The Real World often has cast members who are poor, down on their luck, or otherwise have some kind of real problem. The fact that they are all good-looking is due to the main audience being teenagers and college students, Very few of them are your typical spoiled rich kids and the ones that are for the most part remain ignored by the story writers in favor of other cast members with real, more interesting problems. The show has always been about people interacting and watching the drama of people with conflicting morals unfold. That's why there's always a gay/black/minority character of some kind, so that the house ISN'T just pretty white kids with problems. This season's a pretty good example of that with half the house being spoiled and lazy while the other half is hard-working and has had to tough it out to make anything of themselves. It's not a coincidence that they chose a guy whose parents did drugs and neglect their kids. It's not a coincidence that Joey is an alcoholic whose had bouts with homelessness and joblessness. They chose him because they knew those things would generate real drama, not the fake drama you find on The Hills and other similarly stupid shows.