“Real World: Denver” cast member Tyrie is looking forward to a future in politics.

– Fresh off the plane from filming the first part of “The Inferno 3 Challenge” in Cape Town, South Africa, “Real World: Denver” cast member Tyrie Ballard took some time to chat with me about the show, its aftermath, his professional aspirations, the women in Denver and a host of other topics. At the end of the interview, he had a few questions for me, mostly about this blog, the media attention on the cast, and why everyone seems to hate Colie so much. Here’s our chat…

Hey man, thanks for taking the time to do this. First off, I want to know if it’ll be weird to see yourself on TV every week?

Not really. I’ve already seen the first episode. (The cast) gets to see those early. So I have nothing to be worried about.

I know you’re also coming to LoDo’s Bar & Grille on Nov. 22nd to watch the premiere with everyone. Won’t it be bizarre watching the show in one of the places it was filmed?

Nah, that was the spot we were usually at, for the most part. It’ll be like going back to our second home, the place I got the drunkest. It wouldn’t be surprised if any of the other cast members were going too.

You’re fresh off leaving “The Inferno 3 Challenge�? in South Africa. How was that? Are you pretty jet-lagged?

Jet lagged? Yeah, that’s a long, long flight. South Africa was beautiful, man, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life.

Would you ever go back?

Yeah, but only if there’ s a set reason to go back. I don’t know if I’ll ever do another Challenge. It’s nice, but it’s a long flight.

And you were the first to leave this current Challenge, right?

Officially, yes, I was the first to go.

How did you first try out for “The Real World”?

Honestly, it was on a whim. I heard about it and decided to go. I had just gotten done lifting weights so I went in there with sweapants, a wife beater and a doo rag on. It was kind of like, “Hey, if I try it and I make it that’s cool. If not I’ll go back to normal life.” It wasn’t a big deal.

Were your comfortable trying out for it, having been on another reality show (Tommy Lee Goes to College) before?

That was definitely about being in the right place at the right time. I never even tried out for that show. I gave the crew a tour of the rec center (at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln) and they were like. “You wanna be on the show?” I never once mentioned it during the process. I think I was on the show for, max, a total of 15 minutes.

Did you think the women in Denver were hot?

I was in a relationship for a little bit, but we were off and on for a minute. We kept going back and forth. (laughs) Man, I was told this was kind of like the town of singles, but it seemed like every beautiful woman we met was married or getting married. But the women were real cool, very beautiful. They ramped their dressing game up when it was time. I was chilling with some Nuggets players one time and they were just flocking around us.

Did you get a lot of action when you were here?

(laughs) I did most definitely did stay busy. We’ll just leave it at that.

What was your favorite part about living in the house?

My favorite part of the house was that for awhile, I was not sleeping in a bed. I’d just go to sleep wherever I could. I fell asleep on the big snowball. I think I slept onto the moose once, on some couches and in the phone room.

What was your least favorite part of living in the house?

You mean other than the fact that I didn’t have the control to turn off the damn lights? When I wanted to I couldn’t. I’m a grown man, I pay my own bills. How dare you tell me I can’t turn off the lights in my own house! (laughs) But other than that it was great. It was a little bit more… “poacher” than I’m used to. There were more stuffed animals heads hanging on the walls than I’ve ever seen before. Personally I’m not much of a hunter-type guy.

Which cast member did you get along with best or worst? Are you even allowed to say?

Yeah, I can go ahead and say that. It really wasn’t just one person honestly. But if you get me, Alex, Steve and Jenn in a room, we get along great. It took us awhile to get to that point, but I honestly had the most fun with those three individuals. Alex, I was cool with him from day one. Steve, we never had a problem to start out but we really clicked about a month afterwards. Jenn… I called her by my little sister’s name sometimes.

Tyrie dancing at Jet Hotel (left) while Jerod and Jenn watch from the couch.

What was it like working as guides for Outward Bound? Did you learn anything you wouldn’t have otherwise?

There was nothing that I learned doing the Outward Bound thing that I couldn’t have figured out on my own, but I think some of the values, some of the Outward Bound mindset, really kicked in. What I really took away from the job was the whole community aspect, working together for everyone. And (the cast) really started to understand each other during those time, we really started to really click. Not to sound clichéd.

No, it’s cool, I think I know what you mean. I’ve heard some rumors that you might be moving back to Denver. Is that true? Are you at least looking to visit?

I definitely see myself coming back to Denver on a regular basis. I have a lot of people there to visit, a lot of people that were really cool with me. And that’s honestly really all I ask for, is for people to be cool with me and take me for what I am. I don’t know if I’m going to move to Denver, though. I’m living in Lincoln (Nebraska) right now.

Did you think people were pretty friendly here?

There were a couple people who really kind of got out of line, but for the most part Denver was real cool. A lot of people treated us like normal, which is what I was looking for. When I went to Club Evolution or Blue Ice they treated me like, “We don’t care if there’s a camera in your face or not,” and we loved that. I’d rather someone be straight up with me that saying anything behind my back. I gained a lot of respect from other people by not going into these places llike, “I own this place because I’m on TV.” You’ve gotta be humble. It’s just “The Real World,” not an Oscar-winning performance. I’m not Jamie Foxx!

What was it like working with Kevin Kain and promoting club nights at Tabu and The Shelter?

