MTV confirms 'Real World' return to New Orleans

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MTV confirms 'Real World' return to New Orleans
January 7, 2010
Dave Walker
NOLA.com/Times-Picayune

t’s official: MTV’s “The Real World” is returning to New Orleans, scene of the reality series’ ninth season.
RealWorldNO.jpgMTVThe cast of 2000's 'The Real World: New Orleans'

According to a Thursday news release, production will begin shortly with a 12-episode season scheduled to air in summer.

The season will have a recovery theme.

“We are delighted to be returning to New Orleans for the 24th season of ‘The Real World,’” said creator and executive producer Jon Murray in the release. “Hurricane Katrina threw New Orleans for a punch, but the city is coming back and we’re hoping our cast members and the series can play a small role in the city’s rebirth.”


The series debuted in 1992 and has shot seasons in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Miami, Boston, Seattle, Hawaii, New Orleans, Chicago, Las Vegas, Paris, San Diego, Philadelphia, Austin, Key West, Denver, Sydney, Hollywood, Brooklyn, Cancun and Washington, D.C.
News of the second New Orleans season leaked late last year, but the network hadn't confirmed it until the Thursday release.

According to an MTV spokeswoman, the cast won't be officially announced until closer to the season's air date. She added that the location is not yet set -- season nine was based out of the Belfort Mansion on St. Charles -- and that production is expected to begin in about two weeks.

Update: Jim Johnston, a producer for Bunim/Murray, the Los Angeles-based production house that makes "The Real World," said in an e mail later Thursday that the season's "house" is set but its neighborhood won't be revealed "out of respect for the privacy of the residents."

Jennifer Day, director of the New Orleans Office of Film & Video, said that she has been in contact with Bunim/Murray concerning local recovery nonprofits for which the show's participants can work during their time here.

"We expect the roommates to participate in some kind of recovery effort,"Johnston said. "In returning to New Orleans we hope to see where the city has come since Katrina, and how much further it has to go."