A confident Kyle Brandt tackles 'The Real World'

On the set for MTV's "The Real World," a show which documents the daily conflicts of seven unlikely roommates living together in one house, Kyle Brandt's roommates usually defer to his judgement, much as his Princeton football teammates came to expect big plays from him as the star half-back.

Brandt, aggressive on the football field in college, often takes charge on the MTV set as a leader and protector, though he confesses that his unabashed confidence can sometimes be a problem. "It's hard to listen to others' ideas when you know that yours is better. That came out in a couple of our jobs [on the show]. It's hard because I thought that I was smarter and older than some of my roommates, and it's difficult to suppress that when you know your idea is the best one," he said.

"I'm a leader by nature, particularly in the house, toward some of the women, father or brother figure. I would be the one taking care of the drunk guys hitting on the girls. I'd be the one to get in their face. It was always me driving in the car or buying lunch for people. I'm not perfect in that leadership role but its something I'm comfortable in."

"Real World" roommate Cara said, "It's hard not to be impressed by Kyle. It was clear he was the brain among us."

Brandt is currently in Los Angeles promoting "The Real World" and looking for an agent to help him book future projects in film and television.

His outgoing and charming manner landed him early in front of the camera. His mother, Georgia, acted in countless commercials and from an early age, encouraged Brandt to pursue exposure through acting in commercials and modeling for print ads. Performing in dramas and slapstick comedies on campus inspired Brandt to count on an acting career.

"Had the show never happened, I'd still want to be an actor. That's always been my dream. Because the show happened, it's just a monkey wrench in my plans and I'm just here trying to reap the benefits. I'm aware of the stereotype of the reality show pretty boy who wants to be a movie star, but I'm a trained actor," Brandt said.

Though unlimited appearances on MTV and reunions with "Real World" roommates might be in store, Brandt wants to "get away from MTV" and insisted that he does not want to be associated with the show forever.

An intriguing article in the 'Prince' announced open auditions at Triumph on Nassau Street last February. Brandt was never a fan of the show and often made fun of the seven hyper-sensitive-twenty-somethings, but he was on schedule with his thesis and "a second semester senior with not much to do." Upon seeing the ad, Brandt felt strangely confident that his unique background of excelling and the arts would contribute intelligence and diversity to the show.

"It's not often that you meet a college football player who does theater, or a frat guy who's an English major. I guess I'm a mixture of this old boy persona with culture and sophistication," he said.

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Brandt says that he didn't take the audition process seriously.

"I really didn't have any interest in being on the show. I made fun of it when I watched every now and then. When I went [for the interview] I was a little tipsy. My whole experience was very tongue in cheek ," Brandt said with a chuckle, "My life did not depend on making this show, so I was really nonchalant."

After five months consisting of intense personal questions during interviews at the Nassau Inn in Princeton and MTV studios in New York, a 30-page questionnaire and two trips to Los Angeles for the final cut, Brandt was selected as one of the seven roommates on "The Real World."

Throughout the arduous process, Brandt was confident that he would land a spot on the show. "It was anticlimactic when they called. I knew I had made it and the call was just confirmation. I had so much confidence that I would make the show," he said.

"I thought the interviews went really, really well. I guess it was meant to be. It's funny because I remember seeing that headline and I thought that I could make it."

The audition process requires that candidates send a five-minute home video talking about themselves and why they want to be on "The Real World." Senior year roommate Matt Oxman '01 and then-girlfriend Nicole Levy-Loubriel '00 convinced Brandt to audition and helped put together an audition tape. "My video was nothing dramatic or superdynamic," Brandt said.

The tape, completed in one weekend, gave MTV producers a glimpse into the daily life of a Princeton senior by touring Brandt's campus haunts — the Princeton Battlefield, Lockhardt hall, Princeton Stadium, Dillon gym, and Cottage Club.

Brandt's friends shared his confindence that he would be chosen. "The whole audition process was like three months, and I think after the first week they asked him for the video. I thought he was what they were looking for. They definitely wanted someone from Princeton — someone like Kyle," Oxman said.

Brandt has already fulfilled his dream of working with two of his idols, Ed Harris and Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind" as an extra in the "fluid exchange" bar scene.

