Hey, Sarah Becker! What are you going to do now that you’re no longer on MTV’s “The Real World”?
Visit Disneyland? Star in a movie version of “The Real World”? Plan a reunion with your former roomies?
Uh, not quite.
After six months of living with strangers in front of a camera, Sarah was more than ready to get back to the real real world. For her, that’s La Jolla, Calif., where she lives and works as the editor of a Gen-X animated magazine.
“For me, `The Real World’ was a six-month long vacation,” she told us in a phone chat. “I knew from the get-go that it couldn’t be a steppingstone to bigger and better things.
“I want my own magazine some day, and I don’t think Sarah from `The Real World’ is going to have anything to do with that.”
She found her 15 minutes of fame rough going. “I kind of liked being anonymous. Now I go into a place and people recognize me and say, `Hey, “Real World” girl!’ So when I go out I sometimes wear a hood.”
Now, hold on.
If she dislikes the attention, why did she want to be on the show? She didn’t. It was her then-roommate who was gung-ho. Sarah applied as a joke. She had a friend videotape her “cutting on” how “Real” cast members are picked: “for their looks and what they’ve done.” Then she sent the tape in. The producers loved it and asked her to be on the show.
Sarah thought long and hard — until about five days before shooting began — before agreeing. “I did it for kicks,” she confessed. “I had reservations because I couldn’t see myself schmoozing people who’d do anything to get in front of a camera.”
A little afraid?
Yep, she was a little afraid of being sidetracked by fleeting fame. “It’s important to me that people judge me for my ability and skills, not for being a face on a T-shirt.”
Still, Sarah said the experience “was a blast. And I learned that I’m pretty happy about who I am.”
An added bonus are the friends she found in “Real World” pals Mike and Cynthia. “Mike’s awesome, really funny. And I love Cynthia. I was just talking on the phone with her and we were saying how being on the show was like going on a bus ride. You get on and go for a ride. And it’s a great time. But when you get off, you have to find your own way home.”
