"The Real World"'s Melissa Howard

To track down most former college classmates, a person usually must become a pseudo private investigator, making a series of phone calls and searching high and low on the Internet. But to find Melissa Howard, a 1999 graduate of University of South Florida, classmates can simply flick on MTV at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Howard, 23, who grew up in Tampa, can currently be found gallivanting through New Orleans as a cast member of the network's wildly popular reality-based show, The Real World.

After sending in a 10-minute audition tape last September and surviving six interviews, she was plucked from a pool of 35,221 applicants from around the country.

"I play the lotto now," Howard joked during a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "It's insane."

Howard spent Jan. 21 through May 28 living with six strangers in Belfort, a mansion located in the Big Easy's Garden District. MTV taped 2,000 hours of footage and then edited down to 22 half-hour episodes.

So far Howard has been framed as the house wild child, outspoken and fixated on her biracial identity. (She is half-black, half-Filipino.) Since the show premiered on June 13, the scene-stealer has been shown drinking, dancing, dating, fighting and stripping.

Howard has been featured in Rolling Stone, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. Through an appearance on the Craig Kilborn Show, she landed a production job on the Jamie Foxx Show. She is currently attending The Groundlings Comedy School in Los Angeles.

The Oracle recently spoke with The Real World's Melissa Howard. Here's what she had to say about her experience:

Why did you want to be on The Real World?

MH: I had graduated from USF and was working as a legal assistant in a law firm. I got to a point where I reached an impasse. I was unhappy and had a very limited social life. I needed to do something dramatic in my life. I was in my apartment watching MTV and saw an announcement last September about how to apply. I made a 10-minute tape and sent it in.

What was The Real World experience like?

To be honest, filming was very easy. I became totally accustomed to the cameras after a few days. The hardest part is watching the editors create what they think is a good story. There is so much to be manipulated.

What do you think of the editing process?

I get the tape the day before the episode appears. I watch them in private, and I watch them only one time. Some days I think the world of the show. Other times I'm kind of upset with this tragic mulatto stereotype they have me fulfilling. The Real World is a TV show with directors and producers and they've made it seem like I'm racially fixated, but I'm comfortable in my skin. The character building of me as a wishy-washy biracial girl presents a very unbalanced perception of who I am. People approach me on the street and they think they know me from the 22 minutes they see on TV. MTV plays with time and context. They remove time lapses. The episode in which I fight with David they make it look like we made up in two days. David and I didn't talk for a month.

Are you glad you did the show?

I change my mind a lot.

So far, what has been the best thing about doing The Real World?

I get fan mail from biracial people from around the world. A 13-year-old girl named Laura, who is half-black and half-Japanese, wrote me. She wrote me saying that people make fun of her and call her names. She thanked me for saying that it's OK to feel weird at times. I responded to her and told her to seek out her individualism. As much as I want to shoot myself in the foot for some of the things I said on the show, the fact that I touched her life makes it all worth it.

What's it like watching yourself on TV?

It's not easy. It's like having a train wreck and watching yourself go through it. Sometimes I laugh out loud at the things I said. Sometimes I'm really bitter, sometimes I'm really happy and sometimes I don't care. The whole experience is a double-edged sword. It has given me opportunities and exposure, but the bad part is that when I'm 30 I'll have to answer to things I said when I was 23.

What's your take on the reality-based TV boom?

In light of Survivor and Big Brother, MTV has run and re-run the hell out The Real World shows so far. Reality TV is a way for people to be voyeuristic because people don't pay attention to other people anymore. They pay attention to work and material things. I love Big Brother, only because it's not me. I want to be known as more than Real World Melissa. I don't want to be washed up at 23. In America, we churn out and churn out things until it gets so old. I think in a few years there will be Reality TV Anonymous self-help groups. Hi my name's Melissa, and I'm a victim of The Real World.

Producers of the show have focused on your love life. Are you dating now?

I'm desperately single. I'm scared. Who the (expletive) would date me now? I get a lot more attention now, but I'm wary of it. I could be famous for masturbating with goats, and guys just want to hook-up just because I'm famous.

What were your college days like at USF?

I had a commuter college experience. I didn't party. I worked 40 hours a week at a business in customer service. I was on scholarship, so I went to college full-time. Between homework and boyfriends, I didn't have time to pursue the things I wanted to. I went to New World Brewery in Ybor every Wednesday.

Some people have attacked you for criticizing Tampa on the show. How do you really feel about your hometown?

I didn't mean to dis Tampa. I love my hometown, but for me Tampa is not a place I'd like to settle down. There are inaccuracies of quotes on the MTV Web site. I actually have spoken with people at MTV.com about taking it off because I'd like to walk through my hometown in peace.

So how does it feel to be famous?

It's a weird thing to put your life on TV. I didn?t come up with a cure for cancer; I'm just a regular person. I'm not on elevated status. I don't let it get to my head. Fame is fleeting.