Tonya Cooley
Encyclopedia
Tonya Cooley was a cast member on MTV
's reality television
series, The Real World: Chicago
, the 11th season of The Real World
, which aired in 2002. She has since been a regular on the spin-off
series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge
, participating in eight challenges as of 2009. She also posed for Playboy
as a Cyber Girl of the Week
and appeared in an episode of the Cinemax adult series The Erotic Traveler.
. At the time she began filming The Real World: Chicago, she claims to have never interacted with African-Americans and gay
people, and had rarely been apart from her boyfriend
, Justin. She did not socialize as much as her housemates, who often alienated
her because they felt that she could be judgmental and overly dramatic at times. She was hospitalized three times during the season because of kidney stone
s, and even left to go home for about a week. She got into arguments with roommate Theo Gantt III, including one which a glass was thrown, as well as with roommates Aneesa Ferreira and Cara Kahn. Her constant use of the phone when talking with Justin upset her housemates. Her breast implants were also a subject of much conversation as she would often go on about how she was flat broke yet had implants in her breasts worth thousands of dollars.
, and became playful with Challenge veteran Veronica Portillo
. In the early stage of the game, she injured her leg during a challenge, and had to wear a leg-cast while waiting for a comprehensive assessment of her leg. This scared her Real World team, and they opted to vote her into the Gauntlet. Angry and upset, she proceeded to the Gauntlet and lost. This would be third time she would be sick or hurt in front of the MTV cameras. (In Battle of the Sexes, she also had to wear a leg cast, but it did not affect her position).
, Veronica
, and Rachel Robinson. However her determination and marked improvement on the challenge did not go unnoticed. She even went as far, in a challenge requiring the competing teams to procure a cell phone encased in a block of ice by melting it, to put rocks in her mouth to try to melt it. However, her inability to step up as a leader as well as her waning prowess also did not go unnoticed. Her notable argument with Road Ruler Tina Barta became a staple on the show. She was voted off toward the end of the Challenge.
, Rachel Robinson, and Tina Barta began to harass Tonya, who referred to the three as the "Mean Girls
." In the challenges, Tonya fluctuated from remarkable to disastrous. She won two Infernos, sending two girls home, and made it to the final challenge, but her team lost.
's True Life
that Fresh Meat would be her last challenge.
.
series Erotic Traveler, which premiered February 9, 2007. She has also appeared as a celebrity interviewer in Girls Gone Wild
commercials in 2007
, while passed out.
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....
's reality television
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...
series, The Real World: Chicago
The Real World: Chicago
The Real World: Chicago is the eleventh season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
, the 11th season of The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
, which aired in 2002. She has since been a regular on the 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...
series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge
Real World/Road Rules Challenge
The Challenge is a reality television game show on MTV that is both dependent on and spun off from the network's two flagship reality shows, The Real World and the now cancelled series, Road Rules. It is currently hosted by T.J...
, participating in eight challenges as of 2009. She also posed for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
as a Cyber Girl of the Week
Playboy Cyber Club
The Playboy Cyber Club is the subscription based premium service portion of Playboy Online that serves as an online complement to Playboy magazine, the U.S. and World's biggest selling men's magazine. It debuted in 1995 as part of Playboy Online and continues as its premium service today...
and appeared in an episode of the Cinemax adult series The Erotic Traveler.
The Real World: Chicago
Tonya Cooley hails from Walla Walla, WashingtonWalla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
. At the time she began filming The Real World: Chicago, she claims to have never interacted with African-Americans and gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
people, and had rarely been apart from her boyfriend
Boyfriend
A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed relationships, where other titles A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed...
, Justin. She did not socialize as much as her housemates, who often alienated
Social alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
her because they felt that she could be judgmental and overly dramatic at times. She was hospitalized three times during the season because of kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
s, and even left to go home for about a week. She got into arguments with roommate Theo Gantt III, including one which a glass was thrown, as well as with roommates Aneesa Ferreira and Cara Kahn. Her constant use of the phone when talking with Justin upset her housemates. Her breast implants were also a subject of much conversation as she would often go on about how she was flat broke yet had implants in her breasts worth thousands of dollars.