Basically Kevin Kain’s a real cool dude. He invited us to his clubs and I really enjoyed it. I also have done club promotions back home in Omaha, so finally we just got together and said, “Hey, let’s do something.” And that’s how we started doing Tabu Tuesdays and a lot of stuff at The Shelter. We had DJ Kool fly in, and we tried to get Kelis there. We actually had her booked solid until she got called away for a photo shoot. There was some kind of contractual thing going on too.

What was your favorite bar when you were in town?

LoDo’s was the place we were at continuously, whether for ups or downs, but I liked the atmosphere the greatest there. I’m kind of more of a hip-hop club kind of guy, not to take anything away from LoDo’s. My favorite spots were LoDo’s and Tabu, just cause that’s probably where we had the most fun. Every time we were there the crowd was just live. I hope (my club nights) show up on the show because we put a lot of work into trying to do stuff there, and I always invited my roommates. It was great there but I don’t know how it’s going to be on the show. You can show me in my negative and positive, but show all aspects of me, don’t just pick one side.

What are your plans for the future?

You know, I’m going to ride this train for a little bit see how that goes, but I have to finish up my double degrees. I have to get my political science and criminal justice degrees and start working my way toward the political world. But at the same time if someone says, “Hey, you wanna be in this commercial or sitcom?” and pay me lots of money, I’m not going to turn it down. But the ultimate goal is to get both my degrees, then go to grad school and master in sociology and make my way into the political world.

Was it interesting living with Stephen, given that he’s a self-described hardcore conservative Republican?

Stephen’s a Republican, and I’m a Democrat and borderline anarchist, but if you really listen to Stephen he has so many Democratic views. I honestly think the only reason he’s a Republican is because he’s from Sacramento (laughs).

Let’s talk a little more about the mechanics of the show. Why weren’t you allowed to go to concerts or sports games?

Basically the whole thing with that… and believe me, I wanted to see some concerts while I was in town. I wanted to see T.I. and Kanye. But it’s a matter of clearance, I believe, as far as getting all that stuff on camera. Plus at the same time we’re at a concert, I’m just thinking from the MTV producer point of view, it might be distracting. People would be looking at the lights and camera crew instead of the stage.

What did you think of all the people heckling you? And actually, were you with them the night people threw beer bottles at them from the balcony at J.R.’s?

Yeah, I was. I honestly had every intention of running upstairs and throwing somebody off the roof. It wasn’t something I expected, but I wish they had thrown it at us instead of the cameraman (Jason). He wasn’t even doing anything but filming us.

Did you and the other cast members ever talk about or read this blog? I’ve gotta think that some of you guys just hated me. Davis even changed his Myspace profile name to “John Wenzel is a Sick Stalker” or something like that for a while.

Yeah, we read it. It surprised me to the point where it was kind of funny how a lot of people were quick to sh** on us, but it’s just something that goes with it. Let me ask you something: At one point you had my nickname as “The Chocolate Gorilla” on this blog. Where did you hear that?

Different people that worked in LoDo said they’d heard cast members calling you that, so I thought maybe it was a nickname from school or something. I didn’t mean anything by it, just thought it might be something your friends called you…

Not at all. First and foremost, my area of politics is along the civil rights issues affecting black America. So why would I, being a self-respecting African-American man, why would I call myself that?

Good point. I didn’t mean anything by it, just heard it so many times I thought maybe it was a self-imposed kind of thing.

It’s cool man, I know you’re didn’t mean it that way… it’s just funny to me.

Tyrie and the suspicious skunk. Photo from MTV.com.

So what about this blog — did it bother you guys?

At first I was a little bit upset about the blog. I was thinking, “Man, if I ever see him…” But I was reading it more and more, and I’ve seen that you’ve tried to be on the fence. You’ve f****ed up a couple times, but I think you’ve tried to be balanced and cover the show. You were doing your job man, and honestly from what I’ve been told, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Absolutely. You’d think Bunim/Murray would have realized that ahead of time… although I’m sure they’re loving this blog now. Instead, your insane crew members tried to have me arrested for taking pictures of you guys.

What? No way. I never saw that.

Yep. They were pretty hilarious, screaming at me and cussing at me, sending cops over to intimidate me.

That’s messed up. Hey… you being from Denver, maybe you can answer this question for me. Do you know why everybody hates Colie? I was kind of wondering about it. I was like, “Well, damn, I got that a little bit while I was there.” But at the same time, nowhere near as bad as she’s gotten it.

I think it’s not the people of Denver that were hating her but more like her old schoolmates and people she grew up with, writing into the blog. She just seems to galvanize people.

Oh, that makes sense.

So I’ve gotta ask: How “real�? would you say the show is?

Honestly?

Yeah.

Everything that happened happened. It wasn’t like, “I’ll just say this and do this for a certain reason.” When the events happened, they happened. Nobody got any prodding. Questions might be asked afterwards, but it’s not like anything was staged. We were never given a script or told to walk into a bar and say this or that. Everything was 100 percent real, trust me. You can’t make some of that sh** up.

Why are you holding a skunk in some of your promo photos from MTV.com? Is there a plotline where you get sprayed while camping or something?

(laughs) We just thought it was a good thing to take picture with. There was not plot line or nothing like that, we just had a skunk in the house!

Cool man, I appreciate your time and I guess we’ll be seeing you when you’re here in a couple weeks for the premiere?

Yeah, thanks for the interview. You were cooler than I expected. Come find me at LoDo’s and I’ll buy you a beer.

I will.

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