After 31 seasons, it’s hard to imagine that there’s anything audiences haven’t seen or heard, but on last week’s episode of “The Real World: Go Big or Home,” the roommates discovered someone was leaking information to the public while filming. There’s never been a whistleblower in this long-running reality series’ history, and most fans suspected that this kind of offense would get a cast member sent home. On Thursday (April 14), the perpetrator disclosing information that Jenna was a racist and a homophobe was forced to come forward.
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The person who wrote a press release and posted it on one of the most popular Internet fan forums for “The Real World” was Chris. Approaching episode 5, the 24-year-old former Mormon and outward pansexual was slowly revealing himself to be one of the coolest, open-minded and fan-favorites of the cast members. Why did he take such backhanded extreme measures? Zap2it talked to Chris in length about “The Leak,” why he did it, what the cameras didn’t show and what happens next.
Zap2it: What was your intention leaking this information?
After watching the show itself, people know issues such as sexuality, race and discrimination are incredibly important to me. Seeing the way the show had been edited in recent seasons led me to believe that conversations about these issues may not be included in the final cut.
While I regret the way the information originally came out, I can say with confidence that the leak ensured that the comments about these conversations were accurately portrayed.
But it would eventually air on national TV …
There was no assurance that that would ever make the show. Anyone who’s seen the last two seasons, the complaints from long-time viewers were that issues of race, sexuality and discrimination had not been discussed to the extent that they were in original seasons. My hope was that if I prepared the fans for those comments, they would be included in the show.
Everything in the leak was a direct quote that Jenna said. So, as long as I was portraying everything accurately, production would do have to do so as well.
When exactly did this take place?
It was about a month into filming. By that point in the house, [Jenna and I] had become good friends. But the racial comments, and comments on sexual orientation, they continued. What wasn’t shown, by the time Jenna was made aware of this leak, nobody in the house had been speaking with her for about a week. The frustration and the tension was running that high.
Despite myself and Kailah, who were her only two friends in the house trying to tell her that she was completely isolating herself by doing these things, we weren’t making any progress at all. So by posting this, I was hoping that it would be an eye-opening moment for her.
Did you discuss your approach with other cast members?
Off-screen, Kailah and I talked about it quite a bit.
So she was in on it, too?
To clarify, Kailah was not involved at all in the writing of it, but she was the first person who was made aware of it as soon as it had been posted. I didn’t want animosity directed towards her that was undue. It’s one of the reasons why I came forward. Jenna was threatening to physically attack Kailah.
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Do you think you made an impact?
Jenna changing as a person was far more retrospective. Watching the show has been hard but therapeutic for her. For the first time, she realized what she’s said is inappropriate and very hurtful. I’ve been lucky to have formed a relationship with her post-“Real World” and I can attest to the fact that she is working very hard to becoming a more empathetic and informed person.
That’s great! But were you worried about getting kicked off? Is there nothing in your contract that says you can’t do this?
You have to understand, having grown up radically Mormon, I wasn’t even allowed to watch MTV. It was the pinnacle of evil, stupidity and exposure. Then when I found I was being cast, it was very interesting. My good friend had submitted me, and in my [interviews], I said the only reason I would go on the show would be to talk about race, discrimination and sexuality.
Ironically enough, when I show up on the show and there’s a Mormon there, a Mormon who shared many of the discriminatory opinions that I had specifically come to fight against on the show, that fueled a fire underneath me to make sure those issue were brought to life.
Did you leak the nude photos of you, too?
No! Even with how body positive I am – I was incredibly violated by that entire experience. Ugh, and now there’s all these rumors that I want to make my way into porn. No. Look, I’ve been body shamed my entire life being Mormon. I was told my body was gross, evil, sexual. So when I finally made my break away from the religion, I made a habit of being as naked as much as I could be.
You’ll see me laughing it off, but to have someone take those photos was gross and backdoor. It’s important to think about your body as your own. And you should always have the choice of who sees it, and how they see it.
Do you have any regrets?
Yeah, but that involves me in a leather thong and it’s in a much later episode!
“The Real World: Go Big or Go Home” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
