‘The Real World: New York’: Who Was the First Person Cast on Season 1 of the Show?
The Real World: New York cast finally share which roommate was the first person producers snagged to appear on the MTV series.
The cast does not seem to be very surprised when Julie Gentry shared that she was the first roommate recruited for the seminal series. “Who do you all think was the first person cast?” Heather B. Gardner queried the former roommates during the latest episode of The Real World Homecoming: New York. Becky Blasband believed it was Gentry, but Andre Comeau thought MTV signed Eric Nies. Nies was an up-and-coming model and actor at the time.
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Gentry said she knew “who was the first person” to join the cast. “Me!” she exclaimed when the roommates demanded an answer. Gentry, who was sandwiched on the couch between Norman Korpi and Gardner clinked their glasses to toast to her answer.
“And I really think they picked seven people who were already on the road to success,” Gentry added. However, Blasband insisted she wasn’t on “any road to success.” Blasband was a musician at the time, playing original acoustic songs in coffee houses and small clubs. “I was just experimenting,” Blasband added.
The roommates disagreed with Blasband. “Becky!” Korpi said. “You had John Lennon in your goddamn ear what are you talking about!”
Wait. John Lennon?
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Before the cast launched into this discussion, Blasband revealed that the spirit of John Lennon had followed her to the loft and was present during the 1992 filming of the show. She initially conjured the iconic musician during college when she and friends played with a Ouji board.
But then, “He basically showed up again a couple of years later and said I’m going to teach you a few things about songwriting,” she shared to the seemingly freaked out roommates.
Gardner then demanded to know if Lennon was currently in the loft as she started to sage the place. Blasband said Lennon was not filming today but he was with her when they filmed in 1992. “Every now and then, he would drop in and I would know,” she said. “And I was very, very proud of the experience and was honored.”
“Yeah, he left in 2002,” she remarked. “He wrote me a little song thanking me and expressing his love. And I haven’t come out with it because, you know, I’m shy.” Some of the cast members remained skeptical. “Not only do I not believe in ghosts, I don’t think that John Lennon’s ghost would have anything to do with you, Becky!” Andre Comeau said in a confessional.
But Nies believed that Blasband shared a connection with Lennon. He said he had his own experiences with the spirit world and loved Blasband’s story.
The Real World Homecoming: New York is on Paramount + with new episodes every Thursday.
