Name: Kevin Tracy
Age: 19
Hometown: St Paul, Minnesota
Major: Communication/Radio
Extracurricular activities: "I play on the club lacrosse team and the Hollywood Badgers out of Los Angeles."
# of roommates: "One the first semester. Now I’ve moved to a house with two roommates, it’s a lot better."
# of classes: "First semester I took three classes, right now I’m taking five."
Kevin Tracy is carefully edited on the show to come off as the classic party animal. He’s always drinking, alluding to smoking pot and generally getting into trouble. He blows off studying and is failing to get even the “gentleman’s Cs” he promised his mom. By his own admission, Kevin’s main focus that first semester of college was to have a good time, the equivalent of majoring in partying with a minor in chasing girls. However, underneath the surface bravado, I found a warm, friendly 19-year-old with good intentions who claims that he has already seen the error of his irresponsible ways and is working on addressing them this semester. Since he’s still filming the show, we’ll get to judge that for ourselves.
What was your first reaction and who was the first person you told when you found out that you were picked for the show?
K: Hahaha! That’s the big thing, even when they gave us the camera there was no idea if it was ever going to be on the air. In the beginning it was still a joke to us, so we didn’t filter anything and we might have shown some regrettable things. We partied pretty hard on it. I think the first person I called was my roommate.
Did the cast members hang out or know each other?
K: We met randomly a few times, and kind of all hung out once in a while but we’re all pretty different, we each have our own group of friends.
The girls are pretty cute, did you ever hit on any of them?
K: They are good-looking girls but…we’re a little different.
What do you think sets you apart from the rest of the cast?
K: As you can see there are the hard core churchgoers and the relationships. We have our own groups but they’re all really cool.
Why do you think you were chosen for the show?
K: I have no idea. My buddies and I all interviewed together, we thought it was a joke. We were bored the first couple of weeks before classes started, we thought, “why not?”
Since your friends interviewed with you, were they happy to help you?
K: Oh yeah, some of them were totally into it, they thought it was the coolest thing! Some just didn’t want to be on camera, but for the most part everyone was pretty helpful.
According to MTV, students do their own filming. How did you manage to film yourself while you were out?
K: Honestly, it was really really awkward! You had to hold it up in front of you, and try to film yourself by flipping the screen over. Or you could give it to a buddy sometimes, but it was really weird and awkward. For the most part I had no idea what I was doing.
How did College Life impact your relationships with your friends? Did you censor what you said on camera because you knew the whole world would see it?
K: For the first couple weeks of shooting, I had no idea we would get picked up. Then when we did I was thinking, “Wow, I really didn’t filter anything!”
Did you ever discuss with your friends what you’d be talking about and what conversations were off-limits during filming?
K: Obviously I would bring up extremely personal stuff about my friends, but when you have a camera the entire time, you get used to it. We just made sure we didn’t get too deep.
Did that create a distance between you and your friends because they didn’t know if it would be on national TV?
K: We got used to it quickly. It’s not an intimidating camera, it’s this little piece of crap camcorder. People were like, “Are you joking, this is for an MTV show?” No one took it seriously.
Was it awkward meeting new people?
K: It was totally awkward! It got to point where I knew how to introduce myself with a camera. I’d keep it down to my waist for a second, and introduce myself then ask “Hey, would you mind being on camera?”
Did MTV show you sneak peeks?
K: They’d show us little rough drafts but I actually never saw the whole thing until last night.
Did you TiVo it?
K: No I don’t have one. My mom will probably throw it in the memory box, she’s pretty cool.
Did the MTV crew ever interrupt filming, have you repeat scenes differently or do the filming for you?
K: No, it was like, “Drop off your stuff.” Sometimes they might give us a ride, or take us out to dinner. It’s a real pain in the ass to self-produce your own show with all the other college stuff going on; you get busy.
Did they ever suggest what you should focus on or film week-by-week?
K: We filmed everything so there wasn’t really a need for that. Maybe they’d say, “Have you never done your laundry? We want to see it on camera.” And I’d have to film myself doing my freakin’ laundry. We just put it all in.
Tell me the story of almost getting your ass kicked while filming…
K: A freshman dude is always the least wanted at a college party. Not only that, I had a camcorder, too. If I was a senior, I probably would have kicked my ass. Nobody knew it was for a show; once people started hearing about it, they were more chilled out.
Are you a celebrity on campus now?