Battle of the Sexes
Though not most notable for her appearance on this season, Tonya competed and was the eighth girl to be voted off. Tonya is most remembered from this season for not going to Puck's wedding. Additionally, she refused to participate in a challenge that involved nudity, contrasting her actions in later years which included posing for Playboy.The Gauntlet
For the next Challenge, Cooley became friends with Coral SmithCoral Smith
Coral Jeanne Smith is an American reality television personality known as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: Back to New York, and for her appearances on various seasons of The Real World's spin-off show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge...
, and became playful with Challenge veteran Veronica Portillo
Veronica Portillo
Veronica Portillo is an American reality television participant, Playboy model, and co-creator of the College Dropout t-shirt line.-Road Rules:...
. In the early stage of the game, she injured her leg during a challenge, and had to wear a leg-cast while waiting for a comprehensive assessment of her leg. This scared her Real World team, and they opted to vote her into the Gauntlet. Angry and upset, she proceeded to the Gauntlet and lost. This would be third time she would be sick or hurt in front of the MTV cameras. (In Battle of the Sexes, she also had to wear a leg cast, but it did not affect her position).
Battle of the Sexes 2
In this Challenge, Cooley becomes more of a nuisance to the girls, more specifically onetime friends CoralCoral Smith
Coral Jeanne Smith is an American reality television personality known as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: Back to New York, and for her appearances on various seasons of The Real World's spin-off show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge...
, Veronica
Veronica Portillo
Veronica Portillo is an American reality television participant, Playboy model, and co-creator of the College Dropout t-shirt line.-Road Rules:...
, and Rachel Robinson. However her determination and marked improvement on the challenge did not go unnoticed. She even went as far, in a challenge requiring the competing teams to procure a cell phone encased in a block of ice by melting it, to put rocks in her mouth to try to melt it. However, her inability to step up as a leader as well as her waning prowess also did not go unnoticed. Her notable argument with Road Ruler Tina Barta became a staple on the show. She was voted off toward the end of the Challenge.
The Inferno II
In this Challenge, tensions arose between her and Tina Barta. Fellow Bad Ass team member Beth Stolarczyk instigated an animosity on the part of Robin Hibbard toward Cooley by telling Hibbard that Cooley bragged about a relationship she had with Hibbard's boyfriend, Mark Long. Hibbard angrily excoriated Cooley, who denied Stolarczyk's allegations, to which Hibbard responded by calling her a whore and a liar. When Cooley confronted a sleeping Stolarczyk, she was coy and refused to answer. In a fit of pique, Cooley took Stolarczyk's luggage and valuables and threw them all in the pool. Stolarczyk left the show as a result and took legal action. Veronica PortilloVeronica Portillo
Veronica Portillo is an American reality television participant, Playboy model, and co-creator of the College Dropout t-shirt line.-Road Rules:...
, Rachel Robinson, and Tina Barta began to harass Tonya, who referred to the three as the "Mean Girls
Mean Girls
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is based in part on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate and the effect they can have...
." In the challenges, Tonya fluctuated from remarkable to disastrous. She won two Infernos, sending two girls home, and made it to the final challenge, but her team lost.
Fresh Meat
She was partnered with Johnnie. Their pair was fourth to be eliminated, but Tonya improved greatly on this challenge. Even though she and her partner did not win any of the challenges during Fresh Meat, they came close several times. She claimed on her appearance on MTVMTV
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....
's True Life
True Life
True Life is a documentary series running on MTV since 1998. Each episode follows a particular topic, such as heroin addiction as in the first episode, "Fatal Dose." The show is created by following a series of subjects by a camera crew through a certain part of their lives.-Topics covered:True...
that Fresh Meat would be her last challenge.
The Inferno III
Despite claiming that Fresh Meat would be her last appearance on the Challenges , Tonya participated on the third Inferno as part of the Bad-Ass team. Before coming onto the show she was married. She developed an animosity between her and Susie Meister who offended Tonya claiming her shampoo made her "smell like a stripper, but in a good way." She also developed a friendship with Jenn Grijalva. After six challenges along with Derrick Kosinski, Tonya finally wins her first challenge and $40,000.00The Island
Tonya again participated in the next installment of the RW/RR challenge, but was the first eliminated by a vote of 14-3. During the challenge she admitted she wanted to go home because she didn't have cute clothes.The Ruins
Cooley participates in the new challenge The Ruins in the Champions team. It premiered on September 30, 2009. She started off strong in the first episode, eliminating Diem Brown. In Episode 4, Cooley was disqualified from the show after assaulting Veronica PortilloVeronica Portillo
Veronica Portillo is an American reality television participant, Playboy model, and co-creator of the College Dropout t-shirt line.-Road Rules:...
