Trishelle, Genesis, Belfort update after the devestation that is Katrina

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is becoming more apparent, especially in the city of New Orleans, many of you have been sending in emails, concerned about castmembers and their families. Specifically, people have been concerned about Trishelle (Las Vegas) and Genesis (Boston).

Trishelle (Las Vegas) who grew up and still has family in Cutoff, LA has said that her family is safe. Since the hurricane left many towns in complete devastating, most of her family has since relocated to Texas or West Louisiana. Although it took her two days to reach her family, Trishelle has had some trouble contacting close friends that live in the Biloxi, New Orleans and Gulfport areas. "It's very sad. I didn't have contact with my family for almost 2 days after the storm. I've received several messages from friends through text (I think they may get service every once in a while). All of the messages from my friends have basically said they are homeless, some of them trying to go to another state closeby to find a job and start to rebuild their lives." Our best wishes go out to Trishelle, her family and her friends.

Genesis (Boston) also grew up in Gulfport, MS, which was heavily hit by Katrina. Although Genesis wasn't believed to still be living in Gulfport, we have yet to hear word about her family in that region. We hope Genesis, her family and friends are doing OK.

Among trivial matters, people have been asking about the Belfort, the house used in the New Orleans season of The Real World. Although the house, which was located on St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District, is yet to be confirmed flooded, 80% of the city of New Orleans is underwater. The house was located only two miles from the Superdome, so chances are the Belfort was damaged during Katrina. Large parts of that area of New Orleans are known to have been flooded. However, the house may be unrecoverable amid reports on CNN, that some anticipate the increasing toxicity of flood waters will render New Orleans uninhabitable for anywhere from a year to a decade.

The best way to help, especially if you do not live close to the affected areas, is to donate to the relief fund. You can check out the Amazon/Google joint fundraiser to donate to the American Red Cross. If you want to help by donating or volunteering in other ways, you can check out the CNN Help Page or check out the Red Cross' website which offers ways to donate and volunteer with your local Red Cross chapter.

Austin castmembers are not on the Gauntlet 2; Radar magazine falsely reports Kill Reality story

Two retractions today:

Here's a small bit of information on the Gauntlet: Rookies vs. Veterans... First of all, we reported that Danny (Austin) and Melinda (Austin) were on the new Challenge. Although the picture from Landon's (Philadelphia) site seemed to insinuate that, with the three of them being in a tropical locale, we have been informed that there are NO Austin castmembers on this new Challenge

Also, a couple of days ago we posted a link to an article about Kill Reality from Radar Magazine. It turns out that the allegations of orgies and other shenanigans in the Kill Reality house, which pretty much had no substantial evidence besides an unnamable source, turned out to be completely untrue. We apologize to anyone who was misled by the article and regret that we published it.

Landon posts new pictures from the Gauntlet 2

Landon has posted new pictures from the Gauntlet 2 up at his site. Among them, it features Mark (USA Tour II), Derrick (Extreme) and Danny and Melinda (Austin), who are now confirmed to be on the Challenge. Check it out here.

The Key West house has an address and is being sued by their neighbors

Reality Blurred is reporting that the seventeenth season of The Real World has already landed its house. The site was the first to confirm that BMP had chosen Key West as the location for the next installment of the series.

The location of the house is 32 Driftwood Drive. This is in the Key Haven area of Key West. If you live nearby, feel free to snap a few photos. (Be careful, security guards have been known to stop curious photographers.) Send them to us at newrwroad@hotmail.com. The seven strangers have yet to move in.

Also, the production company is being sued by neighbors of the Driftwood house. This isn't the first time that production has encountered opposition in moving into the house. Production nearly left Philadelphia because union leaders were protesting that BMP used non-union labor in the construction of the house. Chicago was met with dozens of protesters during filming because many wanted to keep commercial business out of the Wicker Park area of Chicago. The only time when a town successfully barred filming of a series was when production tried to take over a mansion in Newport, Rhode Island for the first Gauntlet. Eventually, they were disallowed to use the house and production moved to the Wnydham Peaks Resort in Telluride, Colorado. Usually, production bears the protests and keeps on truckin' along. So expect no real obstacle from filming to be located in Key West.

The Austin cast shows up at the VMAs on Sunday

The kids from the Austin cast went to the VMA's on Sunday. Check out photos of the cast at WireImage.

A Key West resident attempts to bar producers from filming on Driftwood Drive

It seems that MTV is encountering some problems with the filming of the upcoming season of the Real World. An article posted at Keynoter.com claims that Ed Swift, a resident of Key West, is suing MTV for not following zoning guidelines while preparing to film the next season. The bright side of this story is that we do find out two important things about RW Key West. It looks like the location for the house is Stock Island and that MTV have leased the house from June 28 to December 1. Check out the article for full details.