In Season 20, MTV and its viewers chose Greg Halstead. This time around, John Lose and Katie Dipuppo hope it's their turn to "stop being polite and start getting real."
Lose and Dipuppo are competing with thousands of others to become the one person Internet users vote onto Season 22 of "The Real World."
While the seven "Real World" cast members, who live under one roof for several months and have their lives broadcast on TV, used to be picked by MTV alone, the show's 20th season brought online casting to the process. The Internet users' pick for Season 21 has yet to be revealed, since the season hasn't aired yet, but online casting for Season 22 is already underway.
Online casting allows viewers to select one castmate, while MTV picks the remaining six. Over the course of approximately two months, Internet users vote for their favorite potential roommate at RealWorldCasting.MTV.com and the contestant with the most votes gets a spot on the show.
Lose, a senior mechanical engineering major at the university, says he wants to be on "The Real World" to get a unique experience and to show people a different kind of character - a Christian.
"When I watch MTV, it's always the same characters," Lose says. "I don't see a lot of good decisions being made - not that I want to be everyone's role model. I'm a Christian guy and I want to show that."
If he wins, Lose hopes the roommates would ask questions so he could share his faith with them that way.
In case he isn't the chosen one, Lose also plans to audition for "Real World" producers in Washington, D.C. Producers hold meet-and-greets by appointment in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Miami and Minneapolis, the Web site states.
Unlike Lose, Dipuppo, a Kutztown University junior, played no role in becoming a contestant - her housemates signed her up online and created a profile without her knowledge.
"It was always a joke between my friends and I, because I'd always do anything," Dipuppo says. "I really just laughed when I found out. That's the way my friends are and I don't expect anything less."
Now faced with the possibility of being on the show, Dipuppo is all for it.
This "do anything" attitude is what Dipuppo, whose nickname is "Poop," says would make her a good choice.
"I just think I'd be really entertaining to watch," she says. "I'm obnoxious but really nice."
If picked, both Lose and Dipuppo say they would take a semester off, but ultimately return to school.
Before getting too excited about the possibility of being on "The Real World," Lose and Dipuppo must survive the casting cuts. Online casting for Season 22 began Oct. 8 and ends Dec. 10, according to the casting Web site.
Online hopefuls must make it through four rounds before one is officially dubbed "the seventh roommate." The first round is called "meet and greet" and lasts until 9 p.m. today with the top 50 percent moving on to the next round.
"I looked, and I should have enough votes to get past round one," Lose says.
As of Monday, Lose had 139 votes and Dipuppo had 269 votes. The leader, username "brittanyrae437," had 29,859. On the casting site, Lose is known as "Jerseyjohn" and Dipuppo is "poopstaa."
Round two begins tomorrow and lasts until 9 p.m. on Nov. 23, and only the top 50 make it through. In this round - called "narrowing it down" - contestants have to write a blog on their worst fear and upload two new videos, one detailing career goals and one about a special skill.
Lose says his blog would be about his fear of succumbing to temptation.
The 50 surviving candidates move on to round three, where they participate in a phone interview with the show's producers. Based on these interviews, producers select five people to move on to round four - "the move-in" round. Producers also pick five "wild cards" to compete in this fourth and final round, leaving 10 total finalists.
Wild cards can be selected from any round, so Lose and Dipuppo still have a chance even if they don't make it past round one, the Web site states.
The contestant with the highest number of votes in round four receives a spot in the "Real World" house.
The first person to be voted onto the show by this process was Greg Halstead during the 20th season, "The Real World: Hollywood." Halstead clashed with roommates by referring to women as "acquaintances" and other people as "peasants."
While Lose and Dipuppo acknowledge that MTV picks people who clash with others, both say they wouldn't be the person constantly quarreling.
"It would take something weird," Lose says, "like someone eating my food after I put a Post-it on it."
Junior Kathryn McIntosh, an occasional "Real World" viewer, agrees that MTV looks for certain personalities.
"I think that's the selling point," McIntosh says. " 'I confront people, I fight people, I would do anything.' That kind of person is the one they're looking for."
McIntosh says it would be interesting if they placed Lose on the show, not only because he's from the university, but because he could encounter someone else with conflicting beliefs.
"I hope that the person from Delaware gets on there," she says. "That'd be fun to watch."
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