.
Non-reality TV appearances
Tonya starred in "Lost in Ecstacy", the second episode of the CinemaxCinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
series Erotic Traveler, which premiered February 9, 2007. She has also appeared as a celebrity interviewer in Girls Gone Wild
Girls Gone Wild
The Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joe Francis, is a video series by the production company Mantra Films, Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.-Content:...
commercials in 2007
Sexual assault allegations
In October 2011, Cooley filed charges that she was raped with a toothbrush by two of her fellow Real World cast members, Kenny Santucci and Evan StarkmanEvan Starkman
Evan Starkman is a reality television star, best known as a competitor on the MTV reality game shows Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Duel 2, The Ruins, and The Challenge: Rivals. He won The Duel 2 and The Ruins...
, while passed out.
Reality shows
- Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The RuinsReal World/Road Rules Challenge: The RuinsReal World Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins is the eighteenth season of the MTV reality television game show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, and follows The Duel 2. The Ruins took place in Phuket, Thailand, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World and Road Rules competing along with...
(2009) - Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The IslandReal World/Road Rules Challenge: The IslandReal World/Road Rules Challenge: The Island is the sixteenth season of the reality television game show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, which aired on the American cable tv network MTV. It premiered on September 10, 2008 at 10pm ET/PT...
(2008) - Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno IIIReal World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno IIIThe Inferno 3 is the fourteenth season of the MTV reality television game show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, and the third of the Inferno series. Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa, with cast members from The Real World, Road Rules and the Fresh Meat challenge competing...
(2007) - Sexiest Women 2007 (2007)
- Celebrity Paranormal ProjectCelebrity Paranormal ProjectCelebrity Paranormal Project is a paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 22, 2006 to November 1, 2007 on VH1. The show is currently on hiatus, so it is unknown if VH1 will re-air the show and begin with a second season...
Episode: The First Warden (2006) - Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh MeatReal World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh MeatFresh Meat is the twelfth season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge. Filmed in Australia, Fresh Meat featured two-player teams; each team had an alumnus of The Real World or Road Rules partnered with a newcomer to the Challenge . This is the first edition of the Fresh Meat series.-Cast:Host: T. J...
(2006) - Soup of the Day (2006)
- True LifeTrue LifeTrue Life is a documentary series running on MTV since 1998. Each episode follows a particular topic, such as heroin addiction as in the first episode, "Fatal Dose." The show is created by following a series of subjects by a camera crew through a certain part of their lives.-Topics covered:True...
Episode: I'm a Reality Star (2006) - The ScornedThe ScornedThe Scorned is a 2005 horror movie. It was the first movie cast entirely with the people from previous reality television series. The movie was filmed during the E! behind-the-scenes reality show Kill Reality....
(2005) Jennifer - Kill RealityKill RealityKill Reality is a 2005 series which ran on E! Entertainment television about the all-stars of reality television making a horror movie called The Scorned. During the filming of the movie the cast lived together in a house that quickly turned into the real house of horrors...
(2005) - Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno IIReal World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno IIThe Inferno II is the tenth season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge and the sequel to The Inferno. The show aired in 2005, and took place in Manzanillo, Mexico. This challenge was the same as The Inferno, except this time each team was allowed to choose only one "Inferno nominee" from the...
(2005) - Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes 2 (2004)
- Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The GauntletReal World/Road Rules Challenge: The GauntletThe Gauntlet is the seventh season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge. It featured 28 castmates competing in missions with an immunity life-saver awarded to the best individual performer. Each team would then select a player from their team to go into the Gauntlet elimination challenge. This...
(2003) - Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes (2003)
- Stop Being Polite: The Real World Chicago Reunion (2002)
- The Real World You Never Saw: Chicago (2002)
- The Real World: ChicagoThe Real World: ChicagoThe Real World: Chicago is the eleventh season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
(2002)