The latest Real World/Road Rules Challenge is afoot on MTV. This time its the Gauntlet 2. The setting is the Caribean island of Tobago with a pirate theme. I perceive MTV is trying very hard to make it seem like Survivor.
After the usual competition to choose team captains, the real drama happens in the last 5 minutes of the episode. The cast does what any group of publicity seakers do. They get drunk and have sex with each other. This is nothing unusual because it seems to happen on every RW/RR Challenge.
Jo, who appeared on the Real World San Francisco gets very upset at the activites of her fellow costars. She freaked out; called home; and went in to get her bags. Ruthie, yes Ruthie – the same person who practicially drank herself to death on Real World Hawaii – tries to reason with Jo on why she is so upset. Jo refuses to talk to Ruthie because she feels she doesn’t have to give a reason for leaving. In true BMP style the episode ends with a cliffhanger, with the next episode showing Jo calling the police.
What the cast members and many viewers don’t understand is that a large part of the Real World San Francisco focused on Jo’s restraining order against her ex-husband. Obviously she has had substantial conflict with an ex-lover which might have even turned violent. No wonder she has negative feelings toward the mix of sex and drunkeness which was exhibited in the house that night. Jo should have never showed up to this Gauntlet.
The sad thing is that I indentify with Jo. Maybe we all have at one point in our lives. I’ve wanted to leave perceived hostile situations before. The thing is that it is perceived to be hostile. Perception and reality is much much different. Others might have wanted to help Jo, but they just didn’t know how to handle it. They don’t know her background. As Timmy put it, “I don’t know Jo from a ham sandwich.” And so we see that ignorance and drunken orgies rule the Gauntlet.