Brandt says that his ideal role would be to play a character combining traits from his favorite literary anti-hero Holden Caulfield and the all American prowesses of Tom Cruise. This unique and unexpected combination of the introspective jock is what brought Brandt to Chicago, but some viewers have been disappointed with the lack of attention given to Brandt in the three episodes that have aired so far. "I didn't run into the house screaming, doing all of these exhibitionist and controversial things. Everyone gets their time," he said, referring to a co-ed shower scene on "The Real World" during the first episode.

Over the four-month period, Brandt said that it is impossible for him to try to demonstrate the complexities of his character because MTV uses only one minute for every three hours of footage. Unlike his roommates on the show, Brandt remained unaffected by the other roommates and prodding from the production team.

"The Real World" has never been synonymous with intelligence and that's something I'm trying to show. I'm not going to give the most dramatic footage, and that's not what I'm trying to do. I wasn't about to do something stupid to be on the show," he said.

However, this did not stop Brandt from inviting 15 of his Princeton football teammates to the house for a weekend. "It was absolute decadence," Brandt said. "Hopefully it airs. There were 15 guys, running around, getting wasted. It was so cool."

His roommates on the set enjoyed meeting his college friends, and according to Cara, a 22-year-old Boston native, "It was fun to have the guys there. They were exactly how I pictured, chivalrous partiers, football players, attractive guys, and big animals with brains," she said.

Despite the show's claim as a microcosm of the "real world," MTV prohibits television, movies and music in the house in order to facilitate closer bonds among roommates. Though the house may seem like an ideal residence complete with amenities and stylish furniture, Brandt said that the set "doesn't look as cool in person as it does on TV."

"They make it so deliberately for television with all the right colors and patterns. When you get in there it's like a set with this bright purple couch and green carpeting. In real life, you just wouldn't do that; you'd be more sedate. It was more for appearance than function."

What sets this year's run of "The Real World" apart from all other seasons is that a television was installed on the set for the two days immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Brandt was the only roommate with loved ones in lower Manhattan on that day.

"I was cring like a baby for hours. I had horrible images of my girlfriend running through the streets and my sister who was running away from the dust clouds," Brandt said, recalling the voicemails he received from them as they were running from the wreckage.

"To deal with all that with the cameras and productions was surreal." Brandt also talked about about his shock, depression and rage in one episode. "I said how I wanted to run out and join the marines so I could go out there with a gun."

Insistent upon maintaining his privacy, Brandt has often defied MTV's rules for conduct on the set. In order to talk about another roommate, Brandt and Aneesa would speak only in Spanish so that MTV would not be able to air their conversation.

"We would talk about the others or talk dirty," Brandt said speaking fondly of his "big brother" type relationship with Aneesa. "Never having lived with or been friends with a lesbian before, it really broadened my horizons. We'd talk about physical interactions with women. I joked that I was going to be the man who brought her back from the dark side," he said.

Though Brandt welcomed parents, grandparents and Princeton friends to visit the house, he refused to let MTV pry into his serious romance with his girlfriend Nicole Levy-Loubriel '00. They broke up before Brandt left for Chicago because of his involvement in the show.

Brandt hopes that they can resolve their issues and enjoy a future together. "The show is a serious hurdle in any relationship. One thing I regret from the show is how I dealt with it. We were separated, and we decided not to talk for four months. We decided that we didn't want our interactions to be aired, so she didn't visit the house," he said.

"The biggest thing that was really difficult was that the production really wanted to know about the relationship. For her sake, I wanted to keep it private. They were relentless in their questioning. Sometimes I talked about it when I really shouldn't have and I refused to when they wanted me to." The two have not spoken recently because of Brandt's intense travel schedule.

For comfort and support, Brandt has often turned to a roommate on the set, Cara, who said, "I assured him that he's 22 and single and he doesn't need to feel extreme guilt if he has a crush on someone else. He's a deep guy, a pensive guy. Although not many guys would have a problem with it, the wonderful thing is that he did."

Cara quickly became Brandt's best friend on the show. The two bonded immediately because they came from similar upper middle class backgrounds. They also shared frustrations during the filming of the show, Brandt about his girlfriend and Cara about a failed lifeguarding test, but they never wanted to "go back to Walla Walla," Cara said referring to Tanya, who left Chicago during the second episode due to health problems.

Despite the strain of having his life and personality "pigeonholed and set to music" Brandt remains level headed and approachable in part because the diversity of his experience at Princeton prepared him for living with a variety of personalities on the set, he said. Princeton was the best experience that could have possibly prepared him, literally and figuratively, for "The Real World."