Diem Brown
The late Diem Brown, pictured here at Us Weekly's Most Stylish New Yorkers event on Sept. 20, 2014, was honored in Washington D.C. recently with an awareness event attended by her former MTV reality co-stars. Getty

Normally it takes a lot of drama and alcohol to get the cast of MTV’s “The Real World” together, but sometimes all it takes is just one very good and very personal cause to do the trick. The stars of former seasons of “The Real World” and “The Challenge” gathered together to raise awareness of ovarian cancer in the wake of their friend and co-star Diem Brown’s recent death.

According to The Washington Post, several stars who previously appeared on the MTV shows took to Capitol Hill for an event led by Congressman Sean Duffy. Fans will remember Duffy as a former cast member on “The Real World: Boston” and “The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons.” The Wisconsin Congressmen organized the event to both honor the late Diem Brown as well as support the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

As Extra notes, Brown’s death affected the tight-knit reality TV community immensely, prompting many of her former co-stars to make the trek to Washington D.C. to show their support. Among the former reality TV attendees were Duffy’s wife Rachael Campos Duffy (“The Real World: San Francisco” and “Road Rules: All Stars”), David “Puck” Rainey (“The Real World: San Francisco”), Norman Korpi (“The Real World: New York”), Derrick Kosinski (“Road Rules”) and Laurel Stucky (“The Challenge”). Each posed for a few quick snapshots at the event, which they promptly shared via social media.

In addition to the “Real World” cast bringing some star power to the event, MTV News reports that Brown’s sister, Megan, spoke about the importance of bringing awareness to the disease at the event as well. For those that don’t know, Diem Brown was a staple on MTV’s long-running connected reality competitions such as “The Challenge.” As previously reported, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2006, just weeks before her first appearance on the network with “Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat.” She beat the cancer once but it returned in 2012, forcing her to remove her ovaries. In 2013 she declared that she was cancer free, but the good fortune didn’t last. Sadly, Brown reportedly collapsed on set while filming “Battle of the Exes 2” for MTV. Doctors determined that her cancer had traveled to her liver and lymph nodes. She died in November 2014 at 32 years old.

“We need to re-energize our focus and our efforts as a society to beat this cancer,” Duffy tweeted alongside a photo of the Washington D.C. event on Sept. 29.

RELATED STORIES