Real World DC’s ’Mike-sexual’’ Manning
The evolution of the District is fast-paced these days. The population is growing, streetcars are on their way, and there’s once again a first lady in the White House who makes fashion-news headlines. And for the first time since its 1992 debut, MTV’s Real World landed in Washington.
From summer through fall last year, eight housemates lived at 2000 S St. NW. Habitués of D.C.’s gay nightlife would surely have seen the crew pile into any number of nightspots during the course of the filming. And if they were following all the Real World blogs, they quite likely knew that Mike Manning possibly had more reason than the rest to hit the gay spots.
The 22-year-old with the "boy next door" looks, hailing from Thornton, Colo., and taking time off from the University of Northern Colorado to live his life minute-by-minute for the cameras, came out as bisexual not long before filming began.
And D.C. suited him just fine.
"I actually did a lot of networking while I was here and I met a lot of people," Manning said during a visit to Metro Weekly offices the night after the show’s Dec. 30 premiere party at Halo. "I actually hung out with people who live in D.C. almost as much as I hung out with the roommates. I love handing out business cards and shaking hands and meeting people. I think by the time I left D.C. I had a hundred new contacts in my Gmail account."
Between socializing, his jobs with the Human Rights Campaign and the Energy Action Coalition, the gym and church, Manning became so rooted in the District that he wants to return for good. And whether it’s athletic accolades or academic honor rolls, the dynamic young man seems to get what he goes after -- in other words, plan on seeing more of Manning about town in May after he earns his business degree.
Heated argument
METRO WEEKLY: Watching the debut episode, your debate about God at Buca di Beppo got pretty heated. Were you raised in a particularly religious home?
MIKE MANNING: For most of my childhood, my family would pray on Christmas and Thanksgiving. We would go to church on Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve, stuff like that. But we weren’t the "every Sunday" kind of family.
Then, in middle school, I started going to youth group with some of my friends. I became really close with my youth pastor and he taught me about the Bible. In high school I found a church and went about once a month. It was really welcoming, a "come as you are" type of church. Those are my favorite kind of churches, the ones that say, "We’re not going to judge you. We’ll read you Scripture and try to educate you in the ways of the Bible and improve you as a person."
In my junior year of college, my father got involved with a church band. He’s an executive by day, musician by night. [Laughs.] He plays the guitar and does vocals. That gave him a reason to go. My mom started going every Sunday to watch him, and then my brother and my sister started going. Now we all go to the same church every Sunday. It’s a new church to me, because it’s not the one I went to in high school.
MW: I guess that covers your relationship with the church. What about with the Real World? How familiar were you with the show before you were a part of it?
MANNING: I knew kind of the idea that it was a documentary, that they have some sort of situation where people live in a house and they tape them. That’s all I knew. It was very vague.
My buddy calls me and says, "Hey, I heard about an audition for Real World. It’s tomorrow in Boulder." That’s about 45 minutes away from us in Greeley. I was like, "Aw, man, that stuff’s crap. Nobody watches that anymore. Why would we waste our time?" He’s like, "I’ll buy you lunch. I don’t want to do it alone." And I said okay.
So I showed up at the audition and I wasn’t really taking anything seriously. The casting director asked me some questions, and I was being honest thinking that it wouldn’t lead to anything. "I’m just here with my friend, you know? Moral support. Can you just send me on my way?" And then he called me back.
MW: Were you surprised?
MANNING: Yeah. Like, honestly, I’m not that exciting. [Laughs.] Why do they keep calling me? I talked to my parents about it and I was like, "Don’t worry, guys. This isn’t going to happen." They were reserved about it. I actually came out to them a few months before that, so it was very recent. Story continues on next page.
Watch the heated debate over religion between the Real World: DC housemates:
