A Different Homecoming: Why Eric Couldn't Join His Real World Roommates

In 1992, Eric Nies was the opening roommate to step into "a new world." Fast-forward 29 years later: The New Jersey resident didn't have the same experience as his roomies throughout an once-in-a-lifetime homecoming in January 2021.


Throughout The Real World Homecoming: New York premiere -- right now streaming on Paramount+ -- the original cast members all traveled back to the Big Apple in the middle of a world pandemic to reunite in their original Soho loft.


Becky Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie Gentry, Norman Korpi, and Kevin Powell all arrived -- and started to ponder Eric's whereabouts. Soon, they were greeted by a "Incoming Message" on their television monitor. And Eric's face appeared.


"Guess what I have?" Eric asked the MTV sort, and so they answered with a chorus of "No!"


"You tested positive?" Andre asked, referring to COVID-19. Eric simply nodded his head yes.


Understandably, the six in Soho were dismayed.


"When Eric popped on the monitor, I knew these are times of COVID. So yeah, I added two plus two pretty speedily Andre stated in an interview.


Eric, who was isolating at a hotel, instructed them order he was feeling "okay" and didn't have a fever.


"My vitals are stable," he mentioned. "I have take another test today to be able to see where it's at."


He emphasized that he loved each person as Becky wiped away tears, an open-mouthed Julie listened intently and Heather cradled her face in disappointment.


"You all look so pretty an emotional Eric told them.


Kevin vowed that they would attempt to be able to see him and mentioned that he had picked out their room (the males had suggested to bunk with each other. Once the gang broke it to Eric that they were back in their old abode, Eric became even more upset.


"I knew I was going to cry the entire time," he said.


However it was Heather B who brought some much-needed levity to the situation.


"I brought all this natural sh*t that was against my whole comfort zone," "The Happy Hour with Heather B" host declared to a sea of laughter. "I was ready for you, boo! You don't do this to a Black woman. You don't set me up, then let me down. I'm going to be able to see you before we move out!"


Each person vowed to define Eric, and he made a number of more cameos while in the inaugural episode. Nevertheless his absence was noticeably felt, and Eric's experience was unlike any the others endured.


"It was heartbreaking for me," Eric recently told Entertainment Tonight. “I flew all this way 29 years later. We were coming back to be with each other and to find out that I wasn’t gonna be there with them physically -- that was just heartbreaking. It was crushing."


Be sure to keep watching the seven former strangers on The Real World Homecoming: New York on Paramount+, with new episodes being released every Thursday.