From Danny Roberts to Pedro Zamora, A Look At Five Favorite Queers of MTV’s The Real World Franchise

This April 20th, also known as 4/20, people everywhere will be celebrating one thing: The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans. Wait, what did you think I was talking about? Premiering on Paramount+ at the end of the month, the cast of Real World: New Orleans comes back together in the city they lived in back in 2000.

When the season premiered, I was 14 years-old. Decidedly mid-puberty and borderline blacking out from horniness, one cast member in particular held my gaze in a way I hadn’t felt before: Danny Roberts. Though I had early gay crushes, Danny was the first time I was VERY attracted to another man. With that in mind, I wanted to do a look back at some of the great Queer RW cast members from over the years.

DANNY ROBERTS

Let’s start with the man himself, Danny Roberts. Originally from Rockmart, GA this unbearably sexy blonde won our hearts over when he joined the cast of The Real World: New Orleans. Not only was Danny openly gay on the show, but he was also in a relationship at the time, which he very comfortably talked about. What made his relationship so unique is that the man he was dating, Paul Dill, was an active-service member of the military at a time when you could be dishonorably discharged for being gay. As a reminder for our younger readers, you could still be dishonorably discharged from the military for being gay until the end of 2011, when then-President Obama repealed the Clinton era law. In 2000 alone, around 1,200 servicemen and women were discharged for being gay. When Dill came to visit, the producers made sure to blur his face so that he would not face the same consequences as so many others. Danny was not only incredibly sexy, but he was also incredibly calm and rational. He was decidedly the voice of reason on a show that famously leads to dramatic spats and screaming matches. After the show, Danny exploded on the pop culture scene with interviews, magazine covers, and  guest roles on Noah's Arc and Dawson's Creek. In 2013 Roberts married Wes Pereira with whom he would adopt a child. The two divorced in 2018, but remain co-parents of their child. In 2018, Danny also came out as living with HIV, which surely will be a story on this new Real World: New Orleans.

PEDRO ZAMORA

Speaking of the Clinton Era and HIV, there were few gay men more impactful on The Real World—as well as the actual real world—than Pedro Zamora from 1993’s Real World: San Francisco. Born in Havana, Cuba, Pedro was gay, gorgeous, HIV+, and very public about his identity, his HIV status, and his relationship with partner Sean Sasser, who he met at the Gay and Lesbian March on Washington. For years before he was on the show, Zamora was an HIV activist and educator. This was because he was diagnosed at the young age of 17, which he found out after donating blood at a Red Cross drive. (As a side-note: fuck the Red Cross and their homophobic-ass policies.) Shortly before appearing on the show, Zamora even testified in front of Congress in advocacy of better and more-comprehensive educational programs, particularly for those American’s who don’t speak English as their primary language. His activism and his relationship with Sassner (who he married in 1994 in the first televised gay wedding in history) were so public because of The Real World, that then-President Bill Clinton credited him with changing the public discourse on gays in America, as well as the discussions on the AIDS epidemic. Zamora unfortunately passed away from AIDS-related complications on November 11, 1994, literal hours after the final episode of his season premiered, but not before President Clinton called him to thank him for his work. He was only 22 at the time. After Zamora’s death, President Clinton also appointed his husband to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

GENESIS MOSS

As an avid lover of the American Revolution, I have always had a low-key obsession with Boston. Anyone who knows Boston well also knows that its citizens have a reputation for being unapologetically direct, but it also has quite the reputation for being a fairly homophobic city. Which is why Genesis Moss was such a badass to me when she appeared on The Real World: Boston in 1997. Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, Moss is drop-dead gorgeous, and if one didn’t know any better they may think she is simply a fair and soft-spoken Southern Belle. What quickly became apparent to anyone watching was that she was anything but soft-spoken. Genesis owned who she was and didn’t take bullshit about it; she always said what was on her mind. "When I open my mouth, most people are shocked to know that I speak my mind clearly, don't take any shit, and I am very much a liberal," she once said. If that doesn’t embody the Boston attitude, I don’t know what does! For years before she appeared on The Real World, Moss lived with her girlfriend Tammy, a fact she was not shy about. Moss married her now-wife Paige at a wedding that included castmate Elka as the witness to the ceremony, and the two live in Orlando now where Genesis is a web-designer.

RUTHIE ALCAIDE

New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston… ugh, they’re all so landlocked! America needed an island version of The Real World, which is why 1999’s The Real World: Hawaii was such a welcomed locale. That season we were introduced to party girl Ruthie Alcaide. A local to Hawaii, Ruthie was a triplet who was raised in a very strict Filipino family. Decidedly Queer, but a loather of labels, Ruthie has said she does not like being called straight, gay, or bisexual, saying, "Just call me Ruthie." She was a drinker, a dancer, and at times a shatterer of glasses. Many people ease into the series before finally letting loose as the season goes on (think Julie, the now-former Mormon from Real World: New Orleans), but Ruthie dove in headfirst on the very first episode when she drank so much the cast needed to call the paramedics. If there’s one thing many gays know it's experiencing a very messy 20s. Ruthie perhaps leaned in a bit too much to that leading to her castmates having an intervention after she drove home drunk one night. Facing the potential of being evicted, Ruthie went to rehab, and was able to rejoin the show once she completed it. The drama! Alcaide would go on to be one of the staples of the franchises, appearing in Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Sexes 2, All Stars, The Gauntlet 2, and The Duel II. Not only that, but following her stint in rehab/the show, Alcaide toured schools talking about her experiences with alcohol, even appearing in alcohol awareness PSAs on the Armed Forces Network.

DAN RENZI

I must have a thing for Dans, because Dan Renzi from The Real World: Miami was also an early crush for me. Not in the same primal urge sense as Danny Roberts, but I have vivid memories of being struck at how incredibly beautiful Dan Renzi was on his season. Born in Kansas, Renzi had a jawline that could cut glass, lips that I wanted to kiss for hours, and eyes that seemed to cut into my still evolving sexuality. He was absolutely beautiful, and always gave me major “French model” vibes, which ended up being an a very on-point first impression. On the fourth episode of The Real World: Miami, Renzi was discovered by a talent agent and found himself hired as a runway model for Armani, a show his housemates would support and attend! Gays love a dramatic moment, and Dan was not afraid of one. He got into a notoriously explosive argument with housemate Melissa (below), which garnered him a nomination for “Best Meltdown” on MTV’s The Real World Awards Bash. After the show, Renzi continued his affinity for the world of modeling, becoming a model scout for a Chicago-based agency. Gays love being multi-hyphenates, and Renzi is no exception to that. In addition to working in modeling, Renzi became a field researcher with the Los Angeles Department of Epidemiology, director of AIDS/HIV program at the Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Center, and is now a Registered Nurse where he was on the frontlines of the Pandemic.

Are you planning on watching The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans? I decidedly am, and I can’t wait to see who has changed how, and what everyone has gotten into. Will tensions flare again? Tune in on 4/20 to find out!

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