Real World: Back to New Orleans Episode 9 Power Rankings

Real World: Back to New Orleans Episode 8 Power Rankings

1. Ryan: Now, that’s the Ryan we know and hate! Blaming missing pills on a former pill-addict? So Ryan. I liked the twist where he admitted to taking more than Ashlee thought but not all of them. Because stealing 5 pills is much better than stealing all the pills. And shifting the blame to someone with a history of abusing prescription drugs so that the attention to the fact that you stole the drugs too gets diverted? Well, we might as well rename him Ryan Machiavelli. Seriously, how great is this guy? He’s a complete weirdo who now isn’t sleeping at night and paces around the house. I’m extremely intrigued to see where this goes. Add in the fact he seems quite ignorant, and a little bigoted, about Islam, and it’s clear why he’s back in the top spot. Thank you Ryan for making Wednesday Real World episodes must see t.v. once again.

2. Knight- Knight falls back to the second slot, but he didn’t necessarily slip in his performance. Ryan was just better. Knight was accused of stealing painkillers from Ashlee’s stash, which he denied. However, he chose not to confront Ryan about it. His logic was “I know I didn’t do it so that’s all that matters.” Admirable, I suppose. But sitting back while someone smears your name, not so admirable.

It got weirder from there. Knight eventually took a drug test, which may or may not have proven it wasn’t hit who stole the pills (the drug test might not have detected that drug in his system). Either way, I think something big is brewing based on clips we’ve seen showing Knight popping some pills. Knowing MTV, he was probably just taking Advil.

3. Sahar- What?! I put Sahar this high?? Yeah, I did. And she absolutely deserves it. Quietly, Sahar has been more vocal in the house and getting more screen time. MTV decided to spread her singer storyline over a couple of episodes, which I thought would be a big mistake. Turns out it was the right call. Now, Sahar seems nice enough so as a person, you don’t want to see her fail as a singer. But from a pure entertainment standpoint, her forgetting the words to the song was fantastic (Again, in case people might view me as insensitive, I must reiterate this point. We are watching these shows for compelling storylines. As much as we might personally want someone to succeed, when they fail in such a manner, it makes for compelling television. And you know what, if she gets on stage again and TJ Lavin’s it, then that makes for a complete story and great television).

It’s also worth mentioning that Sahar has really been getting into it with Knight, giving it as good as she gets it. I think if she keeps up the banter, she could be a fixture in the top 5, at least.

4. Jemmye- Jemmye didn’t really do much here but we are judging her partly on her overall body of work and partly on the fact that no one else stepped up and knocked her out of the top 4.

5. Eric- Another shocker! Why is Eric so high this week? Well, he finally had some decent face time, if only for a few minutes, and showed how good of a role player he could be if he just tried more (or if the producers gave him more screen time). I’m referring to when Eric got up on stage and kind of rescued Sahar’s performance. He was cool and funny and clearly has the personality necessary for tv.

But here lies the issue. Where has he been?? Does he even go out? We always see people coming home from the bar, and either Eric isn’t with them, or we see him sleepy-eyed as the roommates loudly crash through the door. The guy just doesn’t go out. My take is Eric definitely has talent and personality, but it just isn’t a good fit for this type of show. He actually could be a good emcee or actor. What is likely holding him back is his job with the State Department. He broke the cardinal rule of going on the Real World: You can’t have a real job. You can be a student, bartender, musician, or model. That is all.

6. Preston- What the hell happened to this guy? He went from the #1 drama instigator who was having the cops called on him to a guy who has barely any screen time. Sure, there are a plethora of reasons to explain this fall off, by I will choose to ignore those reasons and knock him all the way down to 6. Step it up, Prestooone!!! (I am now saying his name differently in my head based on a character named Preston in the movie “Can’t Hardly Wait.” If you’ve seen it, you hopefully get the reference).

7. McKenzie- She may not really deserve to be this low, but I was fully expecting a legitimate love triangle to develop between her, Knight, and Jemmye, and now I don’t think it’s going to happen. Plus, she really didn’t do anything of note in the last episode. A pretty face can only do so much.

8. Ashlee- Yeah, I hate her as much as ever, maybe even a little more. Last episode, she couldn’t see the humor in frying a dead fish from the aquarium. If she can’t take a joke, then forget her. Also, I feel like she took the whole “who took my pills that I never use” issue a little too seriously. She made it a federal case when it wasn’t that big of a deal. Also, if she never uses them, why was she suddenly looking for them? Questions, questions, questions.