Rachel Campos-Duffy
Rachel Campos (October 22, 1971 in Tempe, Arizona), was a castmate on The Real World: San Francisco, the third season of MTV's long-running reality television show.
Campos is a conservative, Cuban-American Republican, and in her time on the show, tried to break the stereotype that Republicans are "very suburban and Laura Ashley" by getting a tattoo and acting "open and free and running around," according to her castmate Pam Ling. During her stay in the Real World house, Campos also got her belly button pierced, to which her mother responded by telling her that her piercings and tattoos are for low class people with low IQs.
Rachel and her castmate David "Puck" Rainey flirted in the beginnings of the show. They were shown kissing, and despite previously assuring Rachel that he would not reveal their kiss to the others, later did so anyway after tensions between him and Rachel later grew. Rachel later said she regretted kissing him.
In the premiere, Campos’ roommate, AIDS educator Pedro Zamora, informed the housemates, by showing them his scrapbook of his career as an educator, that he had AIDS. Although the castmates were informed ahead of time that they would be living with someone who was HIV-positive, Rachel was made uncomfortable by this, and initially distanced herself from Pedro, stating that she wanted to know how this will affect her, but said nothing to the others for fear of seeming intolerant. Nonetheless, Pedro took this as an act of rejection on her part. The two eventually formed a rapport, and he educated her on AIDS. He accompanied Rachel on her visit to her family in Arizona, and while her Cuban-American family is very conservative (their cat is named George Bush), they were accepting of Pedro. By the end of the show, Rachel expressed greater education about AIDS, but Pedro told her that he was disappointed they could not become better friends.
In another episode, Rachel invited her roommate Judd Winick and other housemates to a College Republicans function. Judd said the panel of speakers were sexist and racist, which Rachel saw as unfair.
After the Real World
After her stint on The Real World ended, while the fifth season of the show (set in Miami) was being filmed, Campos was in a serious car accident. She sustained injuries to her leg, and the other passengers in the car, including her fiance at the time, were killed. Rachel later met Sean Duffy of the Real World: Boston cast. They eventually married, and now have two daughters and a son. They live in Wisconsin, where Sean is an attorney. Rachel was ridiculed because she became pregnant with their first child before they married, which some felt did not coincide with her Republican values. [citation needed]
Campos twice auditioned for the daytime television talk show The View. The first time, she was not hired in favor of Lisa Ling. The second time, the new co-host picked was Elizabeth Hasselbeck.