Real World creator: diversity “almost requires having a gay or lesbian just as it requires having a black or Latino person.
The Real World has always been accused of casting to fit certain roles or even stereotypes, and co-creator Jonathan Murray admits as much in this week’s Advocate cover story, which focuses on gay and lesbian people on reality TV shows. Murray says the concept for the show involved “putting seven diverse people in a house,” and that diversity “almost requires having a gay or lesbian just as it requires having a black or Latino person.” Other revelations in the article: There’s “a rumored lesbian yet to be revealed” on Survivor Marquesas; The Real World Chicago‘s Chris from says he “had no idea they could record from [the] cameras” that captured Kurt and Chris making out; Mark Burnett didn’t want to cast Brandon for Survivor Africa because he “didn’t think I would last,” Brandon says, but CBS’ president Les Moonves “really enjoyed” Brandon’s discussion of “[two previous Survivor contestants] who were obviously gay but pretended not to be….”); and Brandon says 10 percent of his fan mail is “die-fag-die”-type letters.