Veishea is known for bringing celebrities to campus for the weeklong celebration of Iowa State. With the help of STA Travel, 2526 Lincoln Way, Veishea welcomed Jose Tapia of MTV’s “The Real World: Key West” to campus last Friday to host the first VEISHEA Extreme Challenge.

After the challenge, Tapia talked to fans in the Maintenance Shop of the Memorial Union.

“We went to the challenge and wanted to come talk to him here, too,” said Nadya Gonzalez, sophomore in animal ecology.

He talked about his “Real World” experience and how it has changed his life.

Tapia was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. and relates his life to being dealt a bad hand in poker. His mother was 17 years old when she had him, and his father was an abusive alcoholic. During his first few years in high school, he hung out with the wrong crowd and got a 1.5 GPA. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when he was a junior in high school and turned his life around.

Tapia auditioned for “The Real World: Key West” with no expectations of making it on the show. He’d watched the previous seasons and thought it would be a lot of fun. Because he didn’t want to look back and regret not giving it a shot, he drove three hours to a casting call.

There were four months of interviews before the final cast was assembled.

“You learn a lot about yourself through the interview process,” Tapia said.

He said he still remembers getting the phone call to tell him he would be spending four months living in Key West with six strangers.

Not many of Tapia’s friends or family knew he was going to be on “The Real World” until they started seeing previews for the new series on TV. He had told them he got an internship and was going to be gone for a few months.

Tapia recalls his “Real World” experience as “a lot of highs and a lot of lows.” He said you learn to adjust to the cameras, but the real challenge is dealing with six different personalities on a daily basis with no privacy.

“I was the normal guy who sat back and laughed at everyone,” Tapia recalls.

His main goal during the show was to stay true to himself and not put on a show for the cameras. His honesty and likable personality make him a favorite cast member of many Real World fans.

Tapia talked about the realness of living in “The Real World” house. He said they only provide you with a house to live in, but the housemates pay for all of the other expenses such as gas, food and entertainment.

The biggest benefit from “The Real World” has been traveling, Tapia says. While on the show, STA Travel sent the housemates to Spain, where they visited cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. Since the show, Tapia has been to more than 40 states in the United States talking to fans about his life and experiences on the show.

When asked if he would be on “The Real World” again, Tapia said he would in a heartbeat.

“They were the best four months of my life,” he said.