The Real World: San Francisco

The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of "The Real World." It aired from June 30, 1994 to November 10, 1994.

It is the second season of the series to be filmed in the Pacific States region of the United States, specifically in California after "The Real World: Los Angeles."

The season featured a total of eight cast members over the course of the season, as one cast member was evicted and replaced. This is the first of two seasons to be filmed in San Francisco. Twenty years later, the show made a return in the 29th season "The Real World: Ex-Plosion."

Casting was completed by January of 1994, by which time the cast was informed that one of their housemates would be HIV-positive, though they did not learn which one it was until the day they moved into their Russian Hill house on February 12, 1994. The cast was filmed until they moved out on June 19, 1994.

The second season is noteworthy for the depiction of Pedro Zamora's struggle with AIDS, and his and other cast members' confrontations with David "Puck" Rainey, which led to Rainey's eviction. This conflict provided considered what "Entertainment Weekly" calls emotional high points for the season and are credited with making "The Real World" a hit, for which it was ranked #7 on Time magazine's list of "32 Epic Moments in Reality-TV History."

The season is also notable for featuring the first-ever same-sex commitment ceremony on TV, between Pedro and his partner, Sean Sasser.

Season Changes

This season was the first to feature a cast member, Pedro Zamora, dealing with a life-threatening illness.

Future seasons would feature cast members dealing with other illnesses (such as Lyme disease and cystic fibrosis).

This is also the first season to feature an Asian American Pam Ling, and two Hispanic Americans, Pedro Zamora and Rachel Campos.

Residence

The cast lived in a house at 949 Lombard Street in San Francisco, California from February 12 to June 19, 1994.

The house is located between Leavenworth Street and Jones Street, located one block east of the eight sharp turns that have earned the street the distinction of being "the crookedest street in the United States."

Production renovated the third and fourth floors of the building for filming.

A June 8, 2000, fire caused approximately $2 million in damage to the house. Several years after the fire, the building was completely renovated and bears only a slight resemblance to its appearance in 1994.

The renovations include a second garage on the east side of the house, atop of which sits a patio.

Cast Members

• Cory Murphy
• Judd Winick
• Mohammed Bila
• Pam Ling
• Pedro Zamora
• Rachel Campos
• Puck Rainey (evicted in episode 11)
• Jo Rhodes (replaced Puck in episode 14)

List of Episodes

• Planes, Trains and Paddywagons (season premiere)
• Love Stinks
• White Like Me
• From a Six to a Nine and Back Again
• You Gotta Have Art
• Trouble in Paradise
• Coffee and Sympathy
• Together and Apart
• Collision Course
• Kiss and Tell
• Getting Dropped
• Rebel, Rebel
• Homecoming
• Old Fish, New Fish
• Why is Love Like an Elevator
• Love and Death
• Hawaii
• Just Friends
• Love Rules
• Last Call (season finale)

After Filming

In October of 1994, Pedro Zamora fell ill and was hospitalized in New York He was eventually flown to Miami where he was diagnosed with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (also known PML).

He received a phone call from President Bill Clinton, who thanked him for his work and helped facilitate emigration of his older brothers, who were flown to Miami from Cuba, reuniting them for the first time in 14 years.

A benefit was held to pay for his medical expenses, at which President Clinton praised Pedro. MTV began a trust in order to pay for Zamora's medical costs because he did not have any medical insurance.

On November 11, 1994 (hours after the debut airing of the season finale), Pedro died at the age of 22. The money from the benefit was used to form the Pedro Zamora Memorial Fund.

Pedro's best friend and roommate, Judd Winick, began to lecture on HIV/AIDS and safe sex for and did so for three years.

Pedro's widower, Sean Sasser, continued his activism for LGBT issues, and his work as an HIV educator. He died in August of 2013 at the age of 44 from a rare lung cancer called mesothelioma.

The 1995 reunion show "The Real World Reunion" (which assembled the casts from the first four seasons of the series) was marked by antagonism between Puck and his former castmates.

Though some members of the audience and the other seasons' casts expressed interest or fascination with Puck and his antics, his confrontation with his former roommate, Mohammed (which resulted in Puck's distancing himself from Mohammed physically) and harsh words from others on the stage such as second season cast member Irene Berrera-Kearns, led to him temporarily leaving the studio.

During his subsequent career writing comic books, Judd has explored LGBT issues, including storylines involving gay bashing, HIV & AIDS in books such as "Green Lantern and Green Arrow."

He also chronicled his friendship with Pedro in his 2000 autobiographical graphic novel, "Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss and What I Learned."

Judd and Pam, who fell in love during the vigil they kept over Pedro, got married in 2001, and as of 2008, they have two children.

Rachel Campos appeared on Road Rules: All Stars, where she met Sean Duffy of the Real World: Boston cast and eventually got married.

Rachel and Sean reside in Ashland, Wisconsin with their eight children (as of May 2016) where Sean was a District Attorney of Ashland County before being elected to Congress in 2010.

Rachel also appeared in "The Wedding Video, a 2002 spoof of The Real World written and directed by "The Real World: New York" alumnus Norman Korpi, which starred ten alumni of various "Real World" seasons.

Puck Rainey made a cameo appearance on "Road Rules: All Stars" and competed on "Battle of the Sexes" where he came into conflict with David Edwards of "The Real World: Los Angeles" and married his fiancee, Betty on-camera.

As of 2008, Puck was working as a truck driver. As of 2009, he resides in Alabama with Betty & two sons: Bogart and Rocco where he makes a living through public appearances and miscellaneous jobs.

As of 2008, Cory Murphy is a mother of two and teaches middle-school Spanish and language arts.