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Coral Smith

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Template:Female adult bio

Coral Jeanne Smith (born January 19, 1979) is a former cast member on MTV's The Real World: Back to New York. She currently participates on The Real World/Road Rules Challenge on a sporadic basis. Coral is better known for her wit, beauty and intellegence as stated in her bio on MTV.

The Real World

During her season on The Real World, she came into conflict with Mike Mizanin over his stated on camera view that African Americans need not be well schooled because they are inherently dumb and cannot retain information therefore they can not they be taught making any attempt at other than basic education a waste of time and energy. This belief he said was imparted to him from his uncle. Further he stated that his uncle does not hire "them" and that he (Mike Mizanin) agrees with his uncle. This is the point when Ms. Smith took exception to this and reminded Mr. Mizanin that he was speaking to two African-American people. Mr. Mizanin was relentless in his pursuit of this "family policy" even while being told in a civil manner by Ms. Smith that she was offended by that false and blatantly racist remark.

Malik was there when the remark was made and both Coral and Malik left Mike there in the restaurant after he refused to acknowledge that he had made a racist remark. Nicole Jackson heard about the incident from Malik and decided to side with Coral, however she played a relatively insignificant role in the interplay that ensued after the fact. Smith challenged Mizanin to educate himself on African-American culture, including the life of civil rights activist Malcolm X and assigned him the task of discovering the basics of American culture and history to include African-Americans as pertinent. Mizanin eventually apologized after trying to avoid it for several episodes. Smith graciously accepted and he and Smith have since become close friends, and have been seen as close allies on one of the Challenges.

Smith still keeps in contact with her Real World cast mates Mike and Malik Cooper and to some lesser extent Lori. She says she doesn't get to speak with Rachel and Nicole often, and is not interested in keeping in contact with Kevin Dunn. [1]

Challenges

Smith won her first Real World/Road Rules Challenge, with Back to New York cast mate Mike Mizanin. She has been in five Challenges in all and has made it to the end of four. She was eliminated on Fresh Meat for injuries to her partner Evan who developed an abdominal hernia. Smith sustained an injury to her knee but after treatment was cleared for competion by her doctor. Evan's hernia however was so severe that further competion was imppossible and since this was a partnered event, when Evan became disabled, Coral was left without a partner and was thus disqualified from continuing with the competion. Evan has since had two surgeries to correct his hernia and has gone on to compete again in a subsequent MTV challenge.

Coral's latest Reality show deputed on the Fox network in January 2007 on Burton Roberts’ series Camp Reality.

On one of Smith's last MTV television appearances was the Fresh Meat reunion special, in which she was strongly self-expressive, especially on the subject of race. She related an incident in which Melinda Stolp walked up to her and told her that she (Melinda) uses shampoo for Colored People. Melinda Stolp is from Germantown, Phil and her boyfriend is The Real World: Austin's Danny Jamieson who a majority of Real World/Road Rules and Challenge Alumni have cited as having a chip on his shoulder. Smith issued a challenge to all the newer members which none of them accepted. A second Battle of the Sexes was created after Smith jokingly brought up the idea on the The Inferno reunion special. Smith has said her favorite challenge was The Inferno because she got to send Trishelle Cannatella home.

Much curosity and some speculation has arisen over Smith's relationship with Abram Boise from Road Rules: South Pacific during Battle of the Sexes II. In response to a question by an MTV rep, Smith said: " I wouldn't expect Abram to invest his time or pursue a woman like myself, that's so mouthy and such a feminist I believe that I'm a strong woman and I believe that a lot of my morals and how I live my life was completely opposite than his. I really feel like he has come into a reality about meeting new people with me and I'm happy to be in his life, and I'm happy to teach him and help him, but it's not hard. We're going through this weird racial thing. He doesn't bring it up and it's not an issue with us, which makes it even more wonderful. It's just right and it's something that happened naturally. He didn't have to fight against this racist thing." and in response to the question "What opened him to this?" Coral said: "I give all the credit to Abram for his changes, and for who he is now. I believe that it was his ability to learn and be open to other people's words. We both get really angry and we both are really sensitive and we both put up this front and inside, I believe Abram is one of the kindest and most gentle people I've ever met. And I think it was his ability to get in touch with his own kind, gentle side that allowed him to like me anyway, despite my big giant mouth and how bitchy I can be. And I think that we found a common ground there, and because I was open to him, I feel like he was able to open up to me. And when Abram and I opened up to each other, it was a beautiful, beautiful friendship that I've never experienced before, ever. I've never met anyone like Abram. Never, and people underestimate him all the time." |url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/rwrr_challenge/battle_sexes2/interviews/?episodeID=79602&id=1492730 |title=Real World/Road Rules Battle of the Sexes 2: Episode 3 |accessdate=2007-06-21 |work=MTV.com}}</ref>[1] However, according to another interview with Smith, the two were not involved in a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship and that it was only made to look that way on television to get good ratings.[2]

Personal life

Smith is best friends with The Real World: New Orleans cast mate Melissa Howard. They both participated on Bravo's Battle of the Network Reality Stars.

Coral is involved with women's rights, charities for children, her family and friends and the pursuit of her career. She currently tours doing speaking engagements and interviews with a great tongue-in-cheek flair.

In an interview with OUTlook magazine, Smith reportedly answered an interview question as to why she was at Gay Day, a typicaly male event set at a theme park annually in the Bay Area, that her sexual orientation was "very cloudy" and that she was "venturing toward [her] lesbian qualities".[3]

Filmography

Television and Videos

Movies

References

  1. ^ "Coral Smith". TV.com. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  2. ^ "Interview With Coral Jeanne Smith from "Battle Of The Sexes" and "The Real World"". Reality Reel. 2004-12-23. Retrieved 2007-06-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Pratt, Paul E.; "'Real World' Regular Coral Happy Exploring Her 'Lesbian Qualities'"; OUTlook magazine'; July 1, 2007.
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