32 Epic Moments in Reality-TV History

MTV’s The Real World, now in its 24th season, is, as its everlasting introduction tells us, “the true story of seven 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 show has had any number of memorable moments since its 1992 debut — Stephen slapping Irene in the Seattle season, Ruthie going to rehab for alcoholism in Hawaii — but it was the show’s third season, set in San Francisco in 1994, and its cast of characters that made the series a hit. This was the season that starred <a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0xGB4Ivp8′>Pedro Zamora, who used the show as a launching pad to educate the nation about HIV/AIDS. It was a personal struggle for him as the show’s first (and only) HIV-positive, openly gay cast member. Pedro’s conflicts with his roommate — the antagonistic bicycle messenger Puck — almost caused him to move out, but it was Puck instead who left the house. Pedro passed away surrounded by members of his Cuban family and a few cast members just hours after the season finale aired. After his death, then President Bill Clinton praised his efforts to bring awareness and understanding to the HIV/AIDS cause.