| Season Number: | 6 |
| Num Episodes: | 23 |
| Network: | MTV |
| Prev Season: | The Real World: Miami |
| Next Season: | The Real World: Seattle |
The Real World: Boston is the sixth season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. It is the only season of The Real World to be filmed in the New England region of the United States, specifically in Massachusetts.
The season featured seven people who lived in a converted historic firehouse at 127 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, which is located right off of Charles Street and was also used in the television series . The season premiered on July 15, 1997 and consisted of 23 episodes.[1]
Almost every season of The Real World, beginning with its fifth season, has included the assignment of a season-long group job or task to the housemates. The Boston cast worked with children at an after-school program in East Boston. Some of the cast worry they will not get along with youngsters or like the job, but in the end they all enjoy it. Montana, however, was fired from the job as a result of allegations involving alcohol and has to find another way to volunteer, since she is required to volunteer for 20 hours a week by contract while she is in Boston. Kameelah and Elka also get into trouble for an argument they have, within earshot of the children, stemming from Kameelah's anger towards Elka for discussing what she believes was a sexual interlude that Kameelah had at the house. At the end of the season, Syrus becomes emotional when he talks about how he will miss the children.
The cast lived in a 2500square feet converted firehouse at 127 Mt. Vernon Street in Beacon Hill, a 19th-century downtown Boston residential neighborhood. During filming, the Firehouse, which originally housed the Safety Inspectors for the Boston Fire Department, featured two double bedrooms and one triple bedroom. The Control Room was located in the basement. The Firehouse had previously been seen as the home of Spenser on the 1980s TV series . It is currently occupied by Hill House, a non-profit community center.[2]
| Cast member | Age | Hometown | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elka Walker | 19[3] | Brownsville, Texas | |
| Elka is a Mexican American who comes from a well-to-do background with conservative values. She says in the casting special that she doesn't know many gay or lesbian people (aside from a gay male couple who ran a restaurant in her hometown), and wasn't sure how she would feel if one of the roommates was gay. She is still struggling with her mother's death from cancer. Before she leaves for Boston, Elka's father requires her to sign a contract saying she will not smoke, do drugs, or have premarital sex while in Boston. She is later filmed having a cigarette. She gets her eyebrow pierced against her father's wishes, and she finally stands up for herself against his controlling ways in a tear-filled phone conversation later in the season. Kameelah suspects that her father is controlling of her because he is still in mourning over the recent death of her mother. Her boyfriend, Walter, visits from Ireland. The housemates expect she will have sex with him, but Elka insists she is a virgin and will stay that way until marriage. | |||
| Jason Cornwell[4] | 24[5] | Boulder, Colorado | |
| Jason is a poet with a girlfriend named Timber. The relationship is tumultuous and Timber shows signs of bipolar disorder, and Genesis expresses displeasure at how Jason talks to Timber. Jason is not faithful to her in Boston. | |||
| Montana McGlynn | 21 | Manhattan, New York | |
| Named for a character in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five, Montana is an atheist, fond of science, and an ardent feminist. She is committed to her boyfriend, Vaj, but he later discovers she is seeing other men while in Boston. He later breaks up with her by sending her a page. While she is surprised by this, her housemates are not. Later, she is fired from her volunteer job for allowing children to take sips of alcohol while on a field trip, which the children corroborate, despite Montana's denials. She subsequently seeks out other volunteer work. | |||
| Genesis Moss | 20 | Gulfport, Mississippi | |
| Genesis is a lesbian with a troubled past and says that during her childhood, she sometimes lacked basics like food. She has a long-distance lover. She becomes friends with a gay drag queen named Adam and spends a lot of time dancing/partying at a gay club. She is in tears when a child at the daycare center says that she hates gay people. Kameelah explains to the child that it's wrong to hate gay people. | |||
| Sean Duffy | 25 | Hayward, Wisconsin | |
| Sean is a conservative Republican and an aspiring lawyer who competes in lumberjack competitions. He often clashes with the liberal-minded Kameelah. He later says he feels for Genesis because she is so hard on herself. | |||
| Kameelah Phillips | 19 | San Diego, California | |
| Kameelah is a student at Stanford University. Like Montana, she never knew her father. She tells her mother that she is not having sex, but the housemates hear what sounds to them like Kameelah and a man having sex in the house. She threatens to "knock out" Elka in an argument at the daycare, for which she and Elka are both reprimanded. | |||
| Syrus Yarbrough | 25 | Santa Monica, California | |
| Syrus is named after the Egyptian god Osiris and is an African American. Syrus gets in trouble for dating a mother of one of the youngsters. The director tells Syrus to cease this immediately. Syrus acknowledges this, but keeps dating the mother a little while longer. | |||
This was the first season where a special preshow episode was also aired, documenting the months-long casting process.[6]
At the 2008 The Real World Awards Bash, Jason received a nomination in the "Hottest Male" category, Montana was in the running for "Best Phonecall Gone Bad", and Syrus for "Biggest Playa".[7] [8]
After meeting her on , Sean Duffy married Rachel Campos of , with whom he has nine children.[9] [10] He became district attorney for Ashland County, Wisconsin, and was elected to Congress in 2010.[11] [12] [13] Due to their ninth baby's anticipated health complications, Duffy announced that he was resigning from Congress, in order to focus his time and attention on his family.[14]
Syrus Yarbrough was featured in Eminem's video for "Without Me" in 2002 along with other Real World alumni Julie Stoffer and David "Puck" Rainey. He also appeared in the international film, Reservation.[15] Yarbrough welcomed his first daughter on February 10, 2023.[16]
Montana is an acupuncturist working in Encino, California.[17]
This is the first season of The Real World whose entire cast has at one time or another competed in MTV's spin-off reality series The Real World/Road Rules Challenge.
| Elka Walker | Battle of the Seasons (2002), The Gauntlet | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Cornwell | Challenge | ||
| Montana McGlynn | Challenge, The Gauntlet, The Gauntlet 2 | ||
| Genesis Moss | Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Sexes 2 | ||
| Sean Duffy | , Battle of the Seasons (2002) | ||
| Kameelah Phillips | Extreme Challenge | ||
| Syrus Yarbrough | Extreme Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, The Inferno, The Gauntlet 2, The Ruins | The Challenge: All Stars (season 1), The Challenge: All Stars (season 3), The Challenge: All Stars (season 4) |