Interview with "The Real World"’s Derek Chavez

AE: You mentioned Bronne. What was he like?
DC: He was my roommate, and he was amazing. He's the kind of person who can make you laugh even if he's not trying. His personality is just funny. It's awesome. Every time I felt down, he was there to make me laugh. Every time I needed a friend, he was there. He's one of those friends who have got your back no matter what as long as you have his back. He was just an all-in-all a good friend.

Real World: Cancun housemate Bronne Bruzgo

AE: I don't know if you've seen the first episode, but at one point, Bronne interviews that he’s all excited there is a gay guy in the house and he hoped you were going to help him with his wardrobe. So are you any good with fashion and if so, did you help him?
DC: I wouldn't say that I'm good with fashion, but I know what goes together and I know what looks good on people. It's so funny. He told me that he'd said that. He showed me what he had to work with, and I was like, "Bronne, wow. We're going to have a lot to do." Every day he would ask me, "Derek, does this look okay?" And I was like, "No, Bronne. Switch that and switch that and put those shoes on." Every day.

There's one day that we went out to the gay bar in Mexico, and Bronne was like, "Derek, you need to gay me up as much as you can because I want to get hit on by the gay guys." [laughs] So I gave him this tight, v-neck shirt, and some skinny jeans, and he's wearing some nice tennis shoes, and we spike his hair up. I said, "You look gay, Bronne." And he was like, "Sweet!" He was so happy. It turns out he never gets hit on, so...

AE: Poor Bronne. I love hearing stories like that, where these very straight guys have no problem with people thinking they're gay. It's nice to see how the world has changed.
DC: Yeah, it is. The funny thing about it was that my first impression of Bronne was that he was a cocky frat boy. That he was going to be a homophobe and say “fag” a lot. Nope. He turned out to be one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life.

AE: The Real World: Brooklyn was praised for being a little more high-minded than some previous installments of TRW. The first episode of Cancun looked to be similar, but then the previews after the episode show some pretty wild stuff happening. How would you describe the season?
DC: Everybody that I talked to was excited because Brooklyn was something different. I think that's what MTV was trying to do, capture a new audience. They made Brooklyn really anticipated, made it different viewing. Then our show came out and people are excited and saying it's more like Vegas. I think that was very smart on MTV's part to contrast the two seasons.

If I had to describe my season, it's not just partying and having sex and booze. We actually worked, and make sure people had a safe time while we were down there. We did a charity event that changed a lot of people's lives. I can't go into details about that, you'll have to watch, but it was the best thing I've ever done in my life and I could relate to a lot of people down there.