For UA student and “”The Real World: Sydney”” cast member Isaac Stout, the experience started on a whim.
At the advice of friend Molly Ford Leibowitz, a creative writing senior, Stout entered a contest with a local radio station to obtain a pass to the front of the audition line and won.
“”I remember him calling me and telling me that he got a pass to the front and saying that he wouldn’t have gone if he hadn’t gotten the pass,”” Leibowitz said. “”He was one of the final three in the line that got applications.””
After interviews that lasted a little over a month and a half, Stout was told that he would be cast on the next season of the popular long-running MTV reality show, to be filmed in Sydney, Australia.
“”I didn’t know that I would get picked, but I knew that I should get picked,”” Stout said.
After he found out that he was one of seven chosen, Stout said he was sworn to secrecy.
“”That was hard,”” he said, adding that when Leibowitz asked him whether he had been chosen or not, Stout told her that he didn’t make it.
“”I should have known, really,”” Leibowitz said. “”But I didn’t find out until the middle of April, and they stopped filming in June. This is going to sound ridiculous, but the first thing that went through my head when I found out was that now Isaac would have more friends on Facebook than Taylor Cole from ‘Laguna Beach.’ “”
Stout said being able to live and travel in a different country was the best part of his Sydney existence.
“”After we were finished, I took the money I earned from the show and went traveling,”” he said.
Stout, a business junior, said he will take a break from classes this fall and return to the UA in the spring.
Like other budding celebrities, Stout already has a clothing line, Isaac Stout LTD, in the making and will be releasing an album with longtime friend and UA alumnus Aaron Bankhurst.
Stout created the line before he was cast, developing hats and T-shirts that displayed his name and giving them to friends to wear. Leibowitz still has a “”Stout”” hat.
Unlike some reality TV stars, Stout said he has no current plans to participate in any of MTV’s spin-off shows like “”The Gauntlet”” or “”The Duel,”” but said he would get involved to travel more.
“”I am a certified globetrotter,”” he said.
The new season premieres Aug. 8 and features Stout and six others in all their chaos, drama and fun.
Oh yeah, and Stout will be snorkeling naked in an aquarium.
“”I like to party,”” he said with a laugh.