MTV has been a TV pioneer in many respects, including launching reality TV in America with “The Real World.” Despite having varied and countless reality TV descendants, the original is still going strong with “The Real World: Las Vegas,” airing at 9 p.m. Tuesdays.
To millions of viewers, Arissa has been the cast’s firecracker, the sensitive tough girl who blurts out “the good with the bad,” the girl who will throw a punch if someone disses her in a club and then cries about it during an on-camera confession.
To family and friends in her hometown of Malden, Mass., she is Arissa Hill, a bright 23-year-old homegirl raised by a single mom, Karen Hill. She is a young woman with an electric smile who took a gamble on modeling and reality TV, succeeding at both. Last February, Hill got her chance at stardom when she won a coveted spot as one of seven 20-somethings packed in a Vegas high-roller suite for five months in MTV’s signature soap-opera verite. Now, midway through the show’s 22-episode season, Arissa wonders where her life will lead post-“Real World.” She is about to become the newest member of another graduating class of reality stars, all of whom hope that America’s being on a first-name basis with them will vault them to full-fledged stardom.
“We hope it turns the corner for her,” said her father, Joseph Iantosca, a retiree who tunes in every week to see what his daughter is up to in Las Vegas. “She has always wanted something like this.”
“Even when she had no front teeth, she had never gone through an awkward stage,” said Karen Hill, her mother. “She was a beautiful child, even at age 2.”
Half African-American and half Italian, Arissa blossomed into a stunning, 5-foot-9-inch woman with a Colgate smile in her teen years and began modeling in high school, continuing in college.
“It just seemed like it would be the experience of a lifetime, ” said Arissa, of her chance to be on “The Real World.” A fan of the show since she was 12, she’s also had a burning desire to move out of what she calls “the projects.”
Home now is Las Vegas, where Arissa has stayed since the show wrapped this summer. She is hoping to ride the wave of fame and parlay that into a modeling career. She has launched a Web site, www.arissahill.com, and has singing and acting on her radar.
“I’m not afraid of anything anymore,” she says. “I have come to a point where I am going to go and do everything I want to do. That has made the world of difference in everything since the show.”
