BOSTON — Most know Ruthie Alcaide from MTV’s Real World: Hawaii as the binge drinking, trouble-making Filipino, but most are unaware of the woman behind the televised persona.
Alcaide, 21, is currently on MTV’s College Road Trip, sharing her experiences behind the scenes on the Real World to teach young adults about the entertainment industry, prejudice, drug/alcohol awareness, diversity, sexuality, and racism. As part of this tour, Alcaide visited Suffolk University on Tuesday, March 25 and gave a presentation, “Discussing Diversity with Ruthie” to support the university’s ‘Unity Week.’ Nearly 30 students came to the Donahue Café to hear her speak.
Alcaide’s outgoing personality and sociable persona made it easy for students to relate to the reality star. Dressed in a black suit and a white tie, Alcaide showed off her laid back, yet sheik style.
Alcaide was a foster child born in Hawaii, and as a bisexual woman of seven nationalities, has experienced years of prejudice in her life. After leaving Hawaii, she traveled to New Jersey to attend Rutger’s University through the Upward Bound program. She described her culture shock as “an awesome realization of every race’s similarities.”
After being on Real World: Hawaii, Alcaide also appeared on MTV’s Battle of the Sexes, Battles of the Sexes II, the Gauntlet II, The View, and Queer Edge.
Alcaide explained how, even on the Real World, she had been perceived as someone she was not. She felt she had been misjudged as an Asian bisexual, when in reality, there was more than meets the eye. Alcaide feels that the problem with the entertainment industry is people’s prejudice, which ultimately leads to segregation, racism, and sexism.
“We all automatically judge people. The problem is that we’re just judging everyone’s ‘movie trailer,’ we base how we feel about that person based upon their trailer,” Alcaide said.
Alcaide created a slideshow of Real World cast members to show how the entertainment industry exploits people’s ignorant prejudices to cause drama and receive airtime.
One of the clips from Real World: Philadelphia showed the racial tensions between Karamo and Landon. Landon refers to Karamo as the “N” word which provokes Karamo to admit he has racial prejudice against whites.
Alcaide explained how in the entertainment industry, there are commonly two reactions to prejudice: anger or tolerance. She preached to students about the importance of being “tolerant to ignorance” – instead of becoming angry about prejudice comments; understand that prejudice views stem from ignorance, not hatred.
A Q&A period followed, with students asking about the worst parts of the entertainment industry. She also said the directors planted seeds in cast member’s heads in order to psychologically play the roommates off each other.
She also said the worst thing about her experience was being misunderstood and judged based on flaws alone.
The strangest phenomenon for Alcaide after finishing the show was seeing how editing can manipulate reality. She claims that the directors imposed artificial memories and songs about events that never occurred.
Alcaide appreciates where the entertainment industry has taken her, but feels a tough skin is needed to survive the hardships and tribulations that coincide with it.