Davis Mallory

Davis Mallory joined the cast of MTV's The Real World for its 18th season. Now an openly gay reality star, he has been featured on several of The Real World/Road Rules Challenges such as The Inferno III, Duel II and now Rivals in Costa Rica. For Mallory The Real World life is a jungle these days!

WCT: (Windy City Times) Hi, Davis, nice to see you at the GLAAD event. How did you get involved with the organization?

DM: (Davis Mallory) I got involved because I write for AfterElton.com, the gay and lesbian website owned by the Logo channel. So a bunch of us came out to the event.

WCT: You are from Georgia. Where are you currently residing?

DM: I live in Naperville, Illinois.

WCT: So you are in the new season of MTV's Real World/Road Rules Challenge.

DM: Yes, this one is called Rivals and it is in the jungle of Costa Rica.

WCT: What part of Costa Rica?

DM: Dominical—we were on the Pacific side, south of San Juan.

WCT: I studied Spanish in Manuel Antonio but this sounds like you were in the forest.

DM: We were literally in the rainforest part. We had a house kind of up in the trees. It was on a cliff over the ocean. We had monkey, toucans, snakes and frogs all around.

WCT: The monkeys are adorable there. Did you play with one?

DM: One got onto our property and some people were feeding it and petting it. I didn't want the germs on me so I didn't touch it.

WCT: Who is on this season?

DM: It has the typical cast with Johnny Bananas, Kenny and Paula, who are always there. There are older ones that haven't been on in a while like Robin from San Diego or Aneesa. I felt like I was one of the older bunch because there are a lot of fresh faces with new seasons of The Real World. I haven't been watching it.

WCT: When did you stop watching the show?

DM: My season. [Laughs] I have watched a few episodes of Brooklyn because I had a few friends on that season of The Real World. JD was on that season. I got meet him right before his season started to give him some tips then when he got on the show I watched him.

WCT: He's a cutie.

DM: He is very cute.

WCT: What tips do you give somebody going through the experience?

DM: I wish someone would have told me that there are a lot of rules that the show puts on you. They give you fines to keep you in line. At the end they forgive them all. No one told me that they were forgiven. I was keeping track of such things like coming in on time, not touching my microphone and only letting production touch it or not mentioning the words "production" and "camera crew." You couldn't say "The Real World" ever when you were filming because they would fine you. But they don't really do it.

WCT: When [did] the show start?

DM: June 22nd.

WCT: What do you get out of doing this show?

DM: I say yes to it because I like to travel. They always take me to places that I couldn't take myself. South Africa and New Zealand were the first two. This time it was Costa Rica so I was little bummed when I found out it was there. I could take myself there.

WCT: But still it is a nice trip.

DM: It is a nice trip.

WCT: Aneesa is a lesbian. Any other gays on the Rivals?

DM: Evelyn is also a lesbian and has one some of these challenges before. There are some bi-curious girls.

WCT: Evelyn is crazy but I like her.

DM: She is my buddy on this season. We walk around together and just talk. She is a lesbian and I am gay so we have that in common. People on these shows can be really mean. Neither of us have that mean side.

WCT: How is AfterElton.com going for you?

DM: I write their music column. Music I have been passionate about since I was young. Members of my family are songwriters or managers to musicians. I was an aspiring pop star when I was a kid. I basically auditioned for The Real World to be on TV and work with a network. Writing a music column for Logo, which is part of their network is part of that.

WCT: Do you sing?

DM: I wouldn't consider myself a wannabe pop star but when I was younger I did. I am not a Real Housewives of New York singer like Simon van Kempen or anything.

WCT: Do you go to a lot of concerts in Chicago?

DM: Every week. I went to New Kids on the Block and Bruno Mars. I interviewed Jonelle Monae for the website today.

WCT: Great. Are you very active on your website?

DM: Yes, for this season of Rivals they give us free boutique clothing. I always donate it to the It Gets Better campaign, GLAAD or The Trevor Project to auction it all off as soon as the show airs on E-bay. People can find out more about it on my Facebook fan page, twitter Davis_Mallory and my website.

Keep it real with Davis at www.davismallory.com and follow the drama of the Rivals challenge at www.mtv.com with a new episode every Wednesday.

Interview by Jerry Nunn for Windy City Times.