Real World hits D.C.: long-running series makes volunteering a reality.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"This is the true story ... of eight strangers ... picked to live in a house ... work together and have their lives taped ... to find out what happens ... when people stop being polite ... and start getting real ... The Real World."

For 23 seasons, each episode of The Real World began with virtually the same opening, breaking ground as one of the original "life in a fishbowl" series. A group of young adults were lumped into a fancy apartment or house and filmed 24/7.

The longest running program in MTV's history, The Real World D.C. spent this past summer filming in Washington, D.C., and cast members got involved with a number of charities during their stay in the nation's capital. The 23rd season of Real World premiered Dec. 30. "Obviously, coming to D.C., the intent on all their minds was to do something in terms of volunteering and we expected them to be taking part in that," said Jim Johnston, executive producer of Real World D.C.

"You've got to be confident of who you are as an organization to let camera crews in," Johnston said. "A lot of people are worried, 'What's the glare of the camera going to see?' Organizations have to be confident about who they are and what their goals are," he said.

In light of some Real World seasons devolving into one episode after another of debauchery and hot tub hook-ups, the potential exposure for a nonprofit on the show--positive or negative--was taken into the final calculation by many of the organizations.

"It's The Real World, and we obviously have to be a little concerned about some of the past episodes," said Andria Hollis, program director at Kid Power Inc. "If you examine some of the other shows, there's definitely some alcohol and sex and all those things that we don't choose our youth to be associated with," she said.

"We decided if we were going to have some involvement, we wanted to make sure whomever volunteered with us was a genuine, standup person," Hollis said, leading to an extensive interview with cast member Emily. "We chose really small, contained projects to do and it worked out really well for us. We're a small nonprofit, we could benefit from positive publicity as long as we were careful," she said.

Abby Levine, program manager for DC Vote, said most Americans don't know that Washington, D.C., does not have voting rights in Congress. "In the final calculation, the exposure they would give this issue ... was worth it," she said.