If you haven't been tuning in to The Real World's Ex-Plosion season since its premiere last month, it looks like you might literally be the only one: According to Variety, The Real World: Ex-Plosion is producing some explosive ratings, as in the best that the series has seen in over three years — meaning, MTV's little experiment of bringing back the cast's exes might have just saved the entire series from cancellation.
This news isn't particularly surprising when you think about it: The show is in its 29th season now, and they've gotten to the point where they're even repeating cities (San Francisco this season vs. in 1994 for The Real World: San Francisco ), so it's understandable that the show would need a change to get people interested again. Especially after the premiere of Jersey Shore, when The Real World promptly devolved into a booze-fest for drunken hot messes compared to the thought-provoking, realistic series it once was during the Pedro Zamora days. Sure, the twist with the exes didn't exactly bring The Real World any closer to that, but it did shake things up, which is good enough.
So, what are the ratings now? Apparently, last Wednesday's episode — when the exes were revealed to the cast members — pulled in 1.5 million viewers, which made it the top program in its timeslot and the second-best cable series on Wednesdays for viewers in its target demographic: ages 12-34. Even better, ratings have been growing since the premiere in Jan., so it's likely that they'll just keep getting better as the season goes on (if the drama keeps delivering as it has). Don't count The Real World out just yet!
Image: MTV
