Fraternity Life is a reality

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 television show that aired on MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 from February 26, 2003 to January 1, 2005. The show consisted of college boys pledging to become part of a fraternity

Fraternities and sororities

Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...

. The show was a spin-off

Spin-off (media)

In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 of Sorority Life

Sorority Life

Sorority Life is a reality television show on MTV that aired from June 24, 2002 to 2004. The show consisted of girls pledging to become part of a sorority.-First season:The first season occurred at University of California, Davis...

.

First season

The first season occurred at the University at Buffalo. It followed college students pledging for the Sigma Chi Omega fraternity. The fraternity ended up getting in trouble for illegal hazing

Hazing

Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....

 and breaking into the Buffalo Zoo

Buffalo Zoo

Founded in 1875, the Buffalo Zoo located in Buffalo, New York is the third oldest zoo in the United States. Each year, the Buffalo Zoo welcomes approximately 400,000 visitors and is the second largest tourist attraction in Western New York, second only to Niagara Falls...

. The fraternity has subsequently regained "on campus" status and is currently in "normal" standing with the University.

Second season

The second season occurred at the University of California, Santa Cruz

University of California, Santa Cruz

The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...

. It followed college students pledging the Delta Omega Chi fraternity. Once again, the show got in trouble with the university. Two frat brothers stole a koi

Koi

or more specifically , are ornamental varieties of domesticated common carp that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens....

named Goldie from a pond on campus and barbecued it and ate it. This led to protests and eventually the revoking of the fraternity's charter by the university.

The second season was also notable for featuring the first openly gay person, Keldon Clegg, to appear on either the Fraternity Life or Sorority Life series.