Karamo Brown recalls feeling 'intimidated' to keep mic on in the shower on “The Real World”: 'They fine you'

The "Real World: Philadelphia" and "Queer Eye" star talked reality TV on the "Amy & T.J." podcast.

Karamo Brown is pulling back the curtain — the shower curtain — on his time on The Real World: Philadelphia.

In particular, the Queer Eye star, who got his start in reality television on MTV's Real World in 2004, is dispelling the notion that he made much money from the latter show — in part because he kept getting fined for taking his mic off, ultimately leaving him feeling "intimidated" into keeping it on during his most, ahem, private moments.

Speaking to Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes on a recent episode of their Amy & T.J. podcast, Brown recalled, "I was on The Real World for five months out of my life, and I walked off that show and did not have any money. And the perception around everybody on me was that I have money because I'm on The Real World. And I walked off, I think, what did they pay me for those four months? $10,000? And then you got fined if you did things."

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He continued: "People don't know this. So like, if you left the house without telling them — because you're not really free — or if you turn off your mic because you were in the restroom, they would fine you $100."

When Robach and Holmes expressed their shock, Brown explained that that's the experience "you have been signed up to do" on a show like that, but it's not that way across all reality shows, which is part of why he advocates for reality TV stars to unionize. "Because the thing is, that unless it's a scripted one, like, again, these are your Housewives, they know they're here for a scene and they're doing it," he said. "But for most of these shows, they're living in a house for 24 hours and their job is to capture every moment. And so if you go in a bathroom to have a private conversation, now the audience doesn't know that."

Brown recalled one example when a friend came to visit him on The Real World. "He was my visited guest, and it was surprising because I wanna have a private moment in the bathroom," he said. "I wanna have a private moment in the shower. And they're like, 'You cannot.'"

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Brown added that "if you try to have that private moment, they fine you. And that's still to this day — they fine reality stars who try to have private moments."

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to MTV for comment on Brown's remarks.

When Holmes remarked that he often watches reality shows and wonders why they don't just turn off their own microphones, Brown said, "Because they're gonna mess with your money. And so you ain't making nothing in the first place, and now they're gonna take away $100 every time you do that. But then you're intimidated into keeping your mic on. You're intimidated into not having any moments for your own mental health. And again, that's the issue."

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But you live and learn. Brown, who now has his own talk show, The Karamo Show, applies his Real World experience to his eponymous series. "On my talk show they're always, like, 'Karamo's mic is off again' — because I learned from 23 how to turn that mic off," he said, laughing.

Listen to Brown on Amy & T.J. above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.