Getting real with 'Real World' star Violetta Milerman

As "The Real World's" tagline has famously said for the last three decades, this founding father of reality shows explores what happens when a house full of people "stop being polite — and start getting real."

Luckily for 23-year-old Sarasotan Violetta Milerman, she'd never seen the long-running MTV show when she was cast this season; she came in real.

"I had no experience with the show," she said. "I came in blind, so I feel like I already had my own identity from the start, and I acted in my own skin. People who know me know that I say what I mean and that I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission."

In the six episodes since the show's Dec. 16 premiere, Milerman's brash, unfiltered personality has already established her as a stand-out character on the show, albeit a divisive one.

Housemates and viewers alike either love her or love to hate her, but with unapologetic quotes like her foul-mouthed denunciation of bras debuting in the first 60 seconds of the season, one thing's for sure — they can't ignore her.

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"I'm actually surprised with how much air time I'm getting," she says. "I thought I would get the least. I really thought I was one of the most boring people in the house."

This season, dubbed "The Real World: Skeletons," is set in Chicago, where all the roommates live together in a former night club. As an added source of drama, the show incorporates controversial people from the cast's pasts throughout the season — a twist that Milerman says was a true test of the relationships and personal growth that developed within the house over the course of filming.

Although this season is the first one she's watched, it wasn't her first experience with the show. Three years ago, she applied and got a call back, but being 20, she wasn't old enough to be cast. The next year, she got a call and flew out to Los Angeles, but it didn't work out. This year, she says, when she got the news, she didn't believe it.

"I thought one of my friends paid them to tell me that," she says. "My friends will go the extra mile for a prank, and I really didn't think I was going to make it on the show."

As the season continues, Milerman says she's comfortable with her portrayal on the show, but that as can be expected, there have been some interesting editing choices.

"The first episode was awful," she says with a laugh. "I didn't go home for three days. Finally, my mom called me to say that she saw it, and she still loved me. I think my portrayal is pretty accurate overall, though. I can be vulgar and crude, but I know exactly what kind of person I am."

With most of the season still ahead, Milerman says viewers have a lot to look forward to as cast members' skeletons are introduced. She adds that she's grateful for the experience.

"I realized I was becoming a person I didn't want to be," she says. "And this helped me veer from being a vain, rude person and be more conscious of other people's struggles."

photo courtest of MTV