Cast member who faked cancer leaves Real World DC, cast doing charity work

by Andy Dehnart 14 Sep. 2009 | 8:58 am

The Real World Cancun concluded last week, which means we’re looking ahead to the DC season. This video with Cancun’s Joey explaining his sexual encounter with Ayiiia pretty much adequately summarizes my abject horror at what the series has become, so by “looking ahead” I mean “waiting for another season I won’t watch.”

In Washington, while the insanity has died down, and The Washington Post’s Reliable Source even claims that the production has been “boring,” there’s been some newsworthy information about the first modern reality show’s 23rd season that’s come out of the nation’s capital recently.

Among other things, one cast member has apparently quit, and they’re actually doing charity work:

The cast actually did something other than get drunk and attempt to acquire STDs: They helped out “by turning an unusable space in Northeast D.C. into a new soccer field for a local school,” and were thanked by Serve.gov on Facebook.
Cast member Erika Lauren Wasilewski reportedly left the show. A few years ago, she pretended to have cancer to get back at an ex-boyfriend: Metromix quotes a few of her friends about the incident, while the blog Shabooty took credit for causing her to leave after first reporting her cancer story; the blog wrote, “for a singer chick like Lauren, on the Real World show, to advance her musical career, this [revelation] must have proven A NIGHTMARE.”
Cast member Ty Ruff is interning for the Capitals, and the crew filming him is sticking with the “shooting a documentary” explanation, according to The Washington Post.
There’s more charity work: “Up to five Real World cast members have been doing volunteer work for DC Vote, DCist reports.
Metro Weekly reports on the way the show’s “backdrop … is surprisingly gay.” One cast member may be working for the Human Rights Campaign, and the paper reports on the way “gay people are taking the lead in campaigns both supportive and critical of the production,” as both Anti-Real World DC‘s Adam Rosenberg and RealWorldDCNEWZ‘s Christopher Wiggins are gay. (Correction: Despite Metro Week’s still-uncorrected report, Rosenberg is actually straight.)