Photo Credit: Nia Moore
At the start of season 28 of the Real World Portland, we were introduced to 7 new people and a dog. Within one episode a roommate dropped and MTV blessed us all with the presance of Nia, also known to most as Hurricane Nia. Each week we watch Nia shake things up and bring entertainment, conversation, and excitement to the Portland house. We had the chance to catch up with the star of the Real World Portland and talk about her experience, her 6 audition tapes, and of course her relatioinship with the houses' tiniest roommate, Daisy.
Photo Credit: Nia Moore
ThisISPOP: What made you decide to audition for the Real World?
Nia: I have always wanted to do it since I was a little kid, I
was like “That’s an awesome idea to go and I obviously get away from the real
world for 3 months, you get to go on vacation and meet new people and be in
front of the world and grow up.” I always wanted to do it but, I could never
really do it all these years because I played volleyball and I couldn’t just quit
school and go on the show; so I decided
to just wait until I graduated. I graduated last year in 2011 (from Howard Uninversity). Last summer was
the perfect time for me, because I decided to take a break from working a real corporate
job in journalism and I was like you know what “I’m really going to go for
this thing.” So I waited for the casting to come around and I ended up on the
show. Two weeks in, but better later than never!
ThisISPOP: How did MTV approach you for the show? Were you always casted
or was it a decision made due to one of the roommates leaving?
Nia: (Laughter) I say I was always going to be on the show. I’ve
had some of my roommates in the house try and diss me and say “oh your'e just a
replacement” and I’m like “Even within two weeks on the show I still came on
this thing and stole the whole show from all of you here” so being a
replacement doesn’t matter. At the end of the day it’s who makes the show worth
watching and that’s me and I’m not afraid to admit it. There were some people
who were boring, not all of the people but just some of the roommates (just the
ones I didn’t get along with and just irrelevant to the show)
I was definitely a finalist, even though I wasn’t part of the original 8, I
knew I was going to be picked for the show and they were going to call me. So
when they called me I was like “Hell yeah”
Photo Credit: Nia Moore
ThisISPOP: How many audition tapes did you do? Just 1, It looks like
you had a lot of different footage.
Nia: I did 6 audition tapes and for me! Everyone is like they
only ask you for one and I’m like why would I just do what they expect and
what everyone else is doing? So I went to the open calls when they came to
Atlanta and basically used my resources. I went online and Facebook and talked
to people who had been on the Real World before and the only advice they would
really give me is to go to the open call. I’m so glad that they did. I wouldn’t
have gone because I figured since I made so many tapes that would be
enough. I went to the open calls just so
I could make a face to face impression and I’m so glad they did that because I’m
sure they were tired of watching my tapes. I was like “they know this girl
clearly wants to do it.”
I really didn’t think you guys would see all of that stuff
in my audition tapes. Normally they don’t broadcast that, so when my dad saw
the clip he was like “Really Nia that’s all you like, a huge dick and food.”
And Im like yes those are two things I love. But I really didn’t think it would
be shown to the world like that but oh well! I went into the experience totally
open and I’ll take the good with the bad.
ThisISPOP: Was it hard filming and driving? The majority of the footage
seemed like it was filmed in the car!
Nia: I basically put my MacBook computer on my dashboard, because
I had an idea of all this shit I wanted to say and it just became too
overwhelming so I was like fuck that… so I just threw it away and I just pushed
play and just recorded myself at different times in different days and
different situations happening and what was going on in my life. I always felt,
my life was made for TV, people would always tell me, you have so much drama, and
you’re so made for this. So if that’s the case and that’s the truth I’m just
going to talk about the shit that is going on in my real life and who I really
am. What you see on that tape is definitely me.
Photo Credit: Nia Moore
Photo Credit: Nia Moore
ThisISPOP: On your debut episode, you could see that all of the
roommates were plotting to guess how you would really be after your southern “half
white and Cherokee” phone call. You could see that some of the girls already
had pre conceived notions about you. At your first look, could you tell which
roommates you would vibe with and which ones you would clash with?
Nia: Right off the back no, because I went into the experience
like “I’m about to have 7 new friends, if somebody jumped ship along the way
fuck it”. I went into it giving everyone
an equal opportunity to show me the good side of them. When I walked in the house everybody had
something negative to say about Jordan, it’s like I couldn’t unpack my suitcase
before I heard some of the roommates saying negative things about him. For me I know how human nature is, so I knew
there was a chance that the boys wanted to be him, and the girls wanted to fuck
him maybe because he is an athletic guy, very articulate and comes from a well-kept
family. So when I saw him, I felt that he was such a sweet guy, I didn’t see
what they saw. That is where I felt like I’m going to wait for this kid to do
something to me; I’m not going to believe what these punk ass girls are saying.