K: Not really, I haven’t heard much about it. I stay away from the radio, they slaughter every show.
What was your main reason for doing the show? Would you do it again?
K: Definitely the financial situation, you get a TV and stuff just for carrying around a camera all the time. It was a different experience, a rare opportunity and before I knew it I was shirt deep and there was no turning back.
So they paid you?
K: I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk about the money.
How was the adjustment from metropolitan St. Paul to the little town of Madison?
K: I’ve lived in nine different states, so moving is really not a big deal to me. Before St. Paul I lived in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, it’s a small town outside Birmingham. They have a “western supermarket.”
Why did you move around so much?
K: My dad works for TV and he had opportunities in different states. Right now he works for the CWT station in the Twin Cities.
Is that what you want to do?
K: I decided on communication but I’m unsure what field I’ll get into, whether it’ll be radio, film or TV. It’s up in the air.
Did you get into other schools? What were your top choices?
K: My first choice was Villanova, but I couldn’t afford it. At one point I wanted to join the Marines. I had a hard time deciding what I was going to do after high school.
What made you ultimately choose Madison?
K: It’s an amazing public school, it was close to home, and of course, the in-state tuition definitely helped.
How many hours do you spend studying outside of class per week on average?
K: This week I pulled an all-nighter in the library for psychology. I don’t know, but I study a good bit now.
Explain how you went from Advanced Placement math in high school to almost flunking in college.
K: In high school, I kind of did the “senior slide” and dropped out of my general math [class]. Then when I came to Madison I tested into 221, which is this ridiculously hard class. I struggled in the beginning because I had to learn a whole lot of high school-level math before I was able to catch up.
Did you have to drop the class that came up in the first episode?
K: No, I ended up passing it.
Was your promise to make “gentleman’s Cs” a joke, or is that really all you think your parents expect of you?
K: I had the mindset of having a really good time in college. I wasn’t concerned with the grade aspect until [I] found out about it. I’ve changed my ways now.
Five classes is nothing to sneeze at, has the partying calmed down a bit?
K: Oh absolutely, it was such a reality check!
How’s it going with the ladies? What’s your status?
K: I’m single, I’m not looking for anyone in particular, no girlfriend.
Do you want a girlfriend?
K: If it’s there, maybe I’ll find the right girl.
I saw on your bio that you like Seth Rogen.
K: Oh yeah, he’s my man! I’m a big Seth Rogen fan.
What do you think he’s like as real person?
K: He’s got a pretty good setup! He gets to come up with funny movies, make them and then make a lot of money off them. The writing is excellent and it’s just a cool gig.
Do you think you’re like him?
K: Yeah, we would be friends.
Are you happy with the scenes chosen for the first episode?
K: Yeah, they got some entertaining stuff, I thought it was pretty funny. It’s kind of cool to watch stuff from the second week of school now. The whole math thing was beyond me. I pretty much put all my effort into that math class. Besides getting into trouble and struggling with grades, I was having the time of my life.
You did your own filming—do you think your life was accurately portrayed, or was it misrepresented through editing?
K: It’s not the Discovery Channel. The show is not going to be me studying, it’s going to be the juiciest, most entertaining stuff. It was filmed over six months, edited into eight or nine half-hour episodes. No one wants to watch me reading. Since I’m not having relationship troubles or struggling with being a virgin, I got the drinking side, the party side. You’ll see that after the first semester, the partying goes down and other stuff happens. There’s a lot going on, it’s been a long time, so throughout the episodes you’ll see a change in everybody. It makes it interesting, keeps it fresh. Keep it real, haha.
What’s your favorite thing about college so far?
K: Meeting new people. I came here not knowing anybody at all and I’ve met some good buddies here, it’s been a good time.
What’s 1 thing you’d flush from the whole experience if you could?
K: Math, absolutely! Math 221.
What would I find in your refrigerator right now?
K: Salsa, eggs, beer, I’ve got my Pabst, milk, there’re some funky looking leftovers in the back corner, cream cheese, and some tomato sauce.
Do the cameras make you a better or a worse student?
K: By now it’s second nature, it’s not affecting much except for a couple little things.
What’s the biggest thing you’ll take from the college experience?
K: It was a lot of fun but it’s also hard work. The independence thing is really cool, working and trying to balance everything.
What’s an episode that we should definitely NOT miss?
K: Hopefully Halloween will get on the show, and that’s one you can’t miss.
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