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Schromm adjusts to the 'Real World'

MU's Emily Schromm found her experience on reality television life changing.

By Justin Whaley

Published Jan. 22, 2010

Sipping coffee and munching on pita chips at Kaldi's after a rigorous rock climbing session, junior Emily Schromm relaxed while dishing the details from her experience on MTV's "The Real World XXIII: Washington D.C." and shared her story of a once-masked girl who's now on a road to self-discovery.

She didn't initially plan to audition or move to Washington, and becoming a rising reality star wasn't quite in the cards either — so she thought. Yet this Kirksville-born adrenaline junkie went with the flow, found herself on the small screen and embarked on an incredible journey in which she grew immensely and met quite the characters along the way.

Emily Schromm, didn't necessarily plan to become a reality star when a casting agent from MTV's "The Real World" initially approached her while she was working at Starbucks in Memorial Union. Moving to Washington and starting a tumultuous relationship with her roommate wasn't quite in the mix either.

"The Real World XXIII: Washington D.C." season "cuts the bullshit" and gets right to the nitty-gritty details. Risqué discussions about sexuality and religious spats premiered the season. Schromm didn't seem to have a problem revealing her story to her roommates and her viewers.

"They asked me about being a bisexual," Schromm said. "Ashley straight-up asked me, and it was super easy to just open up."

Schromm knew everything, including her sexuality, religious beliefs and strict religious upbringing would eventually come out to everybody when the appropriate time came along. She separated herself from her roots, a Christian cult-like boarding school, at age 13. A lover of music from jazz to hard, lyrical rock, she relates her story to one of her favorite songs by Three Days Grace, "Just Like You."

"It's about putting on a mask for someone, then just tearing it off in the end," she said. "That was my life. But when I found out that it wasn't the right thing, it was so liberating."

While in D.C., she worked for Kid Power-D.C., an after school mentor program for kids.

"I loved it," she said. "Those kids were phenomenal."

After Kid Power, she interned for Africa Action, an organization that works for political and social equality in Africa.

"At first I thought, 'What do I do? How do I make a difference?’ " she said. "Then I was put into an internship that made me feel I can make that difference."

What types of shenanigans do the Real-Worlders pull around the patriotic D.C. abode? Stir-craziness and boredom sparked some crazy conversations, infamously spying on others in the hot tub via security camera and striking up conversation with locals out at coffee shops and clubs.

But the opportunity to live with seven new people brought numerous possibilities for hook-ups. A hot topic viewers are wondering about? Schromm's relationship with roommate Ty Ruff.

"Episode five will tell all," she said. "Let's just say I'm ready for some new people to be in the spotlight."

Let's face it, seeing yourself on television and knowing millions of viewers are watching can be horrifying.

Schromm said her heart always feels like it's moving 120 miles per hour when she watches a new episode.

"This is my bedroom door," she said. "It's wide open. Everybody is watching!"

Although frightening at first, she was pleased to find her close friends and proud mother kept an open-minded and light-hearted approach to her reality stardom.

You can catch Schromm getting her adrenaline rush by rock climbing, working up a sweat at the Rec or sipping some java downtown. Although she just returned to Columbia to start classes, she assures things are getting back to normal.

"I was so nervous to go to my first class!" she said. "Luckily people didn't make a big deal out of it."

Throughout her three-month session as a cast member of "The Real World," Schromm went through an immense growing process, and was forced to handle problems face-on while adapting to a completely new environment. She claims without "The Real World" it would be difficult to grow as much as she did in even 10 years.

"It's all about meeting people, finding people and having those people shape who you are," she said.

Check out an audio clip from this interview at themaneater.com.