Mtv’s ‘The Real World’ Debuts Unlikely Roommates

Nestled on a quiet cobblestone street in Boston’s tony Beacon Hill neighborhood, a former firehouse has been converted into a funky condominium.

Inside the dream dwelling, seven young people - strangers tossed together under a common roof - are living television’s version of reality.

The roommates were brought together nearly six months ago by the producers of MTV’s “The Real World,” the network’s reality-based soap opera, now in its sixth season.

And, as usual, these housemates, who make their debut at 10 tonight, add up to an unlikely group.

Elka, 19, of Brownsville, Texas, was raised with strict Catholic values and announces on Day One that she is leery of Genesis, 20, an outspoken lesbian from Gulfport, Miss., who acts like a Southern belle.

Montana, 21, originally of San Diego, describes herself as confrontational, while Jason, 24, who hails from Boulder, Colo., says he expresses himself through writing.

Syrus, 25, is black and proud of it. “I love being black. If I wasn’t black, I wouldn’t be Syrus,” he says. Then there’s Sean, a 25-year-old lumberjack from Hayward, Wis., who spends his time rolling logs and climbing trees when he’s not in law school.

Kameelah, 19, a sassy, outspoken girl, went to study at Stanford University after being homeless.

The producers hope their clashing personalities continue to make for good TV.

“That’s where the story comes from, because normally we don’t live together with people who are different from us,” says Jonathan Murray, the series’ executive producer and co-creator.

“If we’re white, we live with white people and, if we’re black, we live with black people. If you’re straight, you live with straight people, so it’s an unusual situation where you bring all the elements of America into one place,” he says.

After an exhaustive casting process, Murray and his partner Mary-Ellis Bunim chose the lucky seven.

For the past six months, nearly every movement they made, every word they spoke, was captured on tape.

In the season opener, the roommates argue over who will sleep where, discuss who gives off “bad vibes” and talk about their religious views.

The cast volunteered at a children’s after-school program, and some housemates took jobs at bars, boutiques and breweries to pay for utilities and other expenses. MTV picked up the tab for rent.

For the Boston shoot, the producers, directors, technicians, cameramen and an assortment of other crew members camped out in the windowless, stuffy basement of the firehouse, affectionately known as the “Bat Cave.”

The crew watched a row of monitors waiting for a dramatic moment that would send a cameraman running up a back staircase into the house to film.

Whenever a cast member went out, they’d reach for the “Bat Phone,” to ring in the control room. Their destination would be logged and a cameraman dispatched to follow them.

Upstairs, the apartment was adorned with a red-and-gold striped couch, green chairs and orange, green and blue walls. There was a soda fountain-style counter surrounded by stools in the kitchen, a pool table on an upper level, a fire pole, and firemen’s jackets hanging on the wall. The housemates shared bedrooms, bathrooms and telephones.

Most cast members asked not to have their last names used in print, feeling that they’ve already given up much of their privacy.

“What was most remarkable to me is that it was constant,” Kameelah said after the show wrapped. “That’s what I would drive home to anyone who ever thought of applying. You’re not just dealing with your own dramas, but the dramas of six other people.”

Many of the cast members said they planned to keep in touch after they resume their normal lives.

“There are so many different people in this world that we close ourselves off to because they’re not like us, they’re not in our secure group,” Sean said. “I was forced to live with them and interact with them, and I ended up liking them a lot.”