# The Real World: Hawaii
**The Real World: Hawaii** is the eighth season of MTV's reality television series *The Real World*, which places a group of strangers to live together in a house while cameras follow their lives and relationships. It was the first season set in the United States to be filmed outside the mainland United States; The Real World: London had previously been filmed outside the United States, and Hawaii's seven cast members lived in a beach house at Diamond Head in Honolulu from January to May 1999, with the Hawaii season airing from June 15 to November 9, 1999.[1](https://mtvrealworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) • [2](https://mtvs-the-real-world.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) • [3](https://tiered.tv/shows/the-real-world/season/hawaii) • [4](https://www.leeward.hawaii.edu/files/ARPD/Instructional/tvpr/ARPD-TVPRO19.pdf) • [11](https://www.realitytvworld.com/realitytvdb/the-real-world-hawaii/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Season | Eighth season of *The Real World*, the first season set in the United States to be filmed outside the mainland United States[1](https://mtvrealworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) • [3](https://tiered.tv/shows/the-real-world/season/hawaii) • [11](https://www.realitytvworld.com/realitytvdb/the-real-world-hawaii/) |
| Air dates | June 15, 1999 to November 9, 1999, on MTV[2](https://mtvs-the-real-world.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) |
| Filming | January to May 1999 on Oahu, Hawaii[4](https://www.leeward.hawaii.edu/files/ARPD/Instructional/tvpr/ARPD-TVPRO19.pdf) |
| House | 4,095-square-foot (380.4 m²) single-story, three-bedroom, four-bathroom house at 3169 Diamond Head Road[1](https://mtvrealworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) |
| Applicants | More than 23,000 audition tapes submitted for the season[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-14-ca-46317-story.html) |
| Episodes | 25[6](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-real-world/season-8) |
| Notable storylines | Ruthie's struggle with alcohol misuse; the on-again, off-again relationship between Amaya and Colin[7](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/29/tv/the-real-world-mtv-best-25-seasons) |
## Setting and house
The season was set in Honolulu, in a modern beach house on Diamond Head Road, with the ocean and the Diamond Head landmark defining its look; reviewers noted that the beach setting and the cast's group job at a Waikiki surf shop gave the season a different visual register from the seven city-based seasons before it.[3](https://tiered.tv/shows/the-real-world/season/hawaii) The house was a 4,095-square-foot (380.4 m²) single-story structure with three bedrooms and four bathrooms.[1](https://mtvrealworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) The property's two-story guest house, fronting Diamond Head Road, served as the control room and production offices during filming.[2](https://mtvs-the-real-world.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii) • [8](https://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/features/story1.html)
The production converted the house into a television set with distinctive amenities. A *Honolulu Star-Bulletin* account during filming listed a $15,000 saltwater aquarium, a $66,000 waterfall and pool volcano, a $12,000 front gate, and a $14,000 plasma television that displayed changing scenic images.[8](https://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/features/story1.html) That account also noted the criticism attached to these fittings: the accommodations were described as far from the reality the show's title implies. In the *Real World* format more broadly, the house was configured for constant filming, with doors only on bathrooms, and even those did not lock.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-24-cl-49493-story.html)
## Production
**Casting and application volume.** More than 23,000 applicants submitted audition tapes for the Hawaii season, a figure the *Los Angeles Times* compared with the 18,183 applications Harvard received for its fall semester.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-14-ca-46317-story.html) Casting for the season was run jointly with *Road Rules: Semester at Sea*, which aired in the same year.[4](https://www.leeward.hawaii.edu/files/ARPD/Instructional/tvpr/ARPD-TVPRO19.pdf) Cast members received what producer Matt Kunitz described as very small "story rights" payments, enough, he said, to buy an old used car at the end.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-24-cl-49493-story.html)
**Filming intensity.** The season ran on a five-month production schedule during which more than 80 hours of videotape were shot each week, with filming proceeding around the clock.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-14-ca-46317-story.html) • [8](https://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/features/story1.html) During a pivotal moment four months into filming, a half-dozen crew members sat before 27 monitors in the production office, watching one cast member and listening to both ends of his telephone conversation through speakers.[8](https://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/features/story1.html) Six loggers on the [Bunim/Murray](https://www.edgepedia.org/bunim-murray) payroll reviewed everything that had been shot, then handed the tape logs to the company's story department, which wove the season's story lines together.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-14-ca-46317-story.html)
## Storylines and cast moments
The season's two most-cited storylines involve Ruthie's struggle with alcohol misuse, which *The Ringer* later called one of the "realer" and most important moments in the series' history, and the on-again, off-again relationship between cast members Amaya and Colin.[7](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/29/tv/the-real-world-mtv-best-25-seasons) In May 1999, mid-production, the *Star-Bulletin* reported on cast member Justin's possible early departure, noting that if he left he would be only the second roommate in the show's eight-year history to exit early.[8](https://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/features/story1.html)
## Place in the series and the genre
Hawaii occupies a hinge position in the history of *The Real World* and of reality television generally. It was the last season to air before the year 2000 and before the debut of *Survivor*, which took the crown of most popular reality show and legitimized and diversified the genre in a way *The Real World* could not; this timing gives the season what *The Ringer* called an air of being the last party before the fall.[7](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/29/tv/the-real-world-mtv-best-25-seasons) At the time, the show's producers, Bunim and Murray, were developing a feature film based on *The Real World*, reflecting the franchise's standing in 1999.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-14-ca-46317-story.html)
Critical and fan rankings have placed the season in the middle of the franchise's history. tiered.tv's retrospective ranks Hawaii 24th of the seasons it surveys, calling it a geographic experiment more than a format one, expanding the show's map without expanding its ambitions.[3](https://tiered.tv/shows/the-real-world/season/hawaii)
## Later availability
The series, including the Hawaii season, streams on [Paramount+](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount) and is available for purchase on digital storefronts such as the Apple TV Store, Amazon Video, and Fandango At Home.[10](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-real-world)
## References
1. [The Real World: Hawaii, Real World Wiki (Fandom)](https://mtvrealworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii)
2. [The Real World: Hawaii, MTV's The Real World Wikia (Fandom)](https://mtvs-the-real-world.fandom.com/wiki/The_Real_World%3A_Hawaii)
3. [The Real World S8, Hawaii (1999), tiered.tv](https://tiered.tv/shows/the-real-world/season/hawaii)
4. [Leeward Community College TVPRO 19 production listings (ARPD-TVPRO19)](https://www.leeward.hawaii.edu/files/ARPD/Instructional/tvpr/ARPD-TVPRO19.pdf)
5. [MTV Moves the 'Real' Fishbowl to Honolulu, Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1999](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-14-ca-46317-story.html)
6. [The Real World Season 8, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-real-world/season-8)
7. [The Best Seasons of 'The Real World,' Ranked, The Ringer, April 29, 2020](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/29/tv/the-real-world-mtv-best-25-seasons)
8. [Honolulu Star-Bulletin Features, May 17, 1999](https://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/features/story1.html)
9. [Real Life in a Fantasy World, Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1999](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-24-cl-49493-story.html)
10. [The Real World, streaming options, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-real-world)
11. [The Real World: Hawaii @ Reality TV World](https://www.realitytvworld.com/realitytvdb/the-real-world-hawaii/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Seasons, episodes, and installments › Screen seasons › Reality docuseries and lifestyle seasons › The Real World seasons*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license