They were very sensitive, the girls I lived in the house
with were all sensitive females, and I’m just not used to girls like that. This
is why me and Joi are so close. We never
met on the show, she and I were so similar, out of everyone in the house I
would say that she would be the girl that I would probably hang out with in
real life. I wanted to find something I had in common with all of those girls…which
I did. I found something I had in common with Anastasia, Jess. It’s just funny
seeing that they had all these negative pre conceived notions about me, just
saying hi. They basically just really racially profiled me, many people don’t
want to talk about it but had I been a blonde hair, blue eyed white girl they
wouldn’t have been so quick to say that she is going to have problems or Jess
saying “She looks like she parties too much” What the fuck does party too much
mean first of all? Then Anastasia and Avery saying in the bathroom that she is
going to pick fights, and two seconds later after we had a few drinks they are
like “OMG you’re so awesome” again why did you have to think the stereotype
that all black girls are loud and crazy and mean an violent? That’s not me at all. I am such a down to
earth cool person; I don’t get into confrontations unless I have to defend
myself. I am not a starter but I am a great finisher.
Photo Credit: Nia Moore
ThisISPOP: You chose to talk about a very personal subject really early
into your Real World experience. How did you decide to talk about your past
sexual assault?
Nia: When I first started talking about it, me and Marlon were
having a really deep conversation, he was telling me about his life and we came
full circle into the conversation about something I don’t talk about especially
to the whole world. Half of my school didn’t know this, some of my friends
didn’t know this I kept a small circle of people who had to be involved, people
who were tied to the incident and my friends and my sisters. I tried to sweep
it under the rug because I thought it was embarrassing. When I saw the episode
playback I was like “ooo I totally forgot.” I talked about it in my audition
tape, but in that I was brutally honest and I never thought that anyone would
see that but the producers. That’s part
of me that I thought no one would ever see, it’s not like I was going to go out
to the world and talk about it again.
When I saw it playback I was like “Damn now I don’t want
people feeling sorry for me and calling me like “I heard what happened.” This
happened when I was 18/19 years old, I don’t want people to think that I’m some
broken, scorned woman; I definitely survived it and changed for the better.
This is the point where I realized that me talking about it, there are so many
woman and men who went through situations like mine and were too afraid, or
embarrassed or don’t know if anyone would believe them, or for whatever reason.
I felt like this was my story and my truth, so If someone wanted to come out
and say “She is a bold faced liar, she really is a gold digging whore.” I could
say I don’t care, I know my truth I know what I went through, with the trail
and the whole situation. I want everyone to know, you can’t run from these
situations. For me I looked on the brightside because you don’t know how many
times you watched a movie and seen a girl get raped, or killed or tossed in the
gutter or catch a disease, there are so many other things that could have
happened. I was fine, I was more angry with myself that I let it happen. I felt
like,” you know what Nia had you not left your drink around some guy that you
barley even knew, and giving someone the benefit of the doubt when you don’t
know him, this wouldn’t have happened.”
ThisISPOP: Are you still friends with any of your roommates? Did you and Daisy ever start to get along?
Nia: I am friends with the majority of the people that I lived
with. Daisy that is like my godchild I don’t care if I ever see her parents
again, Daisy will always be in my heart. She slept in my bed 90 percent of the
time I was in Portland; her parents slept together in the bed right next to mine.
They were always doing their thing, but when I started feeding her that was my
way of being like “I could always keep this bitch with me” she was more of my
dog than their's. I had my own little call, but she definitely ran when things
got crazy.
ThisISPOP: Would you do your Real World experience again?
Nia:Yes! I would totally do it again. I had the time of my life
for good and bad reasons, but that’s just life in general. I feel like the stuff that went on in the
house, other than the physical stuff was just normal life for me anyways. Just
wild fun, drunken parties, boy problems, all that stuff is just typical 23 year
old stuff. I was comfortable as hell as
you could tell in the first 5 minutes. I did a show before that called The
Choice, basically if you have stage fright this is how you get over it. The cameras
are everywhere; it’s literally like moving plant in the room.
ThisISPOP: What is next for Hurricane Nia? Is there a possible spin off
in the works?
Nia: I would love a spin off! If everything works out that will
be my next project. My book soon, once in for all is coming out. “How to play
the game” it is the ultimate playbook on how to date and keep a professional
athlete. It was pretty much an investigative journalist project of mines but I guarantee
it’s never been done before and there are so many people who have questions.
All direct interviews I conducted with the players and their wives and
mistresses about what it takes to be in that type of relationship. Of course more TV, modeling and acting!
ThisISPOP: When all of the Real World Portland episodes air, what do
you want people to think of you?
Nia: I get this all the time, "you’re so nice you’re so cool, not
like the girl I saw on the show.” But people have to remember you only got 5 percent
of everything that is filmed. It’s impossible to tell the whole story of
everything that was filmed. I have always held myself accountable and I’ve
always held myself self-aware on doing the right thing, and speaking before I
act, but I’m not perfect so I know the people who know me know me and think very highly of me, that
because how I walked through life before I walked on the show.
"But I say before you
get to know me hang out, smoke a blunt have a drink, talk to me before you
assume what you see on TV is 100 percent accurate and me. It’s just television!"
