Reality check

 

Bucks County’s Svetlana Shusterman says sometimes the Real World can be really deceiving

 

By Joe Student

Philly EDGE Editor

 

Svetlana Shusterman has a confession to make to viewers who have been watching her on The Real World: Key West since the February debut of the latest version of MTV’s landmark reality show.

It’s not really her that they are seeing.

And what of the constant drama she encounters, the confrontational situations she seems to create, the flirting between her and a male roommate?

All, she says, are byproducts of editing by the show’s post-production staff, and not indicators of her true personality.

“Hopefully people know (the show is) heavily edited… One percent of what was filmed in the house makes it on to the show,” Shusterman, 20, of Richboro, said while on the way to a promotion at a club in Maryland earlier this month. “I know why (producers) do it, but I hope people who see me in public don’t judge me based on what they see (on the show).”

Since 1992, MTV has filmed 17 seasons of The Real World, each of which has brought seven 20-somethings together in a house to “have their lives taped, and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.”  That “getting real” often means heated arguments, soap opera-worthy revelations and steamy interpersonal relationships.

Shusterman, who is contractually bound to not discuss details of future Real World shows, says she was reprimanded by producers after earlier interviews she gave addressed the status of her relationship with her boyfriend Martin, and may have inferred that she would not be having another relationship on the show.

“I get so tired of people asking me if I slept with John,” she said of the perceived connection between her and housemate John Devenanzio. “People who know me, know that I would never fall for a guy like John. But that’s what the cameras (show), so they believe it.”

As of this writing, Shusterman has been involved in several dramas in the show’s dozen-plus episodes. Among them have been spats over the management of the housemates’ tanning business and housemates’ teasing her that her relationship with Martin would end as a result of the Real World gig, all of which was captured by the cameras while the show filmed in fall of 2005.

Though she says she now misses the interaction with her housemates, Shusterman felt much differently as cameras were recording her every move, all the time.

“I hated Key West while I was there. I had a hard time adjusting. It was so different for me than anything else I’d ever done…I missed (Philadelphia),” she said. “I missed Wawa...I missed Lorenzo’s Pizza in South Philly… Now I miss, Key West.”

The Ukraine-born Shusterman, who along with her family moved to Bucks County in the late 1980s, began her current reality roller coaster ride by sending an audition tape to the MTV offices. In her clip, she caught the attention of producers and viewers by listing her “really big boobs” among the reasons that she should be cast on the show. Most articles that have mentioned Shusterman since, have also referenced her breasts.

“It’s not like I was trying to hide them. They’re huge; I can’t hide them,” she said. “They’re a part of who I am.”

People got to see even more of Shusterman as a result of a sexy photo shoot she did for the May 2006 issue of lad mag FHM. The photos featured her in two skimpy bikinis.

“It was a pretty cool experience. I’ve signed a lot of copies of the issue; people bring them to promos all the time,” Shusterman said of the FHM pictorial. “I don’t like the way I look in all the pictures, but I think they turned out OK.”   

Though she said her guy roommates on the show have received naked pictures from viewers requesting dates, Shusterman said she has not been solicited for her affections from many male fans. She did say she is recognized everywhere in the Philly ‘burbs, and that there are benefits to go along with that.

“I got pulled over (by a police officer), and he let me out of the ticket because he saw my picture in The Trentonian,” Shusterman said.

The Temple-Ambler pre-med student says that though the show, and the subsequent club tour to support it, have thrown her schedule into disarray (“I’ve been living out of a suitcase,”) her family has remained supportive.

“I think they’re more proud of this than my grades,” she joked, adding that after all the club bookings subside, she is looking forward to returning to her pre-Real World life, and her pursuit of a medical degree.

“I love school. There’s no way I am interested enough in (the entertainment industry) to change my life’s ambition (of becoming a doctor). But I am going to enjoy it while I can.”

Events, like the one at which Shusterman was appearing after this interview, have allowed her to gain perspective on how she is perceived by viewers, and how far-reaching the show really is. 

“So many people showed up at the first one, it makes you really appreciate what you’re a part of,” Shusterman said of her first public appearance, which took place in Illinois in late winter. “People showed up with ‘Svetlana For Manager’ signs,” Shusterman laughed. “It was great to know that they were watching and that they saw more than just the arguing (on the show).”

When she’s not traveling to events, Shusterman, a 2003 Council Rock-North grad, says she spends time trying to respond to fans and keeping in touch with friends in the Delaware Valley.

“I have MySpace days (www.myspace.com/svetlana17 )… I spend from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. trying to get back to everyone, but I don’t even make a dent.”

A strange byproduct of her Real World time has been the reemergence of friends that

Svetlana didn’t even know she had.

“People have come out of the woodwork,” she said. “People who were mean to me in high school - who I didn’t even know - have all of a sudden called and been like ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And I’m like ‘Yeah, right. Forget about it.’”

Shusterman said the entire experience has left her a more mature and grounded individual. Though she’s slightly skeptical of what the cameras may show in the forthcoming episodes of The Real World, she doesn’t regret appearing on it at all.

“The whole experience was life-changing…It’s embarrassing to see yourself angry or emotional; you regret that cameras were there to show it to the whole world… There are a lot of things that I am happy the cameras were there to capture. You learn to adjust to it; to ignore the cameras, and live your life.”

 

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