social'' and ``occasional''
drinker, Bunim said. One clue that Ruthie may have understated her drinking came almost
immediately, when she asked another cast member if the house's refrigerator was stocked
with booze.
For whatever reason, Ruthie's troubles, the tropical setting, a romance among
housemates or the tendency of cast members to walk around nude, this season's ``Real
World'' has its highest ratings ever.
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