A concert-like crowd of Real World fans rushed the doorway for a meet-and-greet session with real cast members.
Karamo from the summer’s Philadelphia Real World and Cameran from Real World: San Diego visited students at Temple Oct. 4. The overwhelming response from students seeking autographs far outnumbered the cast-mates stock of photos.
“I was impressed that they got some celebrity or supposed to be celebrity to come. I didn’t think that they were gonna have celebrities come here,” Freshman Erica Forby says. Forby was one of at least 400 students attending the event.
“I was really surprised,” said Junior and long-time viewer, Mike Maldanode. “I watch the Real World everyday for at least an hour at 11 o’ clock when it comes on late at night.”
The long lines were evenly split as many fans, including Maldanode, specifically came to see either Cameran or Karamo.
“I really wanted to meet Karamo, just to see his personality, how he interacted with just regular people because I know he was on that show,” said one female student. “I just wanted to see how he really was. He seems very nice, especially compared to everything that was going on right now. He wasn’t rude at all. He gladly signed autographs and took pictures when everybody asked.”
The large crowd of adoring fans didn’t scare away Cameran and Karamo. They actually stayed until 9:15 p.m. to sign autographs for everyone waiting in line, even though the event was scheduled to end at 9 p.m.
Karamo and Cameran didn’t want to let down fans who waited in long lines for an autograph. “At university campuses, there are a lot of crowds, pretty large crowds,” Karamo said. “I have seen crowds like this,” Cameran said with a laugh.
Friendships have developed from the Real World that Cameran says she’s been keeping in touch with the majority of her cast mates, except for Frankie.
“I keep in touch with all of them except for Frankie. She never calls,” Cameran said. “The rest of them I see almost every week. We travel together. So yeah, we’re real close.” Karamo enjoyed the city despite some of the problems he and the cast encountered.
“I loved Philly. Philly was a great place,” said Karamo. “I mean there were good times and bad times, but I would come back here any day.”
Karamo squashed rumors of scenes being re-enacted for television, referring to a fight that ensued in Old City.
“No. Never any truth [to those rumors],” Karamo explained. “And any fight like that never really involved us. It was always somebody around us like somebody who was acting stupid who would fight. It would never involve me or any of my roommates.”
Students said the chaotic event should have been more organized.
“There’s a lot of people here. It’s a little unorganized considering there’s no line, but I expected more,” freshman Mary Champion said.
Alan Gung can be reached at agung@temple.edu.
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