Recently, with hit shows like "Survivor" and "Big Brother," we've made it evident that we're obsessed with other people's lives. Voyeurism is in, and ratings are up.

The start of this phenomenon can be traced back almost a decade. From the moment it debuted in 1992, MTV's "The Real World" has been turning ordinary 20-somethings into celebrities. People all over the world are transfixed by the show that puts seven young strangers together in a house, taping them while they eat, sleep, fight, love, and have fun. For better or worse, real-life TV in America can be credited to the same network that made Milli Vanilli famous.

On June 13, MTV premiered the first episode of the show's ninth season, set in New Orleans. Julie Stoffer, the now famous Mormon college student from Delafield, is representing Wisconsin. And though it is not the first time someone from Wisconsin is in the cast, it is the first time so much hoopla has surrounded them. But our fine state certainly deserves it, as does the person receiving all the attention.

In the beginning, it looked like it might not happen at all. "You know, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to do the whole 'Real World' thing," Julie explains. "I asked my brother if he thought I should, and he told me to go for it, so I did."

After the decision was made, the media came calling and stardom soon followed. Thanks to her brother Alan, Julie is able to handle it. "My brother is my bodyguard," Julie says. "When I go to concerts and stuff and start getting mobbed, he takes care of me." But she does enjoy all this extra attention. "It's cool; I like it."

Julie got much more out of the show than merely being thrust into the national spotlight. "The best part of being on the show was the trip to Africa," she says. "We did so much, and had so many experiences. I saw a whole different side of the world. It was eye opening."

On the other hand, she wishes more exciting things had happened in New Orleans, and admits she didn't like everything about the show. "I didn't like sitting around the house doing nothing and I didn' like going out to eat," Julie says. "I just didn't like that my roommates were boring. It wasn't even them really, it was like they'd get into this slump. I called it camera paralysis. Nobody wanted to do anything crazy because we were on camera."

When you're on the heavily-planned show, you can't just get up and go somewhere as a group, Julie found. "It was so much work and effort to do anything. You had to call the producers. It wasn't even that much work; it was just one phone call. But people would be lazy and wouldn't want to do it. And I would want to do something, do New Orleans things, and we'd all just end up going out to eat. So I hated going out to eat. I hated not playing. I would want to go out and play and explore, and they were more into going out to eat and to a movie."

For Julie, New Orleans itself was a new and exciting place, and she liked it a lot. "It was really fun. Jamie (another cast member) and I explored it up and down. I think we saw everything there was to see."

Her brother also got to see The Big Easy. His band, Zero to Nothing, played on Bourbon St. and Julie performed with them. "They let me play a song with them and it was really cool. I was thinking that this is best thing ever."