This is the premise of a new reality TV show being filmed at Elizabethtown College. The Office of Community Living and ECTV have joined together to create a reality tv show based in the Royer Residence Hall. The new show, which will be titled “The Real Royer,” will film the lives of the students living in Royer while in quarantine, and will offer the College a new source of funding.
“Many of us are huge reality tv show fans,” Director of Community Living Jennifer Crowder said. “We thought, what better way to relate to students than to create our own Etown version of reality tv, and really let students see a different side of community living?”
The Office of Community Living staff are all big fans of “The Bachelor,” according to Crowder, and they are hoping “The Real Royer” will find similar success.
“We do a lot of roommate matching, so we’re kinda like Match.com,” Crowder said. “So let’s try this with Royer. Why not?”
The show wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of Etown alumni, many of whom hold fond memories of their time living in Royer. According to Crowder, the alumni really helped bring it all together and made Etown aware of the show’s potential to be a new source of revenue.
Of course, as with all fundraising efforts, Etown had to consider whether it would cost more money than it would raise. Thankfully, the partnership with the student-run Etown TV station, ECTV, has kept production costs for the show low. Members of ECTV have said they are excited for the production opportunity. Despite the demanding hours required to film a reality TV show, these students are happy to have the opportunity to work on a project like this.
“[I work] only like 14 hours a day,” first-year and ECTV cameraperson Karlie Fromm said. “[I get] just the enjoyment of doing it.”
“I’m excited to see people acting out their day-to-day lives, and to get a chance to take the production to the next level,” senior ECTV member Miranda Fedor said.
The interactions between people in quarantine will definitely make “The Real Royer” stand out from the many other reality tv shows out there, but the dorm was chosen prior to the pandemic.
“Reality tv requires good drama, which is why we chose Royer,” Crowder said. “Not only is she haunted, but she sometimes gives students just a little bit more to talk about than in some of the other residence halls. Now, we hadn’t predicted that a pandemic was going to happen when we started to consider this, but we took advantage.”
All of the participants in the reality tv show are students from Etown who have either contracted or come into contact with COVID-19.
“We had to have willing participants, which is why students have a choice to either go into Royer and participate in the reality show or go home,” Crowder said. “So we’re not forcing anybody to do this.”
Despite that choice being available to any student who needs to quarantine, not all students in Royer are particularly happy with their decision. The process of filming the show has come with unique difficulties, according to ECTV staff. Whenever the film crew enter Royer, they have to go through the lengthy process of suiting up in personal protective equipment, but the challenges do not stop once they are inside the building.
“It’s really hard to mic people when they have COVID,” Fromm said. “They just want to be left alone. Which makes sense, cause they’re in quarantine.”
Fedor echoed Fromm’s statement.
“They don’t want anything to do with us,” Fedor said. “Following around people with cameras is more challenging than [filming] in the studio.”
So what can viewers expect from “The Real Royer?” Crowder said concerned parents have asked similar questions, but she remained firm that she could not share any of the spicy details just yet.
“What happens in Royer, stays in Royer, so I can’t really talk to them about it,” Crowder said. “They’ll just have to wait until it airs.”
