The Real World: Chicago | |
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Season 11 | |
Starring |
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No. of episodes | 24[1] |
Release | |
Original network | MTV |
Original release | January 15 July 9, 2002 | –
Season chronology |
The Real World: Chicago is the eleventh season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. It is the first season of The Real World to be filmed in the East North Central States region of the United States, specifically in Illinois.
The season featured seven people who lived in a converted bookstore/coffeehouse in the Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, which production started from June 28 until November 3, 2001. This was also the first season in which production would start months (sometimes weeks) after wrapping the previous season allowing filming and broadcasting almost immediately unlike the usual annual season. The season premiered on January 15, 2002, and consisted of 24 episodes. This was the first of two seasons to be filmed in Chicago. Twelve years later, the show returned to the city in its thirtieth season.
The season depicted cast members dealing with learning of the September 11th attacks, although criticism was leveled at the series because the cast was actually at Wrigley Field for a photo shoot when they first learned of the event. However, contrary to rumors, the reactions seen were not staged. Producers brought a television in to the loft so the cast could see the attack footage.[2]
Bunim-Murray Productions experienced a number of problems with the production of this season, including a nearby shooting,[4] and numerous protests, vandalism, and arrests[5] by locals critical of MTV and its parent company, Viacom, and opposed to the production's perceived contribution to the neighborhood's gentrification.[6][7